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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:The Rev. David Clement Scott and the issue of land title in British Central Africa
Author:Stuart-Mogg, DavidISNI
Year:2004
Periodical:The Society of Malawi Journal
Volume:57
Issue:2
Pages:21-34
Language:English
Geographic terms:Malawi
Great Britain
Subjects:missions
colonialism
land law
External link:https://www.jstor.org/stable/29779153
Abstract:After 1878, serious scandals threatened the continued existence of the Blantyre Mission in Malawi, founded in 1876. The basis of the problem stemmed from the fact that the Blantyre Mission had little or no legal status within the territory in which it had settled, yet it assumed responsibility for civil jurisdiction over those indigenous peoples who sought enlightenment, refuge or employment from its representatives. At this period it was a popularly held belief that unlettered nomadic tribesmen held little or no title to lands over which they roamed and occasionally settled. On 23 March 1880 the then head of the mission, the Rev. Duff MacDonald, was ordered to abandon all notion of civil jurisdiction, which should in future be left to the discretion of local village headmen. It was the Rev. David Clement Scott who was persuaded to take MacDonald's place and revive the fortunes of the failing mission. This paper presents a transcript, with commentary, of a letter on 'the solution of the land questions in the interests of the natives', written by Scott in December 1891. Notes, ref. [ASC Leiden abstract]
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