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INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY — PUBLICATION NO. 2 



property, a form of ultimogeniture. Such 

 cases are understood and usually cause no 

 friction. Other instances sometimes give rise 

 to bitter feelings. Cases, were recorded where 

 children had broken away from parental 

 authority and had become established through 

 their own efforts. Sometimes the elderly per- 

 sons were cared for by a niece or nephew, or 

 even by some person not related at all, who 

 received all the property. Resentment is 

 generally felt by the children, even though they 

 may have well deserved such treatment. 



If properties are small, the daughters are 

 sometimes slighted. If a lot, for example, is too 

 small to divide and there are a son and daugh- 

 ter, the son will get the lot. On the other hand, 

 if the lot is large, it will be divided between 

 them. Often, however, the brother will take 

 advantage of his sister, who, to avoid a quarrel, 

 will accept an unfair division but will lose no 

 chance of getting even. An example that came 

 to attention was a division of a lot in which the 

 brother took the part containing most of the 

 fruit trees. When the brother went on a 3-day 

 trip during pear season, his sister and her 

 husband cut all the pears and sold them. The 

 brother hesitated to do anything about it be- 

 cause it would have brought out the unfairness 

 of the original transaction. 



Frequently, the division of personal and mov- 

 able property is unfair. Children who are away 

 from home are apt to get nothing. However, 

 their land rights are usually more or less re- 

 spected. Even so, on their return, they may 

 appeal to the mimicipio, which will force the 

 other heirs to make a proper settlement. 



Various adjustments are made to meet special 

 situations. Often an expert in property values 

 is called in to make the division. For example, 

 a man with two children may have left a lot 

 and a piece of farm land too small to divide. 

 The expert decides the value of each and the 

 one receiving the least valuable parcel is recom- 

 pensed through sale of personal property. 

 Where a lot cannot be divided, a piece of land 

 may be sold from the estate to buy a lot for one 

 of the children. 



Conflicts also arise from transactions entered 

 into by the owner before death without inform- 

 ing the heirs. For example, Agustin Rangel's 

 father bought a house from his own father. 



The grandfather died while the Rangels were 

 living in the United States, and a brother moved 

 the house onto his land. The Rangels returned 

 some 27- years later and claimed the house, 

 producing papers to show that it had been 

 purchased. This was the first the brother had 

 known of the transaction, and he was not only 

 angry but refused to surrender the house until 

 forced to do so by the mimicipio. This did not 

 smooth family relations. 



Other instances illustrate and bear out the 

 assertion that most of the conflicts in Cheran 

 are over inheritance. For example, a woman 

 on her death bed divided her property as fol- 

 lows: A lot and certain lands to each son, 

 three lands divided among her three daughters 

 (one married, two .small), and a house ("troje") 

 to be sold to pay the marriage expenses of the 

 unmarried daughters. A few years later a 

 brother tried to sell the house, and the girls 

 appealed to the witnesses. The witness spoke 

 to an uncle, who forced the brother to give up 

 the idea. 



Even in those few cases in Cheran in which 

 sons remain in the family group and which 

 function as joint families, the group dissolves 

 immediately on the death of the father. In- 

 formants were unanimous and positive on this 

 point, despite the fact that before the father's 

 death the elder brother usually will have been 

 handling the communal treasury and acting as 

 head of the family. 



All inheritances are supposed to be registered 

 at the ininiicipio. This is certainly done where 

 an outsider is called in to make the division. 

 Then each heir is required to sign (or someone 

 signs for the heir before witnesses) a statement 

 that he accepts the division. Evidently most 

 property transactions of any sort are so regis- 

 tered. It should be noted that registration of 

 a property transaction in the miniicipio is quite 

 apart from registering lands with the tax col- 

 lector and there is no connection between the 

 two offices. Land not registered for taxes may 

 be sold and the sale recorded by the ■nmnwipio. 



Even though many details of the economic 

 sy.'^tem of Cheran are still not known in detail, 

 some observations seem possible. The Cheran 

 economic system has important relations within 

 a general Tara.scan economic system and also 



