The Napoleonic Code

Land ownership and division in France comes under the Napoleonic code which can make things rather surprising if not totally chaotic.  The shape of a piece of land can be very peculiar. The rules about who can do what are amazingly complex. But every Frenchman seems to understand them

We are expecting a visit from our neighbour, Georges tomorrow.  Well when I say neighbour, I mean the man who owns the derelict house next door.  It has been empty since we bought our house and is in a disgusting state of repair, including the garden.  Occasionally I climb on the wall between our gardens and spray weed killer into his three metre high growth. We’ve been philosophical about the fact that our entry is through his land ( une servitude) and consequently is rather unattractive. George has also tipped huge piles of broken bricks and tiles and concrete against our hangar which is the first thing you see when you arrive at our house.

Georges'garden

Entrance

But all that is about to change. We plan to build a wall between his hangar and ours and claim back the land he has gradually appropriated. 

Between the two hangars

This map  (le cadastre) of the three properties in our little bit of the world shows the issue.  Our irregular piece of land is coloured in green (lot 315). Georges’ is 313. The little bit in question is the thin green strip along our hangar on the left of the cadastre.  It’s partly of matter of beatification and partly of security. In our Acte (mortgage) the language is more obscure than the old systems titles if you’ve ever seen one.  That’s not surprising because the ownership and division goes back to 1824. Hence the “Napoleonic Code”. The house would have been a farmhouse and an attached “tabac” for drying the local crop of tobacco. I would love to find more about the history of this little place.  We know the village dates back to roman times because there are many remnants of mosaics in many of the cellars of this tiny village..

Cadastre

We’ve contacted a surveyor who will (at great cost) point out the markers for our boundary and then we can lay the foundation for the wall. Spouse has already dug out  the rubble against our hangar. 

I hope Georges is happy about our plans.