Regimes of possession are constituted by rules of property. This includes the asset, rights subje... more Regimes of possession are constituted by rules of property. This includes the asset, rights subjects, and institutions of public authority. They are all coded in specific ways, and they connect to each other. When governments engage with land, they recode the constituent parts of the regime, engaging in property, subject, and even state formation. Yet, in a context of legal and institutional pluralism, many institutions and actors with varying degrees of relative autonomy and legitimacy make up the field of land struggle. All engage in coding of possession. Governments, claim to act within the law when they grant or dispossess citizens of land. Likewise, people aim to legitimate land claims through reference to law in creative ways. Examples show how different repertoires of legalization conspire with efforts to recode different constituent elements of possession into dispossession.
This chapter discusses the relationship between law and property. The old aphorism that “possessi... more This chapter discusses the relationship between law and property. The old aphorism that “possession is nine-tenths of the law” suggests that property rights are not merely about legal rights, but, more importantly, about social relations and the political and physical capacity to hold things of value: land, in particular. For many people in Indonesia, rights remain a faint promise, and justice a mere rumor. Land conflicts and dispossession have placed unjust burdens on ordinary people for generations and under different regimes. Some people acquire land, but more seem to lose it when their lack of wealth, knowledge, language, connections, and organization leaves them vulnerable. Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but the last tenth, recognition, still matters a great deal. Moreover, recognition often takes the form of legalization, through efforts to make claims and decisions appear legal. And, crucially, this very plausibility of legality can have the effect of law. The chap...
The old aphorism “possession is nine-tenths of the law” is particularly relevant in Indonesia, wh... more The old aphorism “possession is nine-tenths of the law” is particularly relevant in Indonesia, which has seen a string of regime changes and a shifting legal landscape for property claims. Ordinary people struggle to legalize their possessions and claim rights in competition with different branches of government, as well as police, army, and private gangs. Some people acquire land, but more seem to lose it when their lack of wealth, knowledge, language, connections, and organization leaves them vulnerable. Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but the last tenth, recognition, still matters a great deal. Moreover, recognition often takes the form of legalization, through efforts to make claims and decisions appear legal. And, crucially, this very plausibility of legality can have the effect of law. The book is about how and why people and institutions work to make claims stick by legalizing them: the relationship between legal recognition and possession. The book explores the rel...
The end of the civil war in Aceh brought peace, but it has been of a predatory nature. As a momen... more The end of the civil war in Aceh brought peace, but it has been of a predatory nature. As a moment of rupture, the peace revealed interests, powers and dynamics, and it offered an opportunity for their reconfiguration. When unrest ceased, old agrarian conflicts between smallholders and planters resumed. Peace held promise of land reform. Yet old patterns of smallholder dispossession were entrenched as the former insurgency leadership aligned with the old elite of plantation companies. Oil palm contract-farming schemes effectively alienated smallholders from their land, and violence precluded their organization. As a result, large-scale plantation production expanded. Through the creation of a violent frontier, smallholders were denied recognition of independent rights and property. In essence, smallholders were dispossessed by a combination of violence, political power and duplicitous paperwork. The study is based on fieldwork in areas where current land conflicts are played out, as well as on secondary sources.
Politics, property and production in the West African …, 2001
... agent in charge. No approval is sought from the sous-prefet, nor any consent from the other m... more ... agent in charge. No approval is sought from the sous-prefet, nor any consent from the other members of the Rural Council (see Blundo, 1995b: 13; Le Roy, 1980; Mathieu, 1996; Juul, 1991c; Juul, 1999). The extensive formal ...
ABSTRACT In the first year of the journal of Legal Pluralism’s existence, Keebet von Benda-Beckma... more ABSTRACT In the first year of the journal of Legal Pluralism’s existence, Keebet von Benda-Beckmann’s article Forum shopping and shopping forums. Dispute processing in a Minangkabau village in West Sumatra was published. Christian Lund reflects on the continued theoretical and methodological relevance of the article for the social scientific study of law and legal pluralism, property and conflict, institutions and authorities, and the role of claimants.
This paper examines how a local community has tried to legalise its possession of land in the out... more This paper examines how a local community has tried to legalise its possession of land in the outskirts of the city of Medan, Indonesia. In the absence of accessible legal pathways and in the face of state and gang violence, the community has resorted to an imaginative mimicry of legal land access procedures. This paper argues that law-making does not exclusively originate from the state, but also from society, and as such the community has effectively created legal facts. Data were collected through interviews and long-term contact with the community.
In Colonial Lives of Property Brenna Bhandar examines how modern property law contributes to the ... more In Colonial Lives of Property Brenna Bhandar examines how modern property law contributes to the formation of racial subjects in settler colonies and to the development of racial capitalism. Examining both historical cases and ongoing processes of settler colonialism in Canada, Australia, and Israel and Palestine, Bhandar shows how the colonial appropriation of indigenous lands depends upon ideologies of European racial superiority as well as upon legal narratives that equate civilized life with English concepts of property. In this way, property law legitimates and rationalizes settler colonial practices while it racializes those deemed unfit to own property. The solution to these enduring racial and economic inequities, Bhandar demonstrates, requires developing a new political imaginary of property in which freedom is connected to shared practices of use and community rather than individual possession.
Regimes of possession are constituted by rules of property. This includes the asset, rights subje... more Regimes of possession are constituted by rules of property. This includes the asset, rights subjects, and institutions of public authority. They are all coded in specific ways, and they connect to each other. When governments engage with land, they recode the constituent parts of the regime, engaging in property, subject, and even state formation. Yet, in a context of legal and institutional pluralism, many institutions and actors with varying degrees of relative autonomy and legitimacy make up the field of land struggle. All engage in coding of possession. Governments, claim to act within the law when they grant or dispossess citizens of land. Likewise, people aim to legitimate land claims through reference to law in creative ways. Examples show how different repertoires of legalization conspire with efforts to recode different constituent elements of possession into dispossession.
