Resource information
ABSTRACT:
"Is there a ‘best practice’ model for the legal recognition of customary tenure?
If not, is it possible to identify the circumstances in which a particular model
would be most appropriate? This article considers these questions in the light
of economic theories of property rights, particularly as illustrated by the
World Bank’s 2003 land policy report. While these theories have their flaws,
the underlying concept of tenure security allows a typological framework for
developing legal responses to customary tenure. In particular, this article
suggests that the nature and degree of State legal intervention in a customary
land system should be determined by reference to the nature and causes of
any tenure insecurity. This hypothesis is discussed by reference to a wide
variety of legal examples from Africa, Papua New Guinea and the South
Pacific. The objective is not to suggest that law determines resource governance
outcomes in pluralist normative environments, but to improve the
quality of legal interventions in order to assist customary groups to negotiate
better forms of tenure security and access to resources.
