412 LAND REGISTRATION IN MOZAMBIQUE. 



men : then there were the vassals and the lord of the land, who 

 received it with particular solemnity ! 



Roman Law, however, in opposition to the retrograde prac- 

 tices of the Middle Ages, had been the forerunner of the system 

 of publicitv as to private property, and initiated the IVivate 

 Register, through which third parties were informed of the 

 changes occurring in private fortunes, thus warning the people 

 against fraud. 



1die expansion of immovable wealth, depending, no doubt, 

 in its transactions and trade, upon the public faith wdiich is bound 

 wath the object itself of such transactions, necessarily leads to 

 the necessity of recognising the conditions of civil existence of 

 immovables by announcing not only the rights of the holder and 

 the charges onerating the land, but the knowdedge of its essen- 

 tially real existence which amounts to physical identification. 



Such are the topics of the problem which from not too dis- 

 tant a date has preoccupied the Administration of nearly every 

 country. 



The French Revolution, which radically and profoundly 

 shook the influence of the laws of the feudal regime, produces 

 in its decree of the 9th Mcssidur, year III. the transition of the 

 land regime to the modern systems of. publicity as to immovable 

 I)ro])ertv, which have for a basis the Geometric Survey. 



This law imposed upon the owner the obligation of stating 

 with the utmost detail the position, area, and nature of the hold- 

 ing at the Deeds Office before the land could be alienated or 

 hy])Othecated, and, as to mortgages, the ])ul)lic registers offered 

 an unassailable basis bv placing lieyond all discussion the rights 

 of mortgagers. 



It is in the course of the last two centuries tha^ the ])roblem 

 of the registration of private property begins to be scientifically 

 carried out. From this standpoint, however — that is to say, with 

 the object in view of organising a general inventory of private 



especially, the question of the Treasury as machinery ; general and dis- 

 trict Administration, including the " Prazos " system ; commerce, industry, 

 and agriculture ; taxes and sources nf revenue ; the railway through Gaza 

 to Inhambane; Municipal Administration; the debated question of wines: 

 measures of development either recommended or actually carried out, 

 such as the question of lighthouses and many others ; the critical study 

 of the Modus J'k'ciidi in force at the time, etc., etc. All these questions 

 of liigh administration are dealt with in his " Reports on ^Mozambique," 

 which form a monumental repository of doctrines that will very likely 

 subsist throughout the ages without denial as to their essential truth. 



This work which reflects a deep practical knowledge of facts and 

 men. was produced by that official who began his career in tlie Province 

 by assisting in the conquest of Gazaland, and later went through the 

 territory by long and innumerable itineraries — who knows by heart the 

 geological constitution of Mozambique and its most interesting natural 

 phenomena, who is acquainted with the technical side of nearly all the 

 Provincial services, and who acquired his experience by contact with colo- 

 nists of all social grades, Portuguese and foreign alike, and even with 

 the natives. 



