Partitions and inventories of assets in 19th century Venezuela: an approach to the study of the legal framework. Canton of Petare. 1820-1899

Abstract

In the 19th century, the majority of the inhabitants of the canton of Petare and the regions under its administration, Baruta, El Hatillo, Guarenas, Guatire, dedicated themselves to the cultivation of coffee and sugar cane, and built an estate thanks to the exploitation of these items, which, after their death, was divided among their heirs. The objective of this work is to study these partitions that were registered between 1820 and 1899, which are preserved in the General Archive of the Nation, in Caracas, in a repository of notarial protocols organized under the name of the Registry Office of the First Circuit of the Sucre District of the State of Miranda, which includes precisely the localities of the former Petareño canton, to know the mechanics of the partition process and who was involved: the hereditary community on the one hand and the competent authority on the other. another, and establish how the first, interested in legitimizing the process, was related to the second, although it resorted to it from the beginning or after the partition was carried out. In this regard, the study seeks to specify when these were judicial efforts and when they were extrajudicial. Finally, it investigates the work of the notary public when appointing the experts responsible for preparing the inventory that is drawn up prior to the partition. For all these purposes, the study takes into account the legal regulations in force at the time, including the laws of Castile and the nineteenth-century national civil codes.