Property Rights on the Cordoba-Santa Fe- Buenos Aires border in the late XIX century

Abstract

In this paper we shall analyze the establishment of property rights on the land gained by advancing the frontier in 1869 and which was spread over an area where three provincial jurisdictions overlapped. We will describe the strategy used by one of the provinces – strategy defined as an incomplete transaction- in order to settle this conflict of interests among the provinces of Cordoba, Santa Fe and Buenos Aires. Our approach to the issue of property rights of border lands takes into account the institutional changes brought about by the strengthening of the Central Government and the development of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial powers.  Each of these had a role in the control of the defense lines and their advancement, the passing of laws that defined jurisdictional limits and private and public property rights, and finally, the resolution of ownership conflicts. This study looks in depth at a highly conflictive area, in which land ownership conflicts needed a long process to be resolved: from 1875 to the end of the XIX century.