Esencia y apariencia de las relaciones sociales: colonos y propietarios en el imperio romano

The historiography has traditionally analyzed the problem of land tenure in Ancient Rome from a formalist perspective, characterizing the social bond between the tenant and the owner only from the contractual point of view, as two autonomous subjects who establish a relationship voluntarily and free. But the narrowness of this approach, derived mainly from the great importance of the development of law in Rome, is not enough when we have to explain different phenomena that can be seen in the sources, where we can see too certain features of ‘personal’ dependence of the relationship between tenants and owners. In the analysis of these aspects, we will see that they do not imply the inexistence of economic interest in this type of relationship, but rather its reason for being is to hide this interest for its effective realization. It is about appearances, although necessary, acquired by the economic interest in pre-capitalist societies, and that these boast to hide.