Academic literature on the topic 'Land tenure – Law and legislation – Wales'

Land tenure affects integrated watershed management approaches in various ways, such as influencing land use and investment in sustainability practices and decisions. However, some land tenure and integrated watershed management relations need more examination, including how the prevailing relevant legislation responds and the needed course of action. In this paper, we provide relevant evidence to support a shift to responsive actions and legislation through (a) examining land tenure scenarios affecting integrated watershed management, including the public–private land tenure co-existence from a watershed perspective; (b) the responsiveness of the prevailing relevant legislation to integrated watershed management and the land tenure scenarios and (c) identifying legislative remedies recommendable for responsiveness. We use qualitative methods to review secondary data sources, including four legislations, and complement them with field survey data. Field experiences are from three sub-catchments in the Lake Victoria basin, each representing a different land tenure system, as case studies. Land tenure links with integrated watershed management in various ways, such as influencing land use decisions. However, underscoring the relationship from the private and public land tenure perspective also indicates a complex and tense spatial relationship. As such, it likely limits adopting sustainable land use and management practices in watersheds as a case. Regardless, the perceptions from the study area indicate the land tenure systems and forms enabling sustainable choices and decisions, despite limitations such as tenure insecurity. The disconnect between integrated watershed management aspirations of ensuring sustainability, the land tenure abilities and the subsequent human practices is mainly institutional, with the relevant legislation indicating a low to moderate level of responsiveness to integrated watershed management approaches and land tenure, thus, abating effectiveness. Therefore, we suggest a shift towards responsive programming and legislation and the adoption of model legislation to support responsiveness replication. We also recommend further studies to assess the legal gaps and feasibility thereof.

In Botswana, as in several other African countries with a similar historical experience, a dual or plural land tenure system was carried over from the colonial era. The bulk of the land falls within the category of “tribal land”. It is predominantly held and occupied by indigenous peoples under customary notions of land tenure. The State also holds as “State land” a fairly significant proportion which fell under the category of “Crown lands” during the colonial era. A tiny proportion now falls within the category of “freehold land”. This is predominantly held and occupied in conformity with common law notions and conceptions imported into the country with colonial rule. To some extent both State land and freehold land are held under or governed by “received law”, in contradistinction to tribal land which is largely held under customary law.In 1968, barely two years after independence, the Botswana parliament enacted legislation which attempted to reform customary land tenure by replacing existing customary or tribal institutions of land control and administration with statutory land boards. These started operating in 1970, and it soon became apparent from early assessments that even this limited and cautious programme of reform would not escape some of the problems associated with land transformation exercises elsewhere in Africa.

With regard to access to land and forest resources, forestry legislation maintains an imbalance between the state, corporations, and local communities. Since the colonial era, forestry regulation has facilitated restrictions on the ability of local communities to benefit from land and forest resources, while also concentrating power in the hands of the state. To uphold state ownership, forestry law criminalizes customary practices, putting local communities at risk. In this sense, conflicts between local communities, corporations, and government agencies arise because of structural issues in the legal framework of laws and regulations that undermine the land rights of local communities. The establishment of the Constitutional Court in Indonesia in 2003 has enabled local communities and NGOs to challenge the Forestry Law. They use the Constitutional Court to support the resolution of forestry tenure conflicts. This article examines the extent to which the Constitutional Court can contribute to the resolution of forest tenure conflicts through judicial review of forest laws. This article discusses twelve Constitutional Court decisions regarding judicial review of the Forestry Law and the Law on Forest Destruction Prevention and Eradication. We found that the Constitutional Court has made a positive contribution to addressing the deficiency of forest legislation regarding local and customary land rights. The implementation of Constitutional Court’s ruling is not, however, a matter of self-implementation. The ruling of the Constitutional Court will only have significance if it is continuously promoted by various stakeholders in support of forest tenure reform to facilitate the resolution of forest tenure conflicts.

AbstractExpropriation of private land rights involves two contradictory interests: there is a public need for land; and landholders expect security of tenure and protection of their private property rights. A satisfactory expropriation policy must strike a balance between these interests. Legislation must therefore only authorize the government to expropriate land rights for a clear and limited public purpose under the supervision of an independent body. The author argues that Ethiopia's rural land laws have defined the public purpose for the expropriation of rural land rights in different ways depending on the nature of the landholders. For peasants and pastoralists the public purpose requirement is defined vaguely and broadly, whereas for investors the concept is limited to projects implemented by government. The author argues that the protection of private property rights and security of tenure are further undermined by a legislative failure to authorize affected people to appeal to an independent body on the basis that the public purpose requirement has not been satisfied.

Customary land tenure is normally not based on codified or statutory sources, but stems from customary traditions and norms. When westernised courts have to interpret and adjudicate these customary traditions and norms, the normal rules of statutory interpretation cannot be followed. The court has to rely on evidence of the traditional values of land use to determine the rules connected to land tenure. Previously courts in many mixed jurisdictions relied on common or civil law legal principles to determine the nature of customary land tenure and lay down the principles to adjudicate customary land disputes among traditional communities, or between traditional and westernised communities in the same jurisdiction. Many examples of such westernised approach can be found in case law of Canada and South Africa. The interpretation of the nature of customary land tenure according to common law or civil law principles has been increasingly rejected by higher courts in South Africa and Canada, e.g. in Alexkor Ltd v The Richtersveld Community 2004 5 SA 469 (CC) and Delgamuukw v British Columbia 1997 3 SCR 1010. This paper explores the methodology the courts should follow to determine what the distinctive nature of customary land tenure is. As customary land tenure is not codified or based on legislation, the court has to rely, in addition to the evidence of indigenous peoples, on the expert evidence of anthropologists and sociologists in determining the nature of aboriginal title (in Canada) and indigenous land tenure (in South Africa). The court must approach the rules of evidence and interpret the evidence with a consciousness of the special nature of aboriginal claims and the evidentiary difficulties in proving a right which originates in times where there were no written records of the practices, customs and traditions engaged in. The court must not undervalue the evidence presented simply because that evidence does not conform precisely with the evidentiary standards that would be applied in, for example, a private law tort case.

