Land reform in the Habsburg monarchy

Land reforms were done in the Habsburg monarchy, beginning at 1680, in order to liberate the peasants from the bondages of Feudalism. They were officially motivated by ideas related to the Age of Enlightenment - the "natural law", revealed to the monarch, which states that peasants should be free. Other motives were: to weaken the nobility, to gain support with the peasants, and to increase tax revenue (since the nobles were exempt from tax).
Outcomes.
Land tenure in the Habsburg lands remained virtually unchanged until the Land reform in the Austrian empire. One reason for the failure of the reforms is that the monarchs tried to reform "from the top", without consulting the peasantry or trying to give them bargaining power against the nobles.