Abstract
Roughly speaking, the year 1842 divides the history of the system of landholding and taxation in the 19th century Egypt into two stages. In the first stage, two categories of land emerged, which were quite different from each other from the landholding and taxation's points of view; registered, state owned, and tax imposed “kharaj land” composed of cultured land, and non-registered, private owned, and tax exempted “ab'adiya land” most of which were uncultured and left for future reclamation. In the second stage, these two categories of land were unified through the interrelated courses which led to the invalidation of the distinctions within the following three sets of attributes that gave the definitions of the above categories, whether the land was cultured or uncultured, state owned or private owned, and tax imposed or tax exempted. The aim of this small essay is to follow the process of establishment of the modern private property by the unification of these two categories.