In antithesis to legislation on land tenure introduced through the Land Registration Act, 1959, premised on the notion in English common law that the right to allocate land was equivalent to exclusive ownership, “ownership” under customary tenure in Kenya was “essentially heterogeneous and divisible”. People differentiated by age, gender and wealth had bundles of rights defined, in Okoth-Ogendo's words, by “the status differentia which a particular category of membership in a production unit carries”. The complexity and elasticity of customary land law, Okoth-Ogendo demonstrates, derived from its separation of access rights from allocative rights, and the subjection of the latter “to the economic tasks required of the former”. This distinction and the ensuing visibility in legal discourse of both use rights and rights of allocation was critical, as Okoth-Ogendo indicates, in ensuring “the proprietary position” of women, the primary agriculturalists, in societies such as that of the Kikuyu, which are frequently classified as patrilineal.

This paper explores the challenges for democratizing land and natural resource control in Guatemala through use of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests (Tenure Guidelines). This international human rights instrument comes at a critical moment, in which the current global land rush has shaped contemporary agrarian transformation with serious implications for the right to food and control of natural resources. The Tenure Guidelines provide us with a unique opportunity to put land and natural resource tenure squarely under the prescriptions of international human rights law, rather than allowing tenure to be subsumed by a narrow understanding of property rights based on civil and merchant law. In Guatemala, we are witnessing a political opening, where the government has incorporated the language of the Tenure Guidelines into its regulatory framework unlike any other country in Latin America. At the same time, the world watches on while a slow-motion coup engulfs the Central American country, reflecting a global trend of gutting democracies and coopting the language and legislation meant to protect them. Thus, the implementation of the Tenure Guidelines is strongly contested by state and corporate actors seeking to use the instrument in order to gain political legitimacy for the expansion of agribusiness like oil palm and sugarcane, and other forms of extractive industry. This paper’s findings indicate that when applied together with a rights-based approach, the Tenure Guidelines are a powerful social and political tool. Such is especially true of the most marginalized populations who require protection and respect for their existing tenure rights, promotion of reforms for better access to and control over land and resources, and restoration of tenure rights resulting from displacement or dispossession.

AbstractArmed conflict is particularly destructive to socio-legal relations regarding land and property. Reconstruction priorities increasingly include the reform of property legislation as part of efforts to address the causes and reasons for continuation of conflicts. However, a pervasive problem is that postwar laws are extremely difficult to connect with informal on-the-ground developments regarding perceptions of spatially-based rights as populations pursue livelihoods, grievances and aspirations. Left unattended, the problem constitutes a potential flashpoint for a return to conflict. This article examines this connection for postwar Sierra Leone, in order to highlight issues and questions of potential utility. The stakes are high for successfully connecting postwar land tenure laws with informal socio-legal realities. For Sierra Leone, a primary issue is the presence of a large population without access to land, tenure insecurity discouraging investment, large-scale food insecurity and rural unemployment while significant swathes of arable and previously cultivated land stands idle.

The land and forest administration system in Malaysia faces a complexity bias due to the misinterpretation of rules and legislation, leading to increased disputes. The reliance on British law for matters like land ownership amplifies this issue, and the intricacies of static and dynamic arrangements further compound the complexity. Previously, Malay rural land rights were based on usufructuary principles, but the colonial land alienation policy redefined unalienated land, land reserved for public purposes, and reserved forests as State Land. This study seeks to comprehensively review and analyse legal rules, cases, statutes, and regulations to understand ancient land law practices and the influence of British colonial land law on land administration. Conducted in Peninsular Malaysia, the study focuses on primary documents, cases, and critical analyses from three states: Perak, Penang, and Kelantan. The findings of the study highlight the contentious nature of land rights and autonomy in utilizing natural resources in Malaysia. The country inherits both formal and informal land tenure systems rooted in customary law, making dispute resolution challenging. The principal characteristic of ancient land law is based on a hypothetical model of the ancient customary land tenure system, encompassing different eras, missions, and principles. Significantly, the study reveals a direct and strong connection between colonial land law and current land law practices in the respective states. Additionally, Malaysia's land law has been influenced by Islamic law (Syariah) to some extent and blended with other ancient customary laws before the introduction of Torren in 1897.

Abstract Increased legal access and the devolution of natural resource administration are generally seen as sources of power for local communities and their institutions. However, beyond this widely held expectation, the politics of land reform suggest that legal recognition of rights and devolution is not the only issue with implications for communal tenure reforms. Misconceptions about communal tenure, which are rooted in history, and their appropriation by local elites in the processes of communal tenure reform are characteristic of both colonial and post-colonial governments in Kenya. Although typically articulated and promulgated to enhance political representation and to devolve control over resources to the local level, unresolved issues in the reform process have worked to undermine the legitimacy of communal land rights in contemporary Kenyan society. A case study of the post-2010 community land legislation process demonstrates the continuing relevance of historically conditioned political and ideological representations of communal tenure built during the colonial period and reproduced in policy in independent Kenya. This paper offers reflections on the centrality of sustained communal tenure misconceptions, fetishization of formal governance institutions, and the institutional and power configurations that primarily benefit powerful stakeholders as sources of the current breakdown in the implementation of community land law.

