Defining and Dividing Property Rights in the Japanese Commons

Abstract

"The objective of this paper is to examine the process by which commons became common property, the nature of the 'property' in common property, and the patterns of ownership of that property in Japan since the emergence of commons. I do this by looking at community rules to figure out how users themselves defined property rights and at legal decisions to figure out how much protection and recognition the larger society gave to these definitions. I will focus attention on the evolution of property rights in the commons during the the medieval period (1185-1600), the ownership and use patterns that prevailed during the Tokugawa period (1600-1867) when the commons came under pressure because of their importance, and then on the changes that resulted after assault on the commons during the Meiji period (1867-1912)."