The ''Lex Manciana'' is a Roman law dealing with tenancy agreements of

imperial estates An Imperial Estate (; , plural: ') was an entity or an individual of the Holy Roman Empire with representation and the right to vote in the Imperial Diet ('). Rulers of these Estates were able to exercise significant rights and privileges and w ...

in Roman

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

Location

The original text of the ''Lex'' is not known, but there are seven inscriptions in the north of Africa which contain agreements and contracts between land owners and land users that were formulated after the example of the Lex Mancia. Some of the Imperial estates in question are from the Bagradas

Valley A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains and typically containing a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...

region of

Africa Proconsularis Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

(modern day

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, around c.50 km west of the ancient city of

Carthage Carthage was an ancient city in Northern Africa, on the eastern side of the Lake of Tunis in what is now Tunisia. Carthage was one of the most important trading hubs of the Ancient Mediterranean and one of the most affluent cities of the classic ...

. The inscription from Henchir-Mettich (c. AD 116-117 ) consists in an adaptation of the ''Lex Manciana'' for the ''fundus Villa Magna Variana''. Several additional inscriptions dealing with a similar subject matter, also in the same region, are known, for example from Ain-el Djemala (

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

ic period) and from Ain Wassel c. AD 198-209).Scholl, Reinhold; Schubert, Charlotte (2004).
Lex Hadriana de agris rudibus und lex Manciana
. '' Archiv für Papyrusforschung'' 50, pp. 79-84, here p. 79.

Inscription

The inscription from Henchir Mettich details the tenancy agreement for '' coloni'' tenant farmers on the ''Fundus Villae Magnae Variane'' (an Imperial estate). The content of the translationKehoe, D, 1988, ''Econonmics of Agriculture on Roman Imperial Estates in North Africa'', Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht runs as follows: 1. Preamble – Identifies Licinius Maximus (an Equite) and Felicior (a

freedman A freedman or freedwoman is a person who has been released from slavery, usually by legal means. Historically, slaves were freed by manumission (granted freedom by their owners), emancipation (granted freedom as part of a larger group), or self- ...

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

) as the

procurator Procurator (with procuracy or procuratorate referring to the office itself) may refer to: * Procurator, one engaged in procuration, the action of taking care of, hence management, stewardship, agency * Procurator (Ancient Rome), the title of var ...

s who oversaw the establishment at Henchir-Mettich. 2. Authorisation to cultivate ''subseciva'' – Allows unused land (''subseciva'') on this Imperial estate to be brought under cultivation under the following agreement. 3. Assessment of share rents – Tenants will pay rents in kind (i.e., part of the total crop) according to their own judgement. 4. Rents of ''subseciva'' – Rents are one third total crop of wheat, barley, wine and olive oil. Additional rents include one quarter or one fifth of beans and of honey if over five hives are owned. 5. Penalties – Beehives cannot be moved from the estate onto free land in order to avoid rent. 6. Incentives – No rents are charged on newly planted vines and

figs The fig is the edible fruit of ''Ficus carica'', a species of tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Moraceae, native to the Mediterranean region, together with western and southern Asia. It has been cultivated since ancient times and i ...

for the first five years, and newly planted

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

trees for the first ten years. 7. Grazing – An annual fee of 4 '' asses'' is payable per animal grazing on the land. 8. Damage – Avoidable damage to other tenants' crops is paid for by the offender. 9. Bequesting – Land under tenancy can be bequeathed to an heir in a legally binding contract. This clause intends to promote generational farming of the same land and thus further investment. 10. Confiscation – Land neglected and uncultivated for two consecutive years will be reclaimed by the landlord. 11. Labour Services – In addition to rents, each tenant must supply two consecutive days labour for ploughing and two for harvesting, on top of a day supervising the livestock. Labour services could be seconded to slaves or retainers of the tenants.

Sharecropping

Subsistence farming for a family of six in the ancient world requires three

hectares The hectare (; SI symbol: ha) is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, square metres (), and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. A ...

of land to provide crops and enough seed for the next year, though to include a one third payment to a landlord requires cultivation of at least five hectares of land. Sharecropping forces the '' colonii'' to cultivate their land with more effort to attain a minimum level of income than they would otherwise have to supply. It also allows the farmer to pass some of the risks involved in farming onto the landlord as a poor crop would mean lower rents.

References

{{Italic title Roman law

Location

Inscription

Sharecropping

See also

References