Thesis (LLM (Private Law))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In this thesis, the Communal Land Rights Act 11 0f 2004 is analysed in order to determine whether it can give effect to the constitutional mandate in terms of which it was promulgated, namely section 25(5), (6) and (9) of the Constitution. Land policy pertaining to land tenure reform is discussed to see how and to what extent it finds application in the Act. The time-consuming process pertaining to the registration of the community rules is investigated, and the implications where a community fails to adhere to this peremptory provision in the Act are explained. The thesis also analyses and discusses the functions of statutorily created institutions, like the land administration committee and the land rights boards, in the efficient management of land in rural areas. The aforementioned land administration committee is particularly problematic, since the Act provides that in cases where a recognised tribal authority exist, that institution “may” be considered as the land administration committee, subject to prescribed composition requirements as contained in the Act. The Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Act will also be discussed since it intersects with the Communal Land Rights Act in this regard. The pending constitutional challenge which relates to this potentially problematic issue, will be discussed. The constitutional challenge of the Act by four communities’ is explored in order to indicate just how potentially problematic the institution of traditional leadership could be. vi This study also discusses and analyses the compromise contained in the Act, regarding the registration of the land title of a community and the registration of “new order rights” in the name of individuals. In this context the impact of this process on the efficacy on the current Deeds registration system is investigated. The Ministerial determination and its constitutional implications is yet another issue, examined in this study. All of these issues will have a negative impact on the implementation of the Communal Land Rights Act and especially on achieving tenure security.
AFRIKAANS OPSOMMING: In hierdie tesis word die Wet op Kommunale Grondregte 11 van 2004 geanaliseer om te bepaal of dit inderdaad voldoen aan die grondwetlike mandaat soos voorsien in art 25(5), (6) en (9) van die Grondwet. Die beleid van toepassing op grondbeheerhervorming word bespreek om te bepaal tot watter mate dit wel in die Wet aanwending vind. Die tydrowende prosedure van die registrasie van gemeenskapsreëls word ondersoek, asook die implikasies indien ‘n gemeenskap nie aan die voorskriftelike bepaling voldoen nie. Die tesis bespreek en evalueer ook die funksies van die twee instellings wat statutêr geskep is, naamlik grond administrasie komitees en grondregte rade. Die twee instellings is geskep met die doel om van hulp te wees in die effektiewe administrasie van grond in die kommunale areas. Dit is veral die grond administrasie komitee wat problematies is, omdat die Wet op Kommunale Grondregte bepaal dat waar ‘n gemeenskap ‘n erkende tradisionele owerheid het, hierdie owerheid beskou sal word as die grond administrasie komitee van daardie spesifieke gemeenskap. In hierdie konteks is ‘n bespreking van die Wet op Tradisionele Leierskap en Regeringsraamwerk, noodsaaklik. Die betwiste grondwetlike kwessie wat tot op hede nog onbeslis is wat hiermee verband hou, sal ook bespreek word. ‘n Kort uiteensetting word gedoen van die vier gemeenskappe wat die Wet op grondwetlik gronde aanveg om presies te probeer aantoon hoe problematies die instelling van tradisionele leierskap is. Hierdie studie bespreek en analiseer verder ook die kompromis wat getref is tussen registrasie van die titelakte in die naam van ‘n gemeenskap en die viii registrasie van sogenaamde “nuwe orde regte” in die naam van individue. Die impak van hierdie magdom registrasies op die bestaande registrasiesisteem word ook oorweeg. Die grondwetlikheid van die ministeriële besluitnemingsbevoegdheid word breedvoerig bespreek in hierdie studie. Al hierdie genoemde kwessies mag nadelige impak hê op die implementering van die Wet op Kommunale Grondregte en spesifiek ook op grondbeheerhervorming.

Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2000.
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: This dissertation is an attempt at reconciling the existing (and until recently predominant) private law concept of ownership and the property rights espoused by the new constitutional order. The attempts at land reform in South Africa and Germany are used as specifie examples of the manner in which the whole property law order in both these legal systems is developed through legislative and judicial initiative, on the basis of the constitutional provisions concerning property protection and regulation. The purpose of the investigation is to determine to what extent constitutional development of the private law of property will result in a property law order serving the socio-economic and political goals of economic growth and self-fulfilment and empowerment of the individual. Focus is placed on the influence of the constitutional protection and regulation of property as a mechanism for developing the private law of ownership in Germany and South Africa. In the first part of the exposition, the choice of legal comparison as course of inquiry is substantiated, and the terminological difficulties connected with an investigation into the development of the private law of property by the constitutional protection and regulation of property are discussed. Attention is given to the use of the terms "ownership" and "property" in the private law and in the constitutional context. The term "tenure" is also discussed in the context of land reform in South Africa. Further, the usc of terms such as "public interest", "common weal" and "public purposes" is discussed. The use of these terms are particularly complicated by the fact that each of them are often used in more than one sense, and that the use of these di fferent terms overlap to varying extents. The second part of the exposition contains information on the background of the constitutional property orders as they arc found in Germany and South Africa. The drafting histories of the South African and German constitutional property clauses indicate that in both these legal systems, the constitutional property clauses have hybrid ideological foundations. Both contain a compromise between, on the one hand, classical liberalism (which affords the holders of rights a high degree of individual freedom and autonomy) and, on the other hand, social democracy (which allow stronger regulatory measures, also upon private properly). Further, some of the structural aspects connected to constitutional protection and regulation of property in Germany and South Africa are discussed. The positively phrased property guarantee in art 14 GG is compared with the negatively phrased "guarantee" of s 25 Fe, whereby the transitional property guarantee in s 28 JC is also considered. Further, the basic structure and stages of an inquiry into the constitutional property clause are discussed, with reference to differences between the German and South African methods. These differences are not of such a nature that it excludes further comparison. Ilowever, it is necessary to keep the differences in the judicial system in mind when conducting a comparison of the present nature. Therefore, a brief overview of the judicial systems of Germany and South Africa is provided, with specific reference to the manner in which the courts resolved certain property questions. The principles underlying the constitutional orders of Germany and South Africa are also discussed with specific reference to their significance for the treatment of property issues. In particular, the meaning of the constitutional state (Rechtsstaat) and the social wei fare state (Sozialstaat) for the solution of problems connected to property is discussed. It is indicated that the legitimacy of the legal order in general and property law in particular, depends on the degree of success in the implementation of these values. Further, it is indicated that the implementation of these values also determines the importance of private property and/or regulation thereof in a specific legal system. In the third part of the exposition, the relevance of the constitutional protection and regulation for the private law of ownership is discussed. The expansion of the concept of property by the application of a "purely" constitutional definition thereof raises the question as to the continued relevance of the private law concept of ownership. This issue is discussed with reference to the protection of property in terms of the constitution in comparison with the scope of property in private law. It is indicated that the "exclusively constitutional" concept of property is by no means based only on Constitutional law. The role of the private law concept of ownership in a constitutional order is then elucidated. The discussion then turns to an analysis of the limitations on property endorsed by the constitutional order. Two main kinds of limitation are possible: (i) limitation of property through vertical operation of the constitution (ie a broad category of legislative and administrative deprivation (regulation), and a more specialised category, namely expropriations), and (ii) limitation through horizontal operation of the constitution (ie through the inroads allowed on property rights by the protection of other rights in the Bill of Rights). It is indicated that the application of the public interest / public purposes requirements are sometimes intended to protect individual interest above those of society in general. In other cases, the public interest / public purposes requirement is aimed at securing the interests of the society at large. Further, it is indicated that the purpose of constitutional "interference" in the area of private property law is to correct imbalances in the relations among private persons which are regarded by the law as "equals," even if they are not equal for all practical purposes. The fourth part of the exposition concentrates on the land reform programmes in Germany (after the reunification of 1990) and South Africa (since 1991) in order to analyse the attempts by the legislature and judiciary to give effect to the improved property order as anticipated by constitutional development of property. In both Germany and South Africa political changes made land reform programmes essential: In South Africa the land reform programme was introduced to reverse the injustices created by colonialism and apartheid. A tripartite programme is employed for this purpose. The new kinds of land rights created through this system of land reform are indicated. The manner in which this body of law is treated by the courts is also analysed with reference to its relevance for the development of Property Law in general. In Germany a property and land reform programme became necessary with the reunification. On the one hand, the socialist property order in the former GDR had to be replaced by the property order already existing in the FGR, and on the other hand the individual claims for restitution of the land and enterprises taken by the GDR state or its Soviet predecessor had to be balanced against the claims that present occupiers of such land have to it. The influence of legislation and litigation connected to these issues on the development of Property Law is discussed. The final part of the exposition is a summary of the conclusions drawn during the course of the analysis.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: In 'n poging om in hierdie uiteensetting die bestaande (en tot onlangs nog oorheersende) privaatregtelike begrip "eiendom" te versoen met die breër eiendomsbegrip wat deur die nuwe grondwetlike bestel gepropageer word, word die grondhervormingsprogramme in Suid Afrika en Duitsland gebruik as voorbeelde van die wyse waarop die bestaande Eiendomsreg in beide regsisteme deur die wetgewer en die howe ontwikkel word. Die doel van die ondersoek is om vas te stel tot watter mate die grondwetlike ontwikkeling van privaatregtelike Eiendomsreg sal bydra tot die totstandkoming van 'n eiendomsregtelike regsorde waarin die sosio-ekonomiese en politieke doelwitte van ekonomiese groei en die vrye ontwikkeling en bemagtiging van die individu gedien word. Die klem word geplaas op die grondwetlike beskerming en regulering van eiendom as 'n meganisme waardeur die privaatregtelike Eiendomsreg in Duitsland en Suid- Afrika ontwikkel kan word. Die eerste deel van die uiteensetting begrond die keuse van regsvergelying as metode van analise en bespreek die terminologiese probleme wat in 'n ondersoek na die grondwetlike ontwikkeling van die privaatregtelike eiendomsreg kan opduik. Aandag word gegee aan die gebruik van begrippe wat verband hou met eiendom en publieke belang in sowel die privaatreg as in die grondwetlike konteks. Die gebruik van verskillende terme, veral in Engels, kan problematies wees, en daarom word dit breedvoeriger bespreek. In die tweede deel van die uiteensetting word die agtergrond waarteen die grondwetlike bestelle van Duitsland en Suid-Afrika funksioneer, bespreek: Eers word die formulering van die eiendomsklousules in Suid-Afrika en Duitsland vanuit 'n historiese perspektief ondersoek. In beide regsisteme is die grondwetlike eiendomsklousules op 'n kompromis tussen verskillende ideologieë gebaseer. Enersyds op klassieke liberalisme, in terme waarvan eienaars en ander reghebbendes 'n hoë mate van individuele vryheid en outonomie toegeken word; andersyds op sosiaal-demokratiese denke, in terme waarvan strenger regulerende maatreëls (ook op privaat eiendom) geduld moet word. Dan word sommige van die strukturele aspekte verbonde aan die grondwetlike beskerming en regulering van eiendom in Duitsland en Suid-Afrika bespreek. Die positief geformuleerde eiendomswaarborg in art 14 GG word vergelyk met die negatiewe formulering in art 25 FG en die positiewe waarborg in art 28 lG. Verder word die basiese struktuur en fases van 'n grondwetlike ondersoek in die beskerming en regulering van eiendom bespreek, met spesifieke verwysing na die verskille in die Duitse en Suid-Afrikaanse benaderings. Hierdie verskille is nie van so 'n aard dat dit regsvergelyking kortwiek nie. Nogtans is dit noodsaaklik dat die benaderingsverskille in ag geneem word vir 'n meer diepgaande vergelyking. Daarom word 'n vlugtige oorsig oor die rol van die howe in die hantering van eiendomsvraagstukke in grondwetlike konteks verskaf. Verder word die beginsels onderliggend aan die grondwetlike bestelle in Duitsland en Suid-Afrika bespreek met spesifieke verwysing na die betekenis daarvan vir die beskerming en regulering van eiendom. Daar word veral klem gelê op die regstaat- en sosiaalstaatbeginsels. Die legitimi teit van die regsorde in die algemeen, en meer spesifiek die Eiendomsreg, hang af van die mate van sukses waarmee hierdie beginsels in die gemeenskap geïmplementeer word. Daar word verder aangedui dat die toepassing van hierdie beginsels die mate van individuele vryheid in die uitoefening van eiendomsreg en/of die graad van regulering van eiendomsreg in 'n bepaalde regstelsel bepaal. Die derde deel van die uiteensetting konsentreer op die betekenis van die grondwetlike beskerming en regulering van eiendom vir die privaatregtelike Eiendomsreg. Die uitgebreide eiendomsbegrip wat in die grondwetlike konteks aangewend word, gee aanleiding tot die vraag na die sin van 'n voortgesette enger eiendomsbegrip in die privaatreg. Hierdie kwessie word bespreek met verwysing na die beskerming van eiendom in terme van die grondwet, en word vergelyk met die omvang van die eiendomsbegrip in die privaatreg. Daar word aangedui dat die sogenaamde uitsluitlik grondwetlike eiendomsbegrip geensins eksklusief aan die Grondwetlike Reg is nie. Die rol van die privaatregtelike eiendomsbegrip in 'n grondwetlike bestel word vervolgens uiteengesit. Verder word die beperkings op eiendom in die grondwetlike konteks geanaliseer. In beginsel is twee soorte beperkings regverdigbaar: (i) Beperking van eiendomsreg deur die vertikale aanwending van die grondwet, dit wil sê deur die breër kategorie wetgewende en administratiewe ontnemings (regulerings) van eiendomsreg en deur 'n enger en meer spesifieke kategorie, naamlik onteiening; en (ii) beperking van eiendomsreg deur horisontale aanwending van die grondwet, dit wil sê deur die inbreuk op eiendomsregte wat toegelaat word as gevolg van die uitwerking van die beskerming van ander regte in die Handves vir Menseregte. Daar word aangedui dat die vereiste van publieke belang in twee teenoorstaande opsigte gebruik word: Enersyds om die individuele belang bo dié van die gemeenskap te stel, en andersyds om die gemeenskap se belange as sulks te beskerm. Daar word ook aangedui dat grondwetlike "inmenging" met privaatregtelike eiendomsreg daarop gemik is om ongebalanseerdhede in die regsverhoudings tussen persone wat deur die reg as "gelykes" bejeën word en in effek nie gelyk is nie, uit te skakel. In die vierde deel van die uiteensetting word die grondhervormingsprogramrne in Duitsland (sedert hervereniging in 1990) en Suid-Afrika (sedert 1991) bespreek. Die klem val op die pogings van die wetgewer en howe om die verbeterde eiendomsbestel, soos wat dit in die grondwet in die vooruitsig gestel word, te konkretiseer. In beide regstelsels het politieke veranderinge 'n grondhervormingsprogram onontbeerlik gemaak: Die grondhervormingsprogram in Suid-Afrika het ten doelom die ongeregtighede in die grondbesitstelsel wat ontstaan het as gevolg van kolonialisme en apartheid uit te skakel. Vir dié doel berus die grondhervormingsprogram op drie verwante, maar uiteenlopende, beginsels. Die nuwe vorme van grondregte wat uit hierdie sisteem ontstaan, word aangedui, en die wyse waarop hierdie deel van die reg deur die howe hanteer word, word bespreek met verwysing na die betekenis daarvan vir die ontwikkeling van die Eiendomsreg. In Duitsland is die noodwendigheid van 'n grondhervormingsprogram aan die hervereniging van die DDR en die BRD gekoppel. Die sosialisties-georienteerde eiendomsbestel wat in die "oostelike" deel van Duitsland aanwending gevind het, moes vervang word deur die bestel wat reeds in die "westelike" deel van die "nuwe" staat in werking was. Verder moet die grondeise van persone wat grond of besigheidseiendom verloor het gedurende die sosialistiese regeringstyd en die voorafgaande Sowjetiese besetting, opgeweeg word teen die aansprake wat huidige besitters op sulke grond het. Die invloed van wetgewing en regspraak hieroor op die Eiendomsreg word geanaliseer. Die laaste deel van die uiteensetting bevat 'n samevatting van die gevolgtrekkings wat deur die loop van die analise gemaak is.

