Das sesmarias à propriedade liberal: a Lei de Terras como marco divisório na transição de um modelo proprietário condicionado à propriedade absoluta

Abstract

Study of the history of Brazilian law, regarding the transition of a property model conditioned to the effective best usage of land for the development of private property of an absolute nature, without impositions to the proprietor for the perpetuation of his assets, and chosen as the legal framework to define this transition, the Land Laws of 1850. Development of the theme, associating the concept of property to the European libertarian movement and John Locke s philosophy s understanding of property as a natural right.Transposition to Brazilian reality, emphasizing the Sesmarias regimen and its particularities which imposed its adoption in Brazil as a colony, until its ending, with the prohibition of the concession of new land allotments and coexistence with the factual appropriation of the national soil. Insertion of the debate between the compulsory use of land, the use of slave labor and the urgency of abolition. Final part of the study directed to the motivation which led to the edition of the Land Laws, collating the property legacy with the need of slaves substitution by employees, culminating with the alienation of the land cultivation principle by Law nr.601of 1850.