Civil Proceedings as Sources for the Study of Struggles for Land Property Rights (Buenos Aires, 1776-1822)

Abstract

In Argentine historiography, specifically in the case of Buenos Aires at the end of the late colonial period and the first revolutionary decade, a relational approach to land property rights began to historicize the socioeconomic and legal transformations occurring in and with rural properties. It tried to cancel the plurinormativity building an order influenced by principles of liberalism. Thus, property began to be considered as a social relationship that was an expression and a constitutive part of the power relations. They configured a certain way of appropriation of natural resources, where land was another property, at the same level as mountains, waterways and cattle, among others. To that end, several types of documents belonging to the judicial fund of the General Archive of the Nation were used. Among them, we observe the substantial contribution that it could, and still can, be made with respect to the civil proceedings on lands. This work is aimed at contrasting historiographical advances in agrarian and legal matters with archival documentation to reflect methodologically and theoretically upon the sources and property rights. A qualitative perspective towards the files will contribute to observe the practices, discourses and conceptions of property rights.

Keywords:
Buenos Aires; civil proceedings; property and possession rights