This thesis probes the land (in)justice in Hong Kong by presenting an archival research which contributes to the inter-disciplinary scholarship of legal geography. It conceptualises the leasehold land system as the legal mechanism in the land (re)development regime and politicises the understanding of land (in)justice by explaining how it is produced and reproduced by the legal mechanism. Drawing on critical realism, Dikeç's spatial dialectics of injustice, Lefebvre's concrete abstraction and several concepts in legal geography, this thesis proposes "spatio-legal dialectics of land (in)justice" as the theoretical framework. Reconstructing the historical geography of this former British colony, through the lens of scalar politics, demonstrates that the legal system and land development have been inextricably intertwined in Hong Kong. Through the legal technicalities of land leases, the Colonial Government transformed the territory of Hong Kong into an exploitable land property, and thus secured the absolute control of land and the effective governance of the society. The expiry problem of the land lease placed the future of Hong Kong as a diplomatic question between China and Britain. The "Tin Shui Wai Myth", situated in the 1980s, reflected the frictions between the two countries. The "Myth" is not only related to the production of the spatiality of injustice as a new town but also associated with the production of the injustice of spatiality because of some legal changes. These legal changes, related to land lease and urban infrastructure, evolved after the Sino-British Negotiation and led the land (re)development regime to be more hegemonic. Understanding Hong Kong as a property jurisdiction, the current problematic of land injustice, under the new constitutional order of the Chinese sovereignty, is elaborated by the thesis of complete exploitation with the concept of urban land nexus. This thesis empirically interprets the mutual constitution of law and urban development, and conceptually engages in the academic debates about (in)justice, law and urban spatiality.

