Locatio in Roman agrimensura

The relevance of this study is due to the lack of works in Russian historiography that would examine in detail the phenomenon of locatio as an act of creating a possession. Using a comprehensive method of historical research, the author comprehensively studies both the legal component of the mentioned phenomenon and its practical component: we are talking about arcifinius as a technical expression of locus. The author’s goal is to, having comprehensively studied the procedure of simple locatio, give a legal assessment of the phenomenon itself, as well as determine its place in the system of Roman agrimensura and in Roman land law. The work uses the works of outstanding Roman agrimensors, such as Hyginus the Elder and Agennius Urbicus (Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum), as well as extensive historiography, both domestic and foreign. As a result of the undertaken research, the author comes to the following conclusions: firstly, locus and arcifinius in the archaic period of Roman history symbolized the category ager publicus; secondly, the possession that arose in the public field as a result of locatio was secured by the ancient law of ius Quiritium and retained its significance until the era of the Empire; thirdly, during the Empire, land provided to citizens as possessions on a lease basis began to be allocated in a similar way. Thus, the ancient locatio retains its significance throughout the history of the Roman state.