THE CADASTRE IN SPAIN 1 35 



scure, no advance has been made beyond ensuring that until a new and effect- 

 ual law is applied, of all the usefulness to society that may be anticipated 

 from its high cost, there will be no other remedy than to make provision 

 in the law for the course to be followed for fixing the limits of the parcels 

 permanently and in such a way that verification may be easy, for accuracy 

 in regard to the extent of the area is not so necessary as legally strict limits 

 and their practical permanence. 



Unfortimately, pubHc opinion in Spain even among the technical staff 

 of the cadastre, is somewhat confused, owing to this aspect which has been 

 given to the cadastre. When the public speak of the detailed cadastre 

 by itself, they give by that expression a great and decisive importance to 

 topographic accuracy for fixing the area; on the contrary, they scarcely think 

 of the legal boundaries, without which, however, this accuracy, always 

 at the mercy of eventual or disadvantageous variations of the limits, is 

 absolutely useless. 





Present State of the Work and the Expenditure Entailed. 



Since 1895, the work of the preparation of plans, temporarily separated 

 from that for the map, has been in course, with a view to the operations we 

 have dealt with above, which were the subject of various bills before 

 becoming law. Since 1902, after a short application of the cadastre for 

 cultivated areas, but only in certain provinces, the agronomic work of the 

 Preliminary Cadastre, as defined by law of March 23rd., 1906 and the 

 Regulations of October 23rd., 1913, have been in course. 



At the Department of Finance, the work for a preHminary cadastre 

 of urban property has also been entered upon, but, although included 

 in the same law, it is of too different a character to be dealt with in this 

 study. 



Under the regulations for this law, the work required for this prelimin- 

 ary cadastre had no effect on the total taxation of a province until the 

 whole work was terminated. The work in the provinces of Albacete, Ciu- 

 dad Real and Cordova was thus terminated. However, the law of De- 

 cember 29th., 1 9 10 provides that when a municipal district approves the 

 preliminary cadastre, the full tax of 14 % on the taxable wealth, will be 

 applied in it instead of 19% as formerly. In this way it has been 

 possible for the preliminary cadastre to come into force in many districts 

 of provinces in which the work was in course of execution, even before it 

 was terminated in all the districts of the province. 



The following table will help to give an idea of the State of the work on 

 January ist., 1913 : 



