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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Problems in the description of African systems of landholding
Author:MacCormack, Geoffrey
Year:1983
Periodical:Journal of Legal Pluralism and Unofficial Law
Issue:21
Pages:1-14
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:customary law
land law
External link:https://doi.org/10.1080/07329113.1983.10756275
Abstract:There has been much controversy over the terminology by which the rights to land in African indigenous systems may appropriately be described. In essence the question has been whether the English word 'ownership', either by itself or in some combination such as 'individual', 'family', or 'communal' ownership, provides a suitable rendering for the legal relationships between individuals or groups and land in African societies. The question of the appropriate term to be used raises more than a purely linguistic issue. It conceals an important issue of substance, namely whether African societies know the legal institution of ownership. The author draws attention to two aspects of the problem which perhaps have received insufficient treatment. The first is the failure always to make a clear distinction between 'description' and 'comparison', and the second is the handling of the indigenous terms. Notes.
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