Origins of the Mass Party

This book argues that the mass party emerged as the product of two distinct but related “primitive accumulations”—the dismantling of communal land tenure and the corresponding dispossession of the means of local administration. It illustrates this argument by studying the party central to one of the longest regimes of the 20th century—the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) in Mexico, which emerged as a mass party during the 1930s and 1940s. I place the PRI in comparative perspective, studying the failed emergence of Bolivia’s Movimiento Nacionalista Revolucionario (MNR) (1952–64), attempted under similar conditions as the Mexican case. Why was party emergence successful in one case but not the other? The PRI emerged as a mass party in areas in Mexico where land privatization was more intensive and communal village government was weakened, enabling the party’s construction and subsequent absorption of peasant unions and organizations. Ultimately, the overall strength of communal property-holding and concomitant traditional political authority structures blocked the emergence of the MNR as a mass party. Where economic and political expropriation was more pronounced, there was a critical mass of individuals available for political organization, with articulatable interests, and a burgeoning cast of professional politicians that facilitated connections between the party and the peasantry.

The Failure of Party Formation in Bolivia

This chapter explores the role of persistent traditional agrarian structures on party organization. Land privatization was considerably less extensive in Bolivia when compared to Mexico. Through agrarian census materials and archival evidence of attempted electoral mobilization and peasant union construction, the chapter show how the regions in the country with relatively higher levels of communal land tenure and strong traditional authority structures were places where it was essentially impossible for the MNR to establish sustainable links to a mass base. In regions with less communal property holding, the MNR developed close links to existing and emerging peasant unions. Ultimately, these regions were not large enough as in the Mexican case to sustain stable party formation.

7. Non-Charitable Purpose Trusts

This chapter examines the concept of the non-charitable purpose trust. It explains that non-charitable purpose trusts are generally considered void by virtue of failing to comply with the beneficiary principle. It describes exceptional conditions under which non-charitable purpose trusts are considered valid, such as trusts of an imperfect obligation, and discusses mechanisms for the implementation of non-charitable purposes. This chapter also considers the peculiar problems arising where property is transferred for the benefit of unincorporated associations and how Equity has provided solutions for property-holding by such associations and why the nature of property-holding for unincorporated associations has proved to be significant where the association is dissolved.

Introduction

The Rotuli Hundredorum, better known as the Hundred Rolls, contain 1,800 pages of statistical information relating to property rents in c.1279 for King Edward I. A printed edition was published by the Record Commission in 1818, using the original medieval Latin, in a special typeface designed to replicate the abbreviated script of medieval scribes. It is this edition that has formed the basis for most (though not all) subsequent research on property holding at that time....

Property Systems and Environmental Regulation

This chapter examines the impact of property rights on environmental regulation. It first considers a range of property paradigms and how they relate to environmental law, including entitlements-based models of property and resource allocation models of property, before turning to ‘public’ and ‘private’ conceptions of property. It takes note of the fact that environmental protection is a ‘public’ or communal interest, but assimilating public interest objectives into systems of property law based on notions of private right has been problematic, especially for Western systems. The chapter also analyses the interactions between ‘public’ interest and ‘private’ property rights; the role of customary law and cultural norms in the organization of property holding and resource use, using the Maori case as example; and how property structures foster environmental stewardship.

10. Property offences

This chapter discusses property offences. These include theft, taking a conveyance without consent, robbery, blackmail, burglary, handling stolen goods, and criminal damage. Amongst these, the offence receiving the most detailed treatment is theft. The current definition of theft dates back to 1968, long before the time when it became possible to hold and transfer money and other items (such as photographs) electronically, and the courts have sought to interpret the law in such a way that in can meet this challenge. But, in seeking to modernize the law’s approach to new forms of property holding and transfer, has the definition become too wide?

Graphene–Magnetic Spinel Ferrite Nanocomposite: Facile Synthesis and Excellent Photocatalytic Performance

Spinel ferrite structured ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles anchored on reduced graphene oxide (rGO) sheets have been prepared via a facile hydrothermal method combined with a solvothermal approach. For the synthesis of the ZnFe2O4/rGO nanocomposites, the rGO nanosheet contains epoxy functional groups serving as the active sites, which allowed the formation of uniform ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles. Due to the structure of the ZnFe2O4/RGO nanocomposites, the aggregation of the ZnFe2O4 nanoparticles can be readily disrupted and electronic transfer through the rGO nanosheets is accelerated. This could in turn enhance the photocatalytic efficiency. It was also demonstrated that ZnFe2O4/rGO (40 wt-%) hybrid nanocomposites almost reached adsorption equilibrium in the RhB dye within 60min. The Langmuir equation model showed that the photodegradation of RhB was well fitted to first order reaction kinetics with k=0.6254min−1. This illustrated that the addition of GO could reduce the bandgap of pure ZnFe2O4, which avoided the combination of electrons and holes. The ZnFe2O4/rGO nanocomposites could also enhance the utilisation of sunlight. In addition, the ZnFe2O4/rGO nanocomposite photocatalyst also demonstrated a supramagnetic property, holding potential to be utilised for water treatment.

La posesión agraria individual en los registros notariales de Fuente El Sol (1481-1482) = Individual Agrarian Property Holding in the Notary Records of Fuente El Sol (1481-1482)

Se analizan diversas prácticas de los productores agrarios a partir de los registros notariales de Fuente el Sol, lugar de señorío privado en el obispado de Ávila. El objetivo del trabajo es documentar el supuesto teórico según el cual la gestión autónoma de la unidad de producción conlleva un posicionamiento individualista y antiseñorial. Se examinan las infracciones sobre tierras particulares, las disputas en torno al patrimonio familiar y la actuación de tenentes acusados de diversas faltas. Se demuestra la continuidad entre la orientación individualista y la resistencia a las imposiciones señoriales, y se revelan estrategias de resguardo y ampliación de la posesión agraria individual, que en ocasiones reproducen mecanismos de lucha contra la renta, como el intento de ocultar el volumen de producción y las transacciones. Se observa la condición cambiante de la unidad productiva, sujeta a constante recomposición, lo cual se asocia a la vocación de dirigir libremente la actividad económica.This article explores some practices of the agrarian producers on the basis of the notary records of Fuente el Sol, a village within a lordship in the bishopric of Ávila. The aim is to document the theoretical assumption that autonomous management of the unit of production involves both individualistic attitudes and resistance to the lord. We will analyse trespassing offences, disputes over family inheritance, and the action of tenants accused of different violations. We will demonstrate the link between the individual approach and resistance to seigneurial impositions, as well as some strategies aiming at protecting and enlarging individual property holdings, strategies that at times reproduce procedures of the struggle against rent incomes, such as concealing the volume of production and transactions. We will also consider the changing composition of the unit of production, an aspect associated with the purpose of freely managed economic activity.