Military Booty as a Source of Property Rights in Ancient Georgian Law

Abstract

Institute of Feudal Property Rights’ fundamental research is important for studying the Georgian law institutions of this period. The original means of obtaining property rights, including military trophy, have not yet been well explored. Due to peculiarities of feudal relations, the only thing that always connected the royal government with the fiefs during the period of Georgia’s unification or fragmentation into kingdoms was the obligation to military campaigns. Commitments were imposed not only to the secular but also to the ecclesiastical feudal lords. At the same time, depending on the form of military organization, permanent, mercenary or regular troops had different rules for capturing spoils of war and distributing them. The paper presents the main features of military booty as one of the important sources of acquisition of ownership in the old Georgian law. The paper examines rules for obtaining ownership of enemy property in feudal Georgia, the order of division of seized property between warriors of crusades and other authorized persons, and also examines the factors on which the legality of spoils of war was depended. The paper discusses issues such as: descriptive terms of spoils of war; property obtained by the sword as a indisputable property; Tradition of taking Panjiak – King Panjiak; The amount of the officers’ share in the booty, which was allocated either from Panjiaki or from the rest of the property.