Land Disjunctions; A historical survey

Abstract: Parcelling was a land divison institution that was used intensively in Sweden during the years 1827-1928. The parcelling consisted of one person selling a certain, decided piece of land to another. The deal was sealed with a simple contract. Whilst the seller was a member of the villages commonities and his land was assigned a quantity in the village, and he was bound to pay tax responding to that quantity, the sold parcel was not. In order not to reduce the land owners taxability, the buyer was therefore required to pay an annual fee to the seller. This fee was to be approved by the county administration, and the buyer also had to apply for Title Deed to have the transfer approved. These approvals were for a long time the only points of control toward parcelling. Involvement of a land surveyor was not a required part of the parcelling process until year 1918. Parcelling was terminated in 1928, but the parcels created before then are independent real estate units just like any other. This means that they sometimes are affected by land regulations and surveys just like any other real estate. When investigating the contents of these parcels the contract, past claims and other factors shall be used, to search out the initial purpose of the transfer. The contract that seller and buyer signed is the main source of evidence. Unfortunately, the contracts do not always answer the questions that may arise over time. Maps were not always made, and even when they were, they might have disappeared over time or simply be unspecific. What then remains are past claims and other circumstances to provide clues about what the purpose may once have been. The questions that arise when a parcel is to be investigated often concern its borders, wether water was included, fishing rights as well as other rights and commonities. The issue of water for these parcels has been particularly contentious. Legal practice has concluded that there are no presumptions, although such have been suggested and sometimes applied. There are however a number of scenarios where water and fishing in principle can be considered to have been part of the transfer.