BOOK: Elisabetta FIOCCHI MALASPINA, "Dans cette diversité, des principes d'unité": intrecci transnazionali nei sistemi di pubblicità immobiliare tra Otto e Novecento [Collana di Studi di Storia del diritto medievale e moderno - Monografie, eds. Paolo ALVAZZI DEL FRATE, Giovanni ROSSI & Elio TAVILLA; 11] (Roma: Historia et Ius, 2023), 360 p. ISBN 9791281621015 [OPEN ACCESS]

 

(image source: Historia et Ius)

Abstract:

This book covers the period between the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. It investigates the different land registration systems in certain European countries, the relationship between Europe and the African colonies regarding the systems of land ownership and land registration, and the international scientific collaboration developed to deal with problems that might arise when introducing a European land registration system in a colonial context. It may seem that these three issues merit independent investigation, given their breadth and the many possible viewpoints from which they could be studied. However, by researching them together within a manifestly national legal institution such as a land registration system, the transnational entanglements, that took place across various spatial-temporal contexts, can be discerned. To convey the dynamism and complexity of these topics, the book has adopted the structure of Greek tragedy, a literary genre that best achieves the concept of entanglement. The first episode takes place in Europe. Some mechanisms occurring between the 18th and 19th centuries are examined to understand how land registration was used to «harmonise» property without limiting its contents. From the construction of the national space, the scope of the research is expanded to demonstrate how European debates on land registration systems were, in reality, discussed and resolved in several parts of the world. In the African colonial context, the introduction of a specific land regime responded to the creation of an «organised colonial space». The type of land registration system depended not only on the decisions of the «motherland», which might introduce its own system, but also on geographical, historical, political, and legal factors. These factors were decisive in selecting, for the second episode, three African colonies with particularly interesting land regimes: Eritrea, Congo Free State, and Togo. This second episode shows that the majority of colonial empires, before deciding which system to adopt and how to regulate relations between citizens and foreigners from Europe and local populations, always sought «inspiration» from models adopted by other colonial powers. In 1894, former colonial officials and administrators, as well as jurists, founded the Institut Colonial International in Brussels, which is the subject of the third episode. It aimed to construct a common space to discuss and resolve colonial problems, such as teaching, acclimatisation, labour in the colonies, and above all, property and land tenure. The ambitious goal of the members of the Institut Colonial International was to «scientifically» construct a variety of legal principles that would create unity across systems of land register legislation, despite the profound diversity of individual colonies.

Read the full book here in open access. 

BOOK: Paolo GROSSI. O mundo das terras coletivas: itinerários jurídicos entre o ontem e o amanhã. (Contracorrente: 2021). ISBN: 9786588470718. R$ 42.

 

(Source: https://loja-editoracontracorrente.com.br/produto/o-mundo-das-terras-coletivas-itinerarios-juridicos-entre-o-ontem-e-o-amanha/)

A Editora Contracorrente tem a satisfação de publicar a obra O mundo das terras coletivas: itinerários jurídicos entre o ontem e o amanhã, do celebrado jurista italiano Paolo Grossi. Por meio dela, conhecemos melhor esse notável autor e seu itinerário de pesquisa sobre as terras coletivas, da qual extraímos um conjunto de estudos que revelam a pluralidade dos estatutos da relação da humanidade com a terra. Trata-se de resgatar, nessa relação, a factualidade do direito que, com o modelo subjetivista da codificação, restou reduzida a “direitos reais” como gravame ao livre exercício das faculdades inerentes à propriedade privada moderna.

Nas palavras do Prof. Diego Nunes, “a historiografia jurídica serve para chamar a atenção à provisoriedade das soluções, para não termos as atuais formas jurídicas como as melhores até então formuladas, ou que as soluções formuladas do ‘alto’ não sejam consideradas melhores que aquelas de ‘baixo’. Esse exercício constante de relativização busca fomentar a consciência crítica dos juristas, com destaque aos estudantes, aos quais o mestre florentino sempre deu atenção prioritária. Por isso a importância de a História do Direito ser cultivada por juristas e fazer parte da formação nas Faculdades de Direito”.

