Abstract:The formal recognition of rights to the commons that occurred in the Carpathian Mountains since the 19th century has proved to be vital to their continued existence and recent post-socialist revival. However, in the course of history, the processes of formalization produced negative consequences: shrank the peasant entitlements to their land commons, fueled conflicts, cemented existing inequalities and favored opportunistic behavior. This essay examines two waves of formalization: (1) the modern delineation and recognition of commons, and the division of shares in the commons -first in the region of Transylvania, under the Austro-Hungarian rule after 1848 and second in the region of Wallachia, under the Romanian Principalities; and (2) in 2000s, the post-socialist restitution of the commons to groups of former owners. It shows how in Transylvania, the division of shares was based on former feudal class relations and in Wallachia on segmentary lineage techniques. The focus is on past and present politics of quantification embedded in property formalization, as enacted by social actors and material devices, such as official and unofficial registers and lists. The findings are based on primary and secondary historical sources, ethnographic fieldwork and surveys conducted over the past two years.

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