Dowry contracts

[cressie]

Sometimes there is some truth in those family stories passed down!

My mother always told me she had a block of land in Castellorizo. “Not a house, just the land”, she said. Her own mother (Anastasia – nee Xanthis) had promised it to her when they migrated from Castellorizo to Australia in 1928. But my mother was the second born daughter so how would this have come about? Why would there be a empty block of land in the family and why would it go to my mother?

Her answer to these questions were: “My mother had an older sister, Xanthi Xanthis who married about 1902 to a Kyriakos Makriargirou. Part of the dowry when Xanthi married was a block of land. Xanthi died in childbirth, along with her first child, within a few years of her marriage. Kyriakos heartbroken, went back to the Xanthis family and gave the block back to the family. When my mother, Anastasia, married her dowry included a home plus this block of land. Mother said the house was to go to her eldest daughter, Maria (later Anastasakis), and the block to me (Panayiota Xanthi Karasavas), her second daughter.”

I told this story to a few family members who had never heard of this block of land. It seemed it might just be a tale passed down, with little substance and with perhaps some confusion by my mother.

But then our Administrator, Nicholas Pappas, kindly produced and transcribed for me my own grandparents dowry contact for their marriage at Castellorizo in 1911. And there it was………

• A completed house to the west of the house of Vasilios Piperoglou in the neighbourhood known as Kavoulaki.
• A plot of land located next to the house of Tzorzi in the neighbourhood known as Pasa.

Other items are listed including 150 English pounds, a gold bracelet, a necklace and personal items.

So here was this block of land as my late mother described, with perhaps some truth in the block being handed back to the family. It would be interesting to find out if this story was entirely correct. Thanks Nicholas for clearing up and putting substance to this old family story!

[Administrator]

A good story and one that demonstrates that popular memory can sometimes be more reliable than we think.

From my reading of other dowry contracts, it was a loose convention on the island that if one party to a marriage died early, then at least some of the dowry would be returned. This differed from case to case. In some instances, nothing was returned and disputes arose. In others, just the jewellery and cash were returned, while in others, as appears to be the case here, even the real estate was given back.

It would be interesting to hear if others have heard about this practice through their own families.

Nicholas

[nico479]

what can be done about claiming land if it is outlined in our dowry contracts? Is there a record kept? i.e land registry. Is there a process one must pursue?

[Administrator]

Evidence of past ownership through dowry contracts is a common way for people to establish title to family property. While it is not always determinative, Greek law does recognise that the dowry system which existed on the island prior to the war vested title to real estate in daughters on their marriage.

However, the issue has been complicated by two matters. First, the registry that was held by the municipality prior to the war into which these transfers of property were recorded was lost/destroyed after the island's hurried evacuation in 1943. This has meant that people need to rely on the dowry contracts themselves (the originals still exist in Rhodes for the period 1896-1930), which, naturally, do not record what occurred after they were created. For this reason, what is contained in a dowry contract is not always an accurate reflection of the ownership status of a particular property.

Second, the last twenty or so years have witnessed a spate of adverse possession claims on the island, by both locals and expatriates. These are known as hrisiktisia which basically means title through use or occupation, something akin to what is colloquially known as 'squatters rights' under English law. This has meant that people who have sought to claim via a dowry entitlement are often disappointed to find that the property of their ancestors has passed to a third party because it was conveyed to the third party by the person making the hrisiktisia claim (the person making the claim is obliged to transfer the property).

I would therefore recommend that legal advice is taken on the specific matter you have in mind and that you proceed with caution. It is definitely not a straightforward process!

Nicholas