Resumo

SANCHEZ-RAFAEL, Miguel Ángel. Wastelands and Challenging Property Rights, Chiapas, Mexico, 1825-1856. Rev. pueblos front. digit. [online]. 2023, vol.18, e630.  Epub 30-Jun-2023. ISSN 1870-4115.  https://doi.org/10.22201/cimsur.18704115e.2023.v18.630.

This paper aims to analyze how the convergence of agrarian legislation, the tension between the Chiapas state’s executive branch and local congresspeople, and the national government’s claim for exclusive dominion over wastelands caused an uncertainty regarding property rights during the first half of the nineteenth century. By focusing on the guarantees regarding land ownership, or the difficulty to gain access to land, this paper reveals an analytic framework that makes it possible to connect a scenario in which neither the national nor the state government were able to ensure property rights, with the landowners and land holders’ resistance to pay taxes on rural land.

Palavras-chave : access to property; agrarian law; rural land; land ownership.