Communal goods. Possessions and family properties with public responsibilities in Romania

Abstract

The aim of this article is to focus on the values of justice and equity present in a customary institution of a sekler minority of Transylvania (Romania). The közbirtoksság is composed by family properties, constituting a joint property of pastures and forests. They are inalienable, indivisible and managed by a participatory and direct system. We would like to emphasize that the commons are not isolated institutions of a society, but on the contrary, they keep coherence and synergy with other local institutions and values. They conform a particular pattern of social living. Also, both State agencies and Local administration intervene at different historical conjunctures to the general pattern of evolution of the Commons.