Lower level social and economic relationships between landlords and landlessrnpeople in Eastern Gojjam in the 18th and 19 th centuries was embodied in an institutionrncalled zÃ¨genÃ¤t .This work has tried to analyze the nature of agrarian and class relationshipsrnbetween zÃ¨ga and peasant and lord in the 18th and 19 th centuries Eastern Gojjam. It isrnmainly aimed at analyzing the dynamics of the socio-economic relationship between lordsrnand peasants and zÃ¨gas. Here the history of peasants and a highly impoverished andrnsubordinate social class called zÃ¨ga is discussed in terms of their relationship with otherrnclasses in the social system. The land tenure system formed a crucial social element forrnanalyzing the socio-economic relationship between peasants and zÃ¨gas and lords. In otherrnwords land that was the main form of property in the past was the key point of interactionrnbetween lord and zÃ¨ga and peasant.rnThis institution has very old roots going back to at least the seventeenth century.rnMoreover, zÃ¨genÃ¤t has close affinity to serfdom. The term zÃ¨ga was applied to landless andrnsubordinated individuals working on the land of lords and under almost complete legal andrnsocio-economic dominations of the lords. Though the zÃ¨ga class enjoyed freedom ofrnmobility and the bond established between the zÃ¨ga and the lord was not hereditary, thernobligation of the zÃ¨ga towards the lord has the hallmark of servitude.rnThe state and social elites exercised a far more firm control over land including restrnland and over the labor power of the peasants. The ruling elite were in a stronger position tornturn away permanently considerable land from peasants to the control of corporaterninstitutions and powerful individuals as gult land. This land transferred into the hands ofrnsocial elites was usually worked by the labor of the zÃ¨ga, though there was considerablernnumber of peasants working their own land. Indeed, individuals who constituted the zÃ¨garnclass in the seventeenth century had originally been independent peasants working on theirrnown land.rnLords also exercised far more direct control over craftsmen although there werernindependent artisans working in their own place. There were many artisan zÃ¨gas workingrnunder the landlords and whose obligation towards the landlords was similar to those of thernfarmer zÃ¨ga. Trade, craftsmanship and agriculture were closely intertwined and lords had arnvery strong interest in all these economic activities. Any discussion of the socio-economicrnrelationship between zÃ¨ga and peasant and lord to be complete must include the way inrnviiirnwhich means of production was customarily transferred from generation to generation.rnThus the study has also narrated the mechanism of property transfers. The ways and meansrnby which land and rights to land were transferred took many forms. Lords holding land onrnbehalf of churches exercised ownership rights including free disposal by sale. Sale was thernmost dominant mode of property transmission. The factors and concerns that lead men tornchoose a particular type of mechanism of property transfer are many including debt.rnContrary to previous assumptions land including rest land could be mortgaged, sold andrnwilled. The purchasers and vendors were both from the highest reach of society and fromrnthe lower layers of society. This study has explored all these issues