Paolo Grossi é Professor Emérito de História do Direito Medieval e Moderno da Universidade de Florença e Presidente Emérito da Corte Constitucional da República Italiana. Fundou a Revista Quaderni fiorentini per la storia del pensiero giuridico moderno.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Movable Goods and Immovable Property. Gender, Law and Material Culture in Early Modern Europe (1450‒1850) [9th Conference of the European network “Gender Differences in the History of European Legal Cultures”] (London: GHI); DEADLINE 1 OCT 2017

Movable Goods and Immovable Property. Gender, Law and Material Culture in Early Modern Europe (1450‒1850)

9th Conference of the European network “Gender Differences in the History of European Legal Cultures”

German Historical Institute London, 19-21 July 2018

Conveners: Annette Cremer (Gießen), Hannes Ziegler (London)

(image source: HU Berlin)

The history of material cultures offers important new ways of studying the significance of gender differences in the history of legal cultures by exploring new relationships between gender, law and material culture. Material and immaterial possession informs the self-image of individuals and societies, dynasties and families. A threefold scheme of legal distinction differentiates between usufruct (1), possession (2), and property (3). Yet these relationships between individuals and objects are not only relevant to civil law, but correspond to political regimes. While usufruct, possession and property thus correspond to different forms of authority and society, they also have a bearing on gender relations on different levels of society. Usually, these gendered aspects of material culture are the products of traditional proximities between certain areas of activity and related groups of objects. Communities in early modern Europe can thus be said to have a gendered and often legally sanctioned relationship to the material world and the world of objects.

Our assumption is that this situation led to social rivalries and gender-informed conflicts between individual members of societies regarding usufruct, possession, and property. The action of taking possession of something is thus more than just a way of achieving material security, but a form of social practice and a way of self-assertion: in order to gain social status, as a way of accumulating social capital or broadening one’s personal or dynastic room for manoeuvre. In this respect, the single most important event is the distribution of goods in generational succession. Despite their chronologically wide applicability, we would like to explore these questions with respect to early modern history.

The starting point for our conference is objects and groups of objects, that is to say, mobile and immobile resources, and their relationships with gender, structures of power, estate orders, customs and legal norms. Perspectives from social and legal sciences will thus be combined with approaches from material culture studies. Our basic assumption is that ways and forms of usufruct, possession and property regarding certain objects inform the self-image and the prospects of individuals and families. What changes and dynamics can be observed in relation to the correlations between gender and objects? What differences occur between different forms of societies?

The network „Gender Differences in the History of European Legal Cultures“ operates in a diachronic and comparative way. We are therefore looking for papers engaging with the relationships between objects, gendered self-images and rights of ownership on the basis of textual, pictorial and material sources in Europe between 1450 and 1850. Despite this emphasis on early modern history, we also encourage proposals that highlight transitions from the Middle Ages. Papers should engage with one or more of the following themes and questions:

1.      How can the distinction between movables and immovables be explained? On what experiences and everyday considerations is it based?

2.      When does the category of movables become relevant? Is the understanding of the house as immovable based on its material aspects, e.g. fabrics?

3.      Does the gendered coding of movables and immovables exist in different legal areas? How is the attribution of gendered codes argued for?

4.      What are the consequences of gendered attributions of objects and resources? Does the distribution of resources lead to specific hazards or profits?

5.      What objects are especially disputed? We are looking for examples of individuals trying to take possession of mobile and immobile, material and immaterial resources.

6.      Can tensions be discerned between the aims and interests of households and family units and the superior interests of the manorial system, the economies of cities and states, or the public weal?

7.      Does the distinction between mobiles and immobiles extend beyond legal norms? How is it handled in Common or Roman Law?

8.      What are the strategies of testators for distributing their property? How binding were marriage contracts and last wills in the case of succession?

9.      What institutions are resorted to in case of conflicts?

10.  How is the value of mobiles and immobiles assessed? How relevant are market values, auctions and valuers?

11.  What is the role of gender, marital status, age, social standing, and religious confession for pursuing one’s interest and the chances of success in the case of judicial conflicts?

12.  What is the influence of the distribution of wealth on power relations within the family?

13.  And finally: what is the shape of households that have been reorganised by gavelkind, single heir rule and other mechanisms of distribution? In other words: how is the redistribution of goods handled within households?