Legislation in various jurisdictions alters the common law right to control access to one???s land by allowing the imposition of rights of access in favour of one landowner over the land of another. The relevant legislation can be divided into two categories. The first-generation legislation (s 88K, Conveyancing Act 1919 (NSW) and s 180, Property Law Act 1974 (Qld)) permits the creation of easements over servient land to facilitate the development of dominant land. The second-generation legislation (the Access to Neighbouring Land Act of New South Wales, Tasmania and the United Kingdom) permits the creation of temporary rights of access over servient land to facilitate work on dominant land. This thesis examines the extent to which this change in the law can be justified by three modes of ethical discourse: right-based, duty-based, and goal-based reasoning. An examination of the first-generation legislation and the cases in which it has been applied suggests that a form of goal-based reasoning can be used to justify its enactment. The legislation is needed to facilitate the efficient use of land where the existence of a bilateral monopoly and the possibility of strategic bargaining puts at risk the conclusion of a mutually beneficial agreement regarding access. A review of the second-generation legislation and the law reform reports and parliamentary debate that preceded its enactment indicates that the legislation can be justified by a form of duty-based reasoning. The legislation is needed to bring about a proper social ordering by imposing access rights where this would be consistent with the ideal of good neighbourliness. The thesis concludes that although these goal-based and duty-based discourses make an arguable case for the enactment of both generations of the legislation, neither of them, in an unadulterated form, provides a conclusive justification. Rather, an eclectic approach that draws on both discourses is required. It proposes that the legislation???s compensation provisions be amended to reflect the commingling of the ideas of efficiency, a properly ordered society and intensive land use, and to allow the servient owner to share in the benefits generated by the imposition of access.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2011.
The main objective of this research was to evaluate the impact of Employment Equity Legislation on land reform delivery within the Provincial Land Reform Office of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform in the Western Cape Province. In order to achieve this goal the researcher conducted a literature search of relevant books, journal articles, academic papers, news paper articles, legislation and subordinate legislation, policy documents, official reports, other applicable published and unpublished research materials. In conjunction with the literature search, the researcher developed a survey questionnaire to establish whether employment equity legislation does have a negative impact on land reform delivery within the provincial land reform office in the Western Cape. The survey was conducted arnonqst 60 employees within the Provincial Land Reform Office in Cape Town, including the District Offices of the Provincial Office. Fifty four (54) responses were used in the analysis, which represent a 90% rate of return. Based on the findings of the literature study and the empirical survey, 51.9% respondents' are of the opinion that the implementation of employment equity legislation does have a negative impact on land reform delivery within the provincial land reform office of the Western Cape. The researcher recommends that the department should consider using provincial demographics when employing staff within its provincial offices to ensure a more stable workforce. This is a true reflection of the responses as the majority of the respondents (81.5 %) agreed that Employment Equity (EE) targets should be based on provincial demographics rather than national demographics, whilst 13% of the respondents disagreed with this statement. Seventy seven comma eight percent (77.8 %) of the respondents also agreed that EE should reflect the target market being served. This will go a long way to foster good employer - employee relationships.

