The use of Normative Knowledge by local actors in the Proceedings of "Información ad Perpetuam” in Nuevo León, Mexico (1878-1950)

At the end of the nineteenth century, the effectiveness of the Land Register in Nuevo León, Mexico, was a topic on the local political agenda, partly due to the limited success of the registry offices. Pablo Zayas, a well-known Mexican jurist of the late nineteenth century, considered the lack of titles as the primary obstacle to land registration policy. In the absence of titles, it was necessary to resort to the "Información ad Perpetuam". Thus, local actors who did not have a title started "Información ad Perpetuam" proceedings, basing their claims on knowledge such as local geography, economic activities, neighbourly relations, technical knowledge, units of measurement, memory, the lay understanding of the law of those who inhabit the space, and documents on water and livestock. This knowledge acquired a specific normative role, in terms of property rights, when it was used as part of the legal argumentation by those who went to court to obtain a title that could be registered.