10-13-2015, 12:44 AM
A citizen could not own Roman land in the provinces in the same way that he could in Italy, that is purchasing land as a res mancipi, a formal witnessed transaction.
In theory, provincial land belonged to the Roman people: it owed taxes by its very status as provincial land, unlike Italic soil. However, Roman citizens could and did obtain possess provincial land; in short in the provinces the Romans modified their thinking about possession to accommodate land that could not technically be owned; this possessio could be bought and sold. Later, the legal fiction of emphyteusis, which was theory a long term lease from the state, but usually mean de facto ownership, on the condition of a nominal rent. Finally, some provincial land might be declared "Italian land," a legal fiction that allowed ownership to be transferred and made it largely tax free.
To sum up: the strictures of Roman law did not accommodate ownership of provincial land. To compensate, the Romans created legal fictions to allow people to either possess or lease land in a manner that amounted to ownership in everything but name.
In theory, provincial land belonged to the Roman people: it owed taxes by its very status as provincial land, unlike Italic soil. However, Roman citizens could and did obtain possess provincial land; in short in the provinces the Romans modified their thinking about possession to accommodate land that could not technically be owned; this possessio could be bought and sold. Later, the legal fiction of emphyteusis, which was theory a long term lease from the state, but usually mean de facto ownership, on the condition of a nominal rent. Finally, some provincial land might be declared "Italian land," a legal fiction that allowed ownership to be transferred and made it largely tax free.
To sum up: the strictures of Roman law did not accommodate ownership of provincial land. To compensate, the Romans created legal fictions to allow people to either possess or lease land in a manner that amounted to ownership in everything but name.
