Past and present land tenure systems in Albania : patrilineal, patriarchal, family-centered

Abstract

This paper attempts to evaluate whether Albanian rural social structure has changed to the extent that individual rights and protection of those rights have become important policy questions. If the evaluation suggests that rural Albanians retain the set of family-oriented norms and beliefs that are based primarily on patriarchalism and patrilineal inheritance, we must address the following questions: How appropriate is the mixture of western law that emulates individualistic notions of property rights with the customary family-tenure system of rural Albania? What are the likely problems that could emerge during the transition given a potential conflict between family notions of ownership and individual notions of ownership? This paper discusses five broad issues: the contemporary importance of family ownership, the role of the patriarch, the contemporary inheritance procedures, the vulnerability of specific groups of women, and the structure of the Albanian family.