Forgotten Commons: The Struggle for Recognition and Property Rights in a Spanish Village, 1509–1957

Abstract

This article studies the role of property rights in social change using the case study of the small village of Sansomáin in Northern Spain between the years 1509 and 1957. The sources are mainly notary and court records and the focus is on the identity of neighbours as the foundation of civil and political rights during the Old Regime, and its translation into the new constitutional order that emerged after the era of the French Revolution. In the village studied, the failure of the Spanish liberal regime in extending the right of citizenship involved the usurpation of the commons by two foreign owners at the expense of the families residing there.

¿Cómo Pensar La Tierra Y La Propiedad Más Allá De Las Dicotomías?: Palabras, Cuerpos Y Espíritus En El Mundo Ibérico (1500-1800)

“…Archivo Histórico de Tunja, Legajo 8, Archivo Histórico Regional de Boyacá, f. 180r.21 Pueden encontrarse ejemplos en:(Conte 2021;Lana-Berasain 2012;Thompson 1993). …”

Cooperating in time of crisis: war, commons, and inequality in Renaissance Lombardy

“…For a recent overview of Italy, see Alfani and Rao, eds., La gestione delle risorse collettive . For a comparison of the relationship between communal lands, civil rights, and citizenship in the long run, see Lana‐Berasain, ‘Forgotten commons’, also for a general bibliographical summary. The rights and regulations on commons were not fixed, changing after exogenous shocks and due to negotiation after intra‐communal conflict; Warde, ‘Imposition’.…”