¿Un vestigio feudal dentro del régimen liberal? En torno a los censos en la legislación desamortizadora

Abstract

This article examines the legal and social change which implied the desamortization of censos(liens on real right) during the liberal revolution in Spain. Desamortization laws transformed the understanding of censosas ways of land and labour exploitation due to they admitted its redemption and, therefore the access of the censatarios(who paid an annuity because of the charges upon their estates) to the ownership of the previously charged property. This not only had an effect on the general process of desamortization, but it also allowed for the adjustment of these old legal institutions to the new liberal regime, as the law distinguishes between the censoscharged upon nationalised properties, redeemable through the legislation, and those established among individuals, which remained as private property rights, despite they were not "perfect property" rights. We also analyse reform projects, such as those of the enlightened men or Flórez Estrada, which reveal a greater complexity with respect to liberal ideas about land ownership, beyond the provisions carried out in the end.