The Ambivalent Position of the Landlord: A Dispute over Ownership of an Iranian Village in the 19th Century
This study examines a dispute over ownership of the village of Amīrzakariyā in the Arvanaq region of Iran in the 19th century. Using Persian archival sources, especially sharī‘a documents, I analyze the development and resolution of the legal dispute and the changing understanding of the case, inclu...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Electronic Article |
Language: | English |
Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
Journals Online & Print: | |
Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
Published: |
Brill
2016
|
In: |
Islamic law and society
Year: 2016, Volume: 23, Issue: 1/2, Pages: 52-88 |
Further subjects: | B
water rights
B land ownership B local residents B Village B Dispute B 19th-century Iran B court trial |
Online Access: |
Volltext (JSTOR) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
Summary: | This study examines a dispute over ownership of the village of Amīrzakariyā in the Arvanaq region of Iran in the 19th century. Using Persian archival sources, especially sharī‘a documents, I analyze the development and resolution of the legal dispute and the changing understanding of the case, including the issue of water rights. These sources provide an example of “ambivalent ownership,” i.e., a discrepancy between the legal facts of the case and competing understandings of land ownership in practice. The case demonstrates that legal transactions were sometimes inadequately understood or accepted in practice by third parties, with the result that the effects of a legal transaction were not always absolute in 19th-century Iran, as evidenced by the attempts of local ‘ulamā’ and villagers to restrict the landlord’s property rights in favor of preserving the established local order. |
---|---|
ISSN: | 1568-5195 |
Contains: | Enthalten in: Islamic law and society
|
Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/15685195-02312p03 |