 Public works were carried out in the urban sphere, as well as in the massive expansion of the transport and communications system.The success of the grain trade was secured by a conservative take on property, which restricted the right of peasants to exploit for their own gain those plots of land they leased on boyar estates (the "Regulament" allowed them to consume around 70% of the total harvest per plot leased, while boyars were allowed to use a third of their estate as they pleased, without any legal duty toward the neighbouring peasant workforce); at the same time, small properties, created after Constantine Mavrocordatos had abolished serfdom in the 1740s, proved less lucrative in the face of competition by large estates—boyars profited from the consequences, as more landowning peasants had to resort to leasing plots while still owing "corvées" to their lords.Confirmed by the "Regulament" at up to 12 days a year, the "corvée" was still less significant than in other parts of Europe; however, since peasants relied on cattle for alternative food supplies and financial resources, and pastures remained the exclusive property of boyars, they had to exchange right of use for more days of work in the respective boyar's benefit (as much as to equate the corresponding "corvée" requirements in Central European countries, without ever being enforced by laws).