mezzadrian.
/mɛdzəˈdriːə/, /mɛtsəˈdriːə/, U.S. /ˌmɛtsəˈdriə/, /ˌmɛdzəˈdriə/ Italian History.
A system of feudal land tenure whereby a farmer paid a proportion (originally half) of the farm's produce as rent. Also (occasionally) attributive, in mezzadria district, mezzadria system, etc.This system ceased to operate after the Second World War.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > farm > farmland > tenure and rights > [noun] > systems of tenure
stintagea1642
stintinga1642
take1794
tenantry1794
crofting1851
mezzadria1875
métayage1877
crofterization1907
crofterizing1908
1875 Encycl. Brit. I. 415/1 A system..in certain provinces of Italy..called mezzeria..the halving, that is, of the produce of the soil between landowner and landholder.
1882 Jrnl. Statist. Soc. 45 18 The principal agrarian contracts in Italy are the ‘Mezzadria’, by which the parties divide by half the produce of the soil.
1909 B. King & J. Okey Italy Today (new ed.) viii. 171 In the mezzadria districts there are comparatively few agricultural labourers and therefore less pauperism.
1928 L. B. Register tr. C. Calisse Hist. Italian Law iii. xx. 727 It was preferable to fix the return as a proportion of the profits,..sometimes it was a proportion of the harvest, a half for example, as in the ‘mezzeria’.
1949 L. Olschki Genius of Italy (1950) i. 10 Mezzadria imposes hard penalties on the peasant.
1973 Daily Tel. 23 Jan. 17/3 Mrs Doxat has plans for her vineyards, which are run under the mezzadria system, whereby the Italian tenant works them and takes 52 per cent. of the profits, while all capital investment is the owner's responsibility.
1994 Guardian 5 Aug. ii. 9/4 The collapse after the second world war of the ‘mezzadria’..system.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1875