Local Case Studies in African Land Law

Abstract

"The importance of land law for the rule of law in Africa can hardly be questioned. Population pressures and competition over access to land and resources generate much conflict, complicated by the historical legacy of colonial laws and land-grabbing, and by post-independence land law reforms. The international development agencies increasingly fund projects related to land law, policy and administration with the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and Habitat each maintaining specialist land tenure units, and the AU and SADC formulating land policy frameworks. This book on local case studies in African land law is one of a pair, the other presenting more general themes. It is not so easy to achieve an overview, nor to find specialist writers in the field. Land law has traditionally been regarded as a difficult subject to teach, and specialists are fewer in the law departments of African universities than one might expect."