During the process of stratification of the village population in the 19th century the inhabitants of the Dovje Municipality decided in 1844 to divide what had previously been common forests. The described developments surrounding the division of forests, the reimbursement of the municipal shepherd and the sequestration reveal, on the one hand, the unanimity of the village community in deposing the village mayor and judge, invoking old customs, municipal council or rather village community sittings, granting authorisations to most trusted fellow villagers, as well as a united and general revolt of the entire municipality against the authorities to protect their common property. On the other hand, the same period witnessed the first visible signs of the new “zeitgeist”, when the village social climbers, just like everywhere else, began to show a growing discontent with the old equalising average, which was best expressed in the desire to divide common property and the scramble for the greatest possible share. Such conditions undoubtedly also led to the diminishing value of old customs that epitomised equal community.