This thesis deals with the conceptualization of access to land by the dispossessed as a human right and commences with an account of the struggle for land between the peoples of African and European extractions in South Africa. It is observed that the latter assumed sovereignty over the ancestral lands of the former. The thesis discusses the theoretical foundation of the study and situates the topic within its conceptual parameters. The writer examines the notions of justice and equity in the context of the post apartheid constitutional mandate to redress the skewed policy of the past. It is argued that the dispossession of Africans from lands that they had possessed for thousands of years on the assumption that the land was terra nullius was profoundly iniquitous and unjust. Although the study is technically limited to dispossessions occurring on or after the 13th June 1913, it covers a fairly extensive account of dispossession predating this date. This historical analysis is imperative for two reasons. Besides supporting the writer’s contention that the limitation of restitution to land dispossessed on or after 1913 was arbitrary, it also highlights both the material and non-material cost of the devastating wars of dispossessions. The candidate comments extensively on the post apartheid constitutional property structure which was conceived as a redress to the imbalance created by dispossession. This underlying objective explains why the state’s present land policy is geared towards facilitating access to land for the landless. The thesis investigates the extent to which the present property structure which defines access to land as a human right has succeeded in achieving the stated objective. It reviews the strengths and weaknesses of the land restitution process as well as the question of the payment of just and equitable compensation for land expropriated for restitution. The latter was carefully examined because it plays a crucial role in the success or otherwise of the restitution scheme. The writer argues that the courts have, on occasions, construed just and equitable compensation generously. This approach has failed to reflect the moral component inherent in the Aristotelian corrective justice. This, in the context of South Africa, requires compensation to reflect the fact that what is being paid for is land dispossessed from the forebears of indigenous inhabitants. It seems obvious that the scales of justice are tilted heavily in favour of the propertied class whose ancestors were responsible for this dispossession. This has a ripple effect on the pace of the restitution process. It also seems to have the effect of favouring the property class at the expense of the entire restitution process. The candidate also comments on the court’s differing approaches to the interpretation of the constitutional property clause. The candidate contends that the construction of the property clause and related pieces of legislation in a manner that stresses the maintenance of a balance between private property interest and land reform is flawed. This contention is supported by the fact that these values do not have proportional worth in the present property context of South Africa. The narrow definition of “past racially discriminatory law and practices” and labour tenant as used in the relevant post apartheid land reform laws is criticized for the same reason of its uncontextual approach. A comparative appraisal of similar developments relating to property law in other societies like India and Zimbabwe has been done. The writer has treated the post reform land evictions as a form of dispossession. The candidate notes that the country should guard against allowing the disastrous developments in Zimbabwe to influence events in the country and calls for an amendment of the property clause of the constitution in response to the practical difficulties which a decade of the operation of the current constitution has revealed.

AbstractRecent court decisions in Australia and in overseas jurisdictions have made important progress in society’s acceptance of the significance of climate change in the long-term protection of the environment. The term ‘climate litigation’ is now generally used to refer to legal proceedings initiated to establish responsibility for a failure to prevent or reduce the rate of climate change and/or mitigate its negative consequences. Such legal proceedings are being initiated in courts, tribunals and other rule compliance monitoring bodies, operating around the world, at the domestic, regional, or global level. One decision, in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court on 26 August 2021, orders the New South Wales Environment Protection Authority to develop environmental quality objectives, guidelines and policies to ensure protection of the environment from climate change with regard to its duties under the Protection of the Environment Administration Act 1991. This decision is regarded as a landmark decision in New South Wales in that it orders a statutory authority to exercise its duty and legal responsibilities under the Protection of the Environment Administration Act with regard to the level of seriousness that climate change impacts have reached for the New South Wales environment. The case is also significant because the definition of “environment” under the Protection of the Environment Administration Act encapsulates a broad range of ecological elements, including the “soil”. In this context, this chapter argues that the decision is important for a number of reasons including: by interpretation “soil” is a component of the “environment” and it should be protected from climate change under the Protection of the Environment Administration Act; the way the decision is made provides a guiding framework which can used to examine existing environmental laws for protection of the soil environment against climate change; and it provides a guiding framework to prepare new soil legislation with the requisite procedures to develop environmental quality objectives, guidelines and policies to protect the soil environment from climate change. Having regard to these various aspects of the decision, they provide a guiding structure in which to assess the protection of the soil environment in New South Wales, but also a procedure which might be beneficial to other countries to assess the legal protection of the soil environment. The way soil is being used in Australia and around the world is directly contributing to global warming by releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Soil degradation from agricultural land use, vegetation clearing and urban and infrastructure projects and pollution of soil from industrial works require closer attention from legislative and policy structures. Therefore, it is appropriate that increasing attention must be placed on the protection of the soil environment through the adoption of legislative, policy and mitigation responses which prevent the use of soil in a manner that makes it a significant contributor to climate change.

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter reviews the statutory protection potentially available to B if he or she has a lease. It is shown that, in some cases, B can be seen as having a lease (at least, in the sense used by a particular statute) even if B has no property right. A lease can give B status: the status of a party qualifying for statutory protection. As the Law Commission has noted, however, it is questionable whether the availability of such protection should continue to turn on whether B has a lease rather than a licence, and a new approach has been taken in recent reforms introduced in Wales.

