Between the middle of the 19th century and the First World War, Marseille experienced sustained demographic growth, which was accompanied by the gradual urbanisation of the periphery. The conversion of agricultural land into urban land did not proceed peacefully and was accompanied by numerous neighbourhood conflicts, which functioned both as indicators of the tensions created by urbanisation and as tools for urban regulation. The complaints examined by the civil courts play a decisive role in the production of the peripheral districts. Thanks to the minutes of the justice of the peace, it is possible to have direct access to the inhabitants’ complaints, formulated through "possessory complaints", and to follow the treatment given to them not only by the magistrates, but also by the experts judicially appointed to consider in law the problems created by urbanisation.