In einer eMail vom 16.09.04 19:15:12 (MEZ) - Mitteleurop. Sommerzeit
schreibt Tom.Kohn@kodakversamark.com:
since 19th Century - starting with the French in about 1840 - we got
so-called "Kataster-Aemter" recording land surveys both on maps and in books. They
didn't really care who the owner was but more how big the property was.
The so-called "Grundbuchamt" (amt always for office) records the owner and
the change of owners through the times.
But each deed, each act on property had to be stated by the public notary.
And his files are kept in the State Archives because the notaries were called
to duty by the State Governments.
ahm - that's not absolutely correct. The Katasteramts were invented and
introduced by the Prussians - the French had been out of sight for long at that
time. Fortunately the Kataster-records provides so-called "Urhandrisse" showing
property plus owners and sizes.
And: in the former Fuerstentum Oldenburg (part of the Palatinates near the
border to the current Saar Region) they didn't have public notaries later then
1816 until the end of World War II.
Yours
Roland Geiger, St. Wendel