214 



Mr, Allard. So even though they talk as though the land is 

 theirs, in reality it is not and the constitution prohibits that? 



Mr. Van Atta. Basically, yes. There are three forms of propri- 

 etorship allowed: Leasing, heritable tenure, and 



Mr. Allard. What was the second one? I missed that one. 



Mr. Van Atta. Heritable tenure. 



Mr. Allard. Inherited tenure? 



Mr. Van Atta. Inheritable tenure is usufruct. You get the right 

 to the land, but you don't own it, but your heirs can inherit it just 

 as though it were yours. The third form is full private property. 

 Full private property is still forbidden. 



Mr. Allard. It sounds to me like they were talking about inher- 

 itable tenure before this committee in a lot of the discussion. Go 

 ahead. Thank you. 



Mr. Wegren. I was going to say I think we need to make a dis- 

 tinction. There is such a thing as private property. I mean, you can 

 go through the process, and you can receive a deed that gives you 

 the right to that land, but what you can't do is you can't turn 

 around and sell it. You can't sit on it and wait for it to appreciate, 

 and then turn around and sell it and make a profit. So you can 

 have private property, but Don's exactly right, there is no land 

 market per se. 



Mr. Van Atta. Even private property, as I read the constitution, 

 is not clear, and they are giving people documents that say, "This 

 is your land title," but the constitution still says nobody except the 

 state can hold title to agricultural land. So who do you believe? 



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