<P> There was also a population outside the estates . Unlike in other areas, people had no "default" estate, and were not peasants unless they came from a land - owner's family . A summary of this division is: </P> <Ul> <Li> Nobility (see Finnish nobility and Swedish nobility) was exempt from tax, had an inherited rank and the right to keep a fief, and had a tradition of military service and government . Nobility was codified in 1280 with the Swedish king granting exemption from taxation (frälse) to land - owners that could equip a cavalryman (or be one themselves) for the king's army . Around 1400, letters patent were introduced, in 1561 the ranks of Count and Baron were added, and in 1625 the House of Nobility was codified as the First Estate of the land . Following Axel Oxenstierna's reform, higher government offices were open only to nobles . However, the nobility still owned only their own property, not the peasants or their land as in much of Europe . Heads of the noble houses were hereditary members of the assembly of nobles . The Nobility is divided into titled nobility (counts and barons) and lower nobility . Until the 18th century the lower nobility was in turn was divided into Knights and Esquires such that each of the three classes would first vote internally, giving one vote per class in the assembly . This resulted in great political influence for the higher nobility . </Li> <Li> Clergy, or priests, were exempt from tax, and collected tithes for the church . After the Swedish Reformation, the church became Lutheran . In later centuries, the estate included teachers of universities and certain state schools . The estate was governed by the state church which consecrated its ministers and appointed them to positions with a vote in choosing diet representatives . </Li> <Li> Burghers were city - dwellers, tradesmen and craftsmen . Trade was allowed only in the cities when the mercantilistic ideology had got the upper hand, and the burghers had the exclusive right to conduct commerce within the framework of guilds . Entry to this Estate was controlled by the autonomy of the towns themselves . Peasants were allowed to sell their produce within the city limits, but any further trade, particularly foreign trade, was allowed only for burghers . In order for a settlement to become a city, a royal charter granting market right was required, and foreign trade required royally chartered staple port rights . After the annexation of Finland into Imperial Russia in 1809, mill - owners and other proto - industrialists would gradually be included in this estate . </Li> <Li> Peasants were land - owners of land - taxed farms and their families, which represented the majority in medieval times . Since most of the population were independent farmer families until the 19th century, not serfs nor villeins, there is a remarkable difference in tradition compared to other European countries . Entry was controlled by ownership of farmland, which was not generally for sale but a hereditary property . After 1809, Swedish tenants renting a large enough farm (ten times larger than what was required of peasants owning their own farm) were included as well as non-nobility owning tax - exempt land . </Li> <Li> To no estate belonged propertyless cottagers, villeins, tenants of farms owned by others, farmhands, servants, some lower administrative workers, rural craftsmen, travelling salesmen, vagrants, and propertyless and unemployed people (who sometimes lived in strangers' houses). To reflect how the people belonging to the estates saw them, the Finnish word for "obscene", säädytön, has the literal meaning "estateless". Their mobility was severely limited by the policy of "legal protection" (Finnish: laillinen suojelu): every estateless person had to be employed by a taxed citizen from the estates, or they could be charged with vagrancy and sentenced to forced labor . In Finland, this policy lasted until 1883 . </Li> </Ul> <Li> Nobility (see Finnish nobility and Swedish nobility) was exempt from tax, had an inherited rank and the right to keep a fief, and had a tradition of military service and government . Nobility was codified in 1280 with the Swedish king granting exemption from taxation (frälse) to land - owners that could equip a cavalryman (or be one themselves) for the king's army . Around 1400, letters patent were introduced, in 1561 the ranks of Count and Baron were added, and in 1625 the House of Nobility was codified as the First Estate of the land . Following Axel Oxenstierna's reform, higher government offices were open only to nobles . However, the nobility still owned only their own property, not the peasants or their land as in much of Europe . Heads of the noble houses were hereditary members of the assembly of nobles . The Nobility is divided into titled nobility (counts and barons) and lower nobility . Until the 18th century the lower nobility was in turn was divided into Knights and Esquires such that each of the three classes would first vote internally, giving one vote per class in the assembly . This resulted in great political influence for the higher nobility . </Li> <Li> Clergy, or priests, were exempt from tax, and collected tithes for the church . After the Swedish Reformation, the church became Lutheran . In later centuries, the estate included teachers of universities and certain state schools . The estate was governed by the state church which consecrated its ministers and appointed them to positions with a vote in choosing diet representatives . </Li>

Describe the society of estates in france with their privileges