This chapter discusses the relationship between law and property. The old aphorism that “possessi... more This chapter discusses the relationship between law and property. The old aphorism that “possession is nine-tenths of the law” suggests that property rights are not merely about legal rights, but, more importantly, about social relations and the political and physical capacity to hold things of value: land, in particular. For many people in Indonesia, rights remain a faint promise, and justice a mere rumor. Land conflicts and dispossession have placed unjust burdens on ordinary people for generations and under different regimes. Some people acquire land, but more seem to lose it when their lack of wealth, knowledge, language, connections, and organization leaves them vulnerable. Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but the last tenth, recognition, still matters a great deal. Moreover, recognition often takes the form of legalization, through efforts to make claims and decisions appear legal. And, crucially, this very plausibility of legality can have the effect of law. The chap...
The old aphorism “possession is nine-tenths of the law” is particularly relevant in Indonesia, wh... more The old aphorism “possession is nine-tenths of the law” is particularly relevant in Indonesia, which has seen a string of regime changes and a shifting legal landscape for property claims. Ordinary people struggle to legalize their possessions and claim rights in competition with different branches of government, as well as police, army, and private gangs. Some people acquire land, but more seem to lose it when their lack of wealth, knowledge, language, connections, and organization leaves them vulnerable. Possession may be nine-tenths of the law, but the last tenth, recognition, still matters a great deal. Moreover, recognition often takes the form of legalization, through efforts to make claims and decisions appear legal. And, crucially, this very plausibility of legality can have the effect of law. The book is about how and why people and institutions work to make claims stick by legalizing them: the relationship between legal recognition and possession. The book explores the rel...
The end of the civil war in Aceh brought peace, but it has been of a predatory nature. As a momen... more The end of the civil war in Aceh brought peace, but it has been of a predatory nature. As a moment of rupture, the peace revealed interests, powers and dynamics, and it offered an opportunity for their reconfiguration. When unrest ceased, old agrarian conflicts between smallholders and planters resumed. Peace held promise of land reform. Yet old patterns of smallholder dispossession were entrenched as the former insurgency leadership aligned with the old elite of plantation companies. Oil palm contract-farming schemes effectively alienated smallholders from their land, and violence precluded their organization. As a result, large-scale plantation production expanded. Through the creation of a violent frontier, smallholders were denied recognition of independent rights and property. In essence, smallholders were dispossessed by a combination of violence, political power and duplicitous paperwork. The study is based on fieldwork in areas where current land conflicts are played out, as well as on secondary sources.
Politics, property and production in the West African …, 2001
... agent in charge. No approval is sought from the sous-prefet, nor any consent from the other m... more ... agent in charge. No approval is sought from the sous-prefet, nor any consent from the other members of the Rural Council (see Blundo, 1995b: 13; Le Roy, 1980; Mathieu, 1996; Juul, 1991c; Juul, 1999). The extensive formal ...
ABSTRACT In the first year of the journal of Legal Pluralism’s existence, Keebet von Benda-Beckma... more ABSTRACT In the first year of the journal of Legal Pluralism’s existence, Keebet von Benda-Beckmann’s article Forum shopping and shopping forums. Dispute processing in a Minangkabau village in West Sumatra was published. Christian Lund reflects on the continued theoretical and methodological relevance of the article for the social scientific study of law and legal pluralism, property and conflict, institutions and authorities, and the role of claimants.
This paper examines how a local community has tried to legalise its possession of land in the out... more This paper examines how a local community has tried to legalise its possession of land in the outskirts of the city of Medan, Indonesia. In the absence of accessible legal pathways and in the face of state and gang violence, the community has resorted to an imaginative mimicry of legal land access procedures. This paper argues that law-making does not exclusively originate from the state, but also from society, and as such the community has effectively created legal facts. Data were collected through interviews and long-term contact with the community.
In Colonial Lives of Property Brenna Bhandar examines how modern property law contributes to the ... more In Colonial Lives of Property Brenna Bhandar examines how modern property law contributes to the formation of racial subjects in settler colonies and to the development of racial capitalism. Examining both historical cases and ongoing processes of settler colonialism in Canada, Australia, and Israel and Palestine, Bhandar shows how the colonial appropriation of indigenous lands depends upon ideologies of European racial superiority as well as upon legal narratives that equate civilized life with English concepts of property. In this way, property law legitimates and rationalizes settler colonial practices while it racializes those deemed unfit to own property. The solution to these enduring racial and economic inequities, Bhandar demonstrates, requires developing a new political imaginary of property in which freedom is connected to shared practices of use and community rather than individual possession.
Durham: Duke University Press, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-8223-7146-5 (paper); ISBN: 978-0-8223-7139-7 (cl... more Durham: Duke University Press, 2018. ISBN: 978-0-8223-7146-5 (paper); ISBN: 978-0-8223-7139-7 (cloth) In the global present, the emergence of new regimes of neoliberal accumulation have proved that neither capitalistic expansion nor (settler) colonialism belong to bypassed stages of history (Lloyd and Wolfe 2016; Veracini 2019). On the contrary, contemporary modes of capital accumulation continue to perpetuate forms of racially inscribed dispossession and appropriation. In settler colonial contexts such as Canada, Australia or Israel/Palestine, land appropriation remains the triggering engine of different accumulation strategies that are oriented towards the encroachment of the settler constituency and the erasure of Indigenous communities, a process that constantly regenerates itself.
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