Breweries and First Land Reform: A Short Description Of Interaction Between State Land Office And Owners Of Land Estes And Their Breweries

Abstract

The first land reform took place in the years 1919 and 1939 in the Czechoslovak Republic and changed extent of the large land estates. A huge amount of the agricultural land was redistributed to small and middle farmers. However, breweries usually remained in the hands of the landowners. The presented study analyses the huge amount of the large land estates. The author investigates, whether or not the landowners made efforts to hold on ownership of breweries. At first the legal frame is outlined, in which the landowners and state authorities were obliged to operate, and which they could utilize to achieve the goal they wish at the same time. The author demonstrates on some large land estates from the chosen sample in detail, how the landowners dealt with the state authorities and which methods they used for negotiating. The author’s conclusion of the research is that the landowners tried to hold on ownership of breweries and state offices were not very interested on expropriation of breweries. The economic motivation of such dealing is probable.