Allodium and Conquest: Renegotiating the Transnational History of the alod

Abstract

This thesis examines the history of the legal term “alod”, a condition denoting absolute ownership of land without acknowledgement to any superior. This longue durée study uncovers its origins in late antiquity, its medieval fortunes, and its vexed history as a rejected article in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century English legal discourse. Following the term to two British colonies (America and New South Wales), the thesis demonstrates the fate of the alod on the fringes of empire. The analysis reveals its power as a threat to English imperial land administration and renegotiates its current value in arguments for post-colonial Indigenous land reparation.