Buscar Normas en los Actos: Acceso y Regulación de la Tierra en los Mundos Ibéricos

In general terms, the dossier shows how land occupation, possession, and use in the Iberian worlds were forged and negotiated through a multitude of “everyday acts” involving a wide array of actors who mobilized, shaped, and translated legal concepts, adapting them to the contexts in which they operated and to the goals they pursued. In these dynamics, the written document was one of the means actors used to assert the legitimacy of their land use. However, the fact that our sources are written should not distort our perspective on historical processes. In a world where community consensus was sought, it is essential not to overlook the significance of physical journeys, material traces (boundary markers), symbolic ones (place names), ritual practices, oral exchanges, and even the meaning of silences, as part of those “everyday acts” through which normative knowledge about the occupation, use, and management of land was being forged.