On March 9, 1714, Peter I issued a decree not to promote to officer ranks those persons who, relying on their noble lineage, had not served as soldiers at all. And at the end of 1720 he issued another decree, ordering that staff and company officers who were not of noble origin be granted patents of noble dignity, and that their children and all their descendants be regarded as nobles. Thus, although noble origin did not lose the dignity recognized in it, attaining noble status through service became open.
In service relations, Peter, while assigning command posts to nobles—both those born to that status and those who had acquired it through service—protected subordinates from their arbitrariness. Staff and company officers were forbidden to take enlisted men into personal service, except for orderlies; but even these were to be taken in limited number and not treated cruelly.
In order to protect peaceful inhabitants from the willfulness of military men, military ranks were forbidden to seize quarters on their own authority, to remain with householders by force, and to move from yard to yard.