metayage
Sign in to savethumb|260px|Contract for metayage, papyrus, 35th year of Amasis II (533 BC, 26th Dynasty) The metayage system is the cultivation of land for a proprietor by one who receives a proportion of the produce, as a kind of sharecropping. Another class of land tenancy in France is named , whereby the rent is paid annually in banknotes. A farm operating under métayage was known as a métairie, the origin of some place names in areas where the system was used, such as Metairie, Louisiana.
Article
6 sectionsContents
- Origin and function
- Localities
- Criticism
- See also
- Notes
- References
thumb|260px|Contract for metayage, papyrus, 35th year of Amasis II (533 BC, 26th Dynasty) The metayage system is the cultivation of land for a proprietor by one who receives a proportion of the produce, as a kind of sharecropping. Another class of land tenancy in France is named , whereby the rent is paid annually in banknotes. A farm operating under métayage was known as a métairie, the origin of some place names in areas where the system was used, such as Metairie, Louisiana.
==Origin and function== Métayage was available under Roman law, although it was not in widespread use. It proved useful after the emancipation of Roman slaves as the newly freed peasants had no land or cash (the same phenomenon happened in Brazil and the US when slavery was banned).