Urban Land Management in Africa

Abstract

The paper assesses the impact of European land law on policy-making and legal reforms in Commonwealth Africa. It will concentrate on the impact of 'old' English land law on English speaking countries in the Commonwealth. It looks particularly at eastern and central African states, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Malawi and Zambia. The paper also looks at the experience with Roman-Dutch law in Southern Africa, drawing on the extensive South African scholarship on this topic. Issues addressed are: the impacts of concepts and ideas drawn from English and other European land law on perceptions of who owns and control land in traditional African societies; the effect of old English land law as an impediment to innovative approaches to land management in Africa and, the conservatism of the legal profession in Africa on land issues; the introduction of town and country planning law on land tenure, especially in urban areas; the divorce between customary tenure and state land law, and the effect this has on land management; and the way forward: the future of European land law in Africa and lessons to be drawn from other parts of the common law world