Le Partecipanze agrarie emiliane: il caso particolare di Nonantola. Un contributo storico-giuridico

The «partecipanze» are an agricultural institution that originated in the Middle Ages, with specific characteristics that distinguish them from civic uses. The affirmation of full and undivided property in nineteenth-century codes gave rise to a strong doctrinal and political orientation advocating the liquidation of all forms of collective domains, considered remnants of a feudal past. Few jurists and politicians spoke out in their defence. Law 397/1894 provided the basis for a sort of public law dimension of collective domains, while Law 1766/1927 further contributed to the process of generalised liquidation. Only recently Law 168/2017 recognised collective domains as “primary legal order of the original communities”, which, as such, are inalienable, indivisible and non-usucapable, without, however, completely dispelling doubts about their legal configuration.