All books in this flagship series contain carefully selected substantial extracts from key cases, legislation, and academic debate, providing able students with a stand-alone resource. This chapter reviews the statutory protection potentially available to B if he or she has a lease. It is shown that, in some cases, B can be seen as having a lease (at least, in the sense used by a particular statute) even if B has no property right. A lease can give B status: the status of a party qualifying for statutory protection. As the Law Commission has noted, however, it is questionable whether the availability of such protection should continue to turn on whether B has a lease, rather than a licence, and a new approach has recently been taken in Wales.

The 1925 legislation was enacted in part to encourage the development of the registration of title to land, to which end the basic doctrines of substantive Land Law had to be simplified. Thereafter, the legislation’s ultimate goal has been to make sure that all land titles in England and Wales are registered. Registration of title aims to facilitate the security of land ownership and land transfer. This chapter focuses on the registration of land titles in England and Wales. After providing an overview of the basics of title registration, it discusses the Land Registration Act 2002, registrable interests, registration with an absolute title, third party rights, unregistered interests which override registration, titles that are less than absolute, dealings with registered land, and indemnity as a result of alteration of register.

The 1925 legislation was enacted in part to encourage the development of the registration of title to land, to which end the basic doctrines of substantive Land Law had to be simplified. Thereafter, the legislation’s ultimate goal has been to make sure that all land titles in England and Wales are registered. Registration of title aims to facilitate the security of land ownership and land transfer. This chapter focuses on the registration of land titles in England and Wales. After providing an overview of the basics of title registration, it discusses the Land Registration Act 2002, registrable interests, registration with an absolute title, third party rights, unregistered interests which override registration, titles that are less than absolute, dealings with registered land, and indemnity as a result of alteration of register.

The 1925 legislation was enacted in part to encourage the development of the registration of title to land, to which end the basic doctrines of substantive Land Law had to be simplified. Thereafter, the legislation’s ultimate goal has been to make sure that all land titles in England and Wales are registered. Registration of title aims to facilitate the security of land ownership and land transfer. This chapter focuses on the registration of land titles in England and Wales. After providing an overview of the basics of title registration, it discusses the Land Registration Act 2002, registrable interests, registration with an absolute title, third-party rights, unregistered interests which override registration, titles that are less than absolute, dealings with registered land, and indemnity as a result of alteration of register.

A requirement for the environmental impact assessment (EIA) of certain major development projects was a result of the first direct impact of European Community law on domestic town and country planning law. Originally promulgated in 1985, Council Directive ‘The Assessment of the Effect of Certain Public and Private Projects on the Environment’ is now in a recast form, as Directive 2011/92/EU. The terms of which have been implemented in England and Wales by the Town and Country Planning (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2017 (SI 2017/571 in England) and (SI 2017/567 in Wales). This chapter will however focus on the English Regulations. There are in fact many sets of statutory provisions which implement different parts of the Directive, dealing with such matters as afforestation projects, highways, harbour works, land drainage, fish farming, and electricity and pipeline works. Where the procedure for the approval of projects requiring environmental impact assessment under the Directive is dealt with under other legislation (eg highways under the Highways Acts), separate subordinate legislation has been introduced. These, however, fall outside the scope of this chapter.

Abstract Most useable land in African countries is under customary forms of tenure, which today are facing considerable threat from the increasing appropriation of customary land by national and international agents, as well as from land policies and agricultural-development programs that push privatization. The typical basis of landholding across Sub-Saharan Africa was, and continues to be, through belonging to localized descent groups. Colonial “customary law” denied the status of property to customary landholdings by placing the land in trust of “native” or “traditional” authorities, a denial that continues in most countries today. Up through the 1990s, flawed land reforms, structural adjustment policies, indebtedness, economic downturn, and global trade imbalance all exacerbated the conflicts over land. The current century has seen these conditions worsen along with the financialized volatility of capital and a rush for land for production, investment, and speculation by national and international players. Repeated calls to increase the “security” of land rights produce legislation and policies that are overly focused on privatization and individual rights rather than on finding the means to legally recognize existing and long held “customary” land rights.

Property systems may be formal or informal. Formal property systems are those where the interests are explicitly acknowledged and protected by the law. This is the case for the vast majority of property rights in developed countries. Informal property interests are those that are recognized by the local, informal community but which are not formally acknowledged by the state. They exist in most developing countries outside the legal system and are often the result of inadequate legislation, or excessive and inefficient bureaucracies. Many legal systems, such as those based on the French Napoleonic code, have been established ‘top down’ with a framework of law imposed by legislators. The common law systems on the other hand are based on a ‘bottom-up’ approach in which the customs and practices of the people eventually become written down and accepted within a statutory framework. Historically, common law systems grew out of informal systems and, through the body of case law that developed, gradually became accepted across the whole of the jurisdiction. ‘Top-down’ legal systems are essentially negative in that actions may not be undertaken unless they are permitted by the law; ‘bottom-up’ systems generally work on the basis that anything is permitted unless explicitly forbidden by the law. In many of the central and eastern European countries, land reform has been delayed because there were decisions that could not be taken because there was no law that permitted them. Rather than move on with the processes, laws had to be drafted and agreed specifying that such actions were permissible. As an example, work could not be contracted out to the private sector because the law did not say that this was permissible; there was however no statement that such action was forbidden. Informal systems of tenure provide no state security but can, in practice, be sufficiently robust for the people in the areas concerned to invest in housing and development; an estimated three-quarters of Greater Cairo, for example, is said to have been developed without formal approvals.