Land Tenure in Sierra Leone

This book is intended to serve several purposes. The first objective is didactic. The book is primarily for law students who need to know the laws governing land tenure in Sierra Leone. To enable the reader understand the dual system of land tenure in force in Sierra Leone – English tenure in the Western Area and customary tenure in the Provinces – the work starts by giving an account of the background to this duality of tenure. It attempts to explain why this dualism, which arose because of the different colonial experiences of the former Western Area and the former Protectorate, still persists almost fifty years after the two entities were merged to form the unitary State of Sierra Leone. The book explains for the benefit of students the main features of the English-derived land law in the Western Area and the land tenure structure in the Provinces which is governed predominantly by customary law, influenced to a limited extent by the received English law. The book also aims to assist the legal practitioner who may not have undertaken detailed, or indeed any, formal study of the dual system of land tenure in force in Sierra Leone. This it does by illuminating the practical problems that may confront them as they advise their clients or draft legal documents for the creation or transfer of interest in land in different parts of Sierra Leone. It is hoped that the legal practitioner, by reading this work, will appreciate the diversity of the land tenure system in Sierra Leone of which he is required to have an intimate if not specialist knowledge. It is my view that no study of land tenure in Sierra Leone would be complete or of value to the student or legal practitioner if it omitted constructive criticism of the system and consideration and appraisal of proposals for land tenure changes in the light of stated policies. By giving an account of the development of policy initiatives and setting out the achievements and shortcomings of land tenure reform to date the book aims to stimulate debate on current proposals not only among students and practitioners of the law but also among members of the wider non-legal community such as politicians, traditional rulers, private landowners in both the Western Area and the Provinces, financial institutions (for whom land is often the only form of collateral for the loans they may want to make), local and foreign investors, environmentalists, civil society activists (seeking to protect the marginalized landless and poor members of society) and countless other stakeholders. Part 1 which contains two chapters provides a general introduction, outlining the geographical, social and cultural background and political and legal history (Chapter 1); and explaining the present pluralistic legal system (Chapter 2), knowledge of which is indispensable for an understanding of the operation of the dual system of tenure. Part 2 gives an account of English or non-customary tenure and the application of the English law of real property as part of the general law which almost exclusively governs land tenure in the Western Area. Chapter 3 traces the origins and legal basis of title to land in the Western Area. Chapter 4 illustrates the application of the received English land law in specific areas of the land law in force in the Western Area. Part 2 ends with a discussion of the methods of acquisition and proof of title to land in this part of the country (Chapter 5). Part 3, which consists of four chapters, discusses customary land tenure which is in force only in the Provinces. Chapter 6 introduces the concepts of ownership and title to land under customary law. Chapter 7 then highlights the different forms of tenure under customary law. Chapter 8 examines and analyses the nature of interests in land held by various entities under customary law, while Chapter 9 states the law governing the disposition and acquisition of interests in land held under customary tenure. Part 4 focuses on the problems arising from the interaction of the two systems (Chapter 10). Finally, Part 5 provides an appraisal of developments since the year 2000 towards the making of a national land policy (Chapter 11) and the work concludes with a critique of the dual land tenure system and some proposals for its reform (Chapter 12).