Page 198 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 198
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
proportions, because they cut down and branched 19 oaks in total, with the
assessed worth of 6 scudi; the local church’s forest property was targeted
twice, causing esteemed damage of about 46 scudi.5
In Labro, a small village in the territory of the Rieti province, starting
in 1849 and during the following year, the inhabitants, abusing the right to
exercise the jus lignandi “legitimated the cutting of high-trunk trees to the
prejudice of property [...] to make spokes, stakes, or charcoal in order to sell
it to gain a profit”.6 In this case as well, Rieti, about twenty kilometres away,
represented a market of reference. The court’s survey testified that 190 long-
stemmed plants had been cut down, for an esteemed damage of over 53 scu-
di. A few months later, in the same village, a similar trial involved further
inhabitants, self-confessed offenders to have felled oak trees, worth over
27 scudi in total, “to make beams”, and to “make spokes for cart’s wheels”.7
The accused were peasants who used forest resources to integrate their bud-
get. In this case as well, the housing structure of the settlement account-
ed for a wider dissemination of the population in the countryside: out of a
total of 1,237 inhabitants, only 257 lived in the village, while the other 980
were spread out in the surrounding rural area (Ministero del commercio
e lavori pubblici, 1857, 220). During the trials, the peasants accused of for-
est offences gave some clear and essential arguments: the propensity to of-
fend was supported by “the need to live”. So said the indicted of an offence
committed around Rieti, where, during the winter of 1853–54, some people
“almost every day, now together now individually” went into the forest to
cut down oak and chestnut trees, then carried and sold them in Rieti. Also
during the trials, the people under investigation, although declared to be
guilty, added “to be really miserable, to make a living [...] by selling timber,
and they were all industrious in cutting trees” (d’essere tutti industriati nel
taglio, e diramo di alberi).8 In this case the offenders were all loggers, so the
idea of income integration can be challenged, as the income deriving from
their activity was a result of their primary occupation. Anyway, through
their activity, they contributed towards the total income of the rural com-
ponent of the village.
5 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 15th May 1855, for the first offence;
10th April 1855 for the other two.
6 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 2nd April 1853. This note and the fol-
lowing ones indicate the date of the verdict, to which the examined events are re-
ferred.
7 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 13th May 1853.
8 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 10th April 1855.
196
proportions, because they cut down and branched 19 oaks in total, with the
assessed worth of 6 scudi; the local church’s forest property was targeted
twice, causing esteemed damage of about 46 scudi.5
In Labro, a small village in the territory of the Rieti province, starting
in 1849 and during the following year, the inhabitants, abusing the right to
exercise the jus lignandi “legitimated the cutting of high-trunk trees to the
prejudice of property [...] to make spokes, stakes, or charcoal in order to sell
it to gain a profit”.6 In this case as well, Rieti, about twenty kilometres away,
represented a market of reference. The court’s survey testified that 190 long-
stemmed plants had been cut down, for an esteemed damage of over 53 scu-
di. A few months later, in the same village, a similar trial involved further
inhabitants, self-confessed offenders to have felled oak trees, worth over
27 scudi in total, “to make beams”, and to “make spokes for cart’s wheels”.7
The accused were peasants who used forest resources to integrate their bud-
get. In this case as well, the housing structure of the settlement account-
ed for a wider dissemination of the population in the countryside: out of a
total of 1,237 inhabitants, only 257 lived in the village, while the other 980
were spread out in the surrounding rural area (Ministero del commercio
e lavori pubblici, 1857, 220). During the trials, the peasants accused of for-
est offences gave some clear and essential arguments: the propensity to of-
fend was supported by “the need to live”. So said the indicted of an offence
committed around Rieti, where, during the winter of 1853–54, some people
“almost every day, now together now individually” went into the forest to
cut down oak and chestnut trees, then carried and sold them in Rieti. Also
during the trials, the people under investigation, although declared to be
guilty, added “to be really miserable, to make a living [...] by selling timber,
and they were all industrious in cutting trees” (d’essere tutti industriati nel
taglio, e diramo di alberi).8 In this case the offenders were all loggers, so the
idea of income integration can be challenged, as the income deriving from
their activity was a result of their primary occupation. Anyway, through
their activity, they contributed towards the total income of the rural com-
ponent of the village.
5 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 15th May 1855, for the first offence;
10th April 1855 for the other two.
6 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 2nd April 1853. This note and the fol-
lowing ones indicate the date of the verdict, to which the examined events are re-
ferred.
7 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 13th May 1853.
8 ASR, Tribunale della sacra consulta, b. 805 o.n., 10th April 1855.
196
