英文摘要 |
This article explores the arrangement of land relations in the early colonial period. The term "land relations" means the relations between land, landowner, and the state, and could be further divided into ruling relation, concerning the administration of land or landowner by the state, and property relation, concerning the rights relations between land, landowner (including the state when it owns land), and third parties. When considering the arrangement of land relations in Taiwan, current research pays close, if not exclusive, attention to the Land Survey (1898-1905) and overlooks the impact from the previous period. This article argues that the arrangement of land relations should be dated back to the transfer of Taiwan’s sovereignty to Japan in 1895, and thus explores the process of change in land relations from 1895 to 1905. To obtain a better understanding, this article divides the period of investigation into three, namely the military-rule/takeover period, the construction period under civil administration, and the land survey project period. The conclusion is as follows: When the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office took over the public works and property from the Ch’ing government, a new concept of land rights was introduced, and the meaning of government-owned property (官有財產) or government-owned rent(官租)thus changed. After the establishment of civil administration, a new rule stipulated that land claimed by anyone without proof of private ownership was automatically government-owned property. This changed the boundary between public and private property and increased government-owned property. On the other hand, in order to collect tax, the government strengthened the local administration and police system. Then, following a financial reform of land tax, the Taiwan Governor-General’s Office conducted a land survey to improve its taxation ability. The land survey required landowners to register their land, followed by government confirmation of the registration and measurement of the land. Through this process, the government clarified the land property relations on every single plot. This improved not only taxation but also national property management and local public utilities. It also formed an island-wide "rights-society." Besides carrying out the land survey, the government made a series of reforms of local administration and police. Together with the cooperation of the local administration and the Land Survey Bureau, the state’s control over Taiwanese society was reinforced. To sum up, the land survey not only changed the land administration but also property relations and the relations between the state and the society. |