Keynotes will be presented by:

Amy Erickson (Cambridge) and Margareth Lanzinger (Wien)

Please send your proposals for papers (appr. 1 page/300 words) together with a short academic CV by 15 October 2017 to:

annette.cremer@geschichte.uni-giessen.de

and

ziegler@ghil.ac.uk

CONFERENCE & CFP: "Old and New Worlds: The Global Challenges of Rural History,” (Lisbon, 28-30 January 2016)

WHAT: Old and New Worlds: The Global Challenges of Rural History, Conference and Call for Panels 

WHERE:  ISCTE- University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

WHEN: 28-30 January 2016

all information here

Over the last 500 years, the inter-relations between civilisations and cultures across the globe have had multiple effects on agriculture, property, natural resources and rural societies. They brought about the circulation of people, plants, animals and diseases; transfers of techniques, knowledge, institutions and legal norms; changes in diet habits, land uses and landscapes; extensive appropriation and expropriation of property rights; and changes in produce and factor markets (land, capital, labour) at a global scale.

Research on these topics has been attracting scholars with a variety of backgrounds, from environmental to cultural history, from social to legal history, from economic history to the history of science, among others.

The concern to open up and globalise the research in rural history, both historically and historiographically, draws the guideline for this international conference. It is intended to be a forum where to present new findings and new perspectives on any aspect of those global dynamics, and where to discuss the major theoretical, methodological and historiographical challenges now facing rural history.

This call for panels (open to scholars of all nationalities, disciplinary areas and historical periods) has been extended until 25 November 2014.  See the full CFP and more info on the conference website.  The conference email is lisbon2016rh@gmail.com.

SEMINAR: The Next Meeting of the Edinburgh Roman Law Group (Edinburgh, 3 December 2014)

WHAT: Property: An Essay in Fan Fiction, meeting of the Edinburgh Roman Law Group

WHERE: MacCormick Seminar Lorimer Room, Old College, Edinburgh

WHEN: 3 December 2014, 5:30 pm

all information here

Speaker

James Lee (Dickson Poon School of Law, KCL)

The speaker has provided the following blurb:

“This paper draws upon Roman and contemporary debates about the scope and applicability of property rights in certain instances to consider the extent to which ‘property’ is used in an instrumental and fictive way. It argues that, properly understood, property rights are not essentially fictional, but that their misapplication is potentially harmful to the coherence of the law.”

COLLOQUIUM: "La proprietà/Les propriétés" (Rome, 13-14 June 2014)

WHAT: La proprietà/Les propriétés, colloquium 

WHERE: Roma tre University, Law Department, Via Ostiense 161-163, room 278

WHEN: 13-14 June 2014, 9:30 am -1:00 pm /3:00-5:00 pm

CFP: " Property Rights, Land and Territory in the European Overseas Empires", (Lisbon, 26-27 June 2014)

What: Property Rights, Land and Territory in the European Overseas Empires, Call for papers

Where: ISCTE-IUL University Institute of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal

When: 26-27 June 2014

All information here

Deadline for proposals submission: 20 April 2014

The occupation of territories, the rule over land and the definition of property rights, either de jure or de facto, were major concerns in the making and long-term development of almost every European overseas empire. They were also deeply interrelated with other key aspects of the empire-building process, including sovereignty claims, territorial expansion, settlement, taxation, power relations, social mobility, economic development, and the relationship with indigenous peoples. Therefore, those issues were of interest to all parts involved in the colonial venture - imperial governments, colonial authorities, first and later generations of settlers, native peoples and their elites - who dealt with them through complex and dynamic processes of negotiation and conflict.

The solutions adopted to regulate property rights and other territorial and land-related issues had their roots in legal norms, political concepts, institutions, ideologies and social practices transposed from each European metropole, then reframed and accommodated to each colonial context. Developing from different backgrounds in Europe, these theories and practices combined in a variety of ways with different conditions in the colonies, producing both contrasting and similar outcomes across time and space. 

The research on these topics has already achieved a huge body of results, but, for the most part, it has been pursued in a piecemeal fashion, either by disciplinary fields, empires or regions of the world, thus overlooking their interconnections. How can we compare the way issues of land, territory and property rights were dealt with across a variety of empires (e.g. Portuguese, Spanish, British, Dutch, French) and their different geographies? What can different branches of scholarship (from legal, economic, political, social and cultural history) offer each other? This conference aims to provide answers to these questions, by bringing these previously separate studies together into a common forum and setting them in comparative perspective.