MODES OF ACQUISITION OF LAND

CONTENTS

1:0         Introduction

2:0         Objectives

3:0         Main Content

3:1      Settlement

3:2     Conquest

3:3     Sale

4:0      Conclusion

5:0      Summary

6:0     Tutor Marked Assignment

7:0     Reference/Further Reading

INTRODUCTION

The mode of acquisition of title to a land is very important. This is because in an action for declaration of title to land, the claimant must be able to trace his title to the original owner. He must not only prove the title through his predecessor in title he must also prove a valid transfer of the interest to him. Title to land may be either original or derivative. An original title is one that is the very root, and not derived from  any other source, it is the foundation  of the title beyond which there is no other title.

OBJECTIVE

At the end of this unit the student will understand the acquisition of  original  title.  Settlement and conquest.

MAIN CONTENT

• Settlement

Settlement connotes the person who first settled on a particular parcel of land free from any other adverse claim, such first settler is recognized  in law as the  owner  thereof the settler may be a family or community or even individual the title is established as an absolute one. In the case of Owonyin v Omotosho (1962) W.N.L.R 1, the court held, “But ownership or title must go to the first settler in the absence of  any  evidence  that  they jointly settled on the land or that a grant of joint ownership was made to the later arrival by the first. The question, therefore, resolves itself to this – who was the first settler on the land”…

The first settler must prove that at the time of first settlement  there was no other claimant  or settler on the land. Where the first settler merely settled on land and later abandons it without laying claim to any portion of the land, he cannot later come back to claim ownership. In case where the first settler allowed others to inhabit the portions of the land, he must exert some form of rent from them to assert of his ownership, where this is not  done, if may be diffident for him to do this later. Today, it may not be easy for anyone to assert that he acquired the land by settlement as no land in Nigeria is free of settlement.

To successfully prove ownership under customary law today, the claimant must be  able trace his title to the first settler on the land, inability to do this may be fatal to his claim.

• CONQUEST

Acquisition of land by conquest is possible under native law and custom, and the conqueror is then regarded as the original owner  of the land. The Privy Council in the case  of Mora v Nwalusi (1962) 1 All NLR 681 agreed that it is not in doubt that proof  of  possession following conquest will suffice to establish ownership”. Though as a matter of fact, the person who acquired the title from the first settler, which follows that his title is derivative through conquest and not really original. But, it is still generally agreed that acquisition by conquest is still an original acquisition by conquest is still an original acquisition of title under customary law. (see Olawoye ap. at p.41).

We must note however, that it is not possible today to acquire title by conquest; in fact a forceful or violent acquisition of land is a criminal offence.

CONCLUSION

There are only two recognized original means of acquiring title under  customary  law  – these are by settlement and by conquest, and as we noted,  settlement  and conquest  may  not be possible again today, but the claimant must still be able to prove his root of title to  any of these two ways of acquisition of title under customary law.

SUMMARY

There are two types of original acquisition of title to land, these are by settlement which is the right of the first settler on land, who is exercising maximum rights of ownership and which is recognized by law.

Conquest on the other land is a forceful displacement of the original settler forcefully and establishing his rights on the land.

TUTOR MARKED ASSIGNMENT

Examine the relative importance of original title to land under customary law.

REFERENCES/FURTHER READING

B .O.NWABUEZE, 1972, Nigerian Land Law,Nwamife Publishers Limited Enugu

 Coker, Family Property among the Yorubas,(2nd ed)

Lloyd, (1962) Yoruba Land Law

Lloyd, 1965, Yoruba Inheritance andSuccession  in Derret,ed.  Studies in Law of Succession in Nigeria

Elias, British Colonial Law

Elias, Nigerian Land Law and Custom Elias,Nature of African Customary Law

Pollock, 1961, Jurisprudence and Legal Essays, London.

Omotola, 1984, Essays on the Land Use Act , Lagos University Press

Olawoye ,1970, Meaning of family property,NJCL vol 2 p300

Oluyede, 1989,Modern Nigerian Law, Evans Bros,(Nigerian publication)Ltd Olawoye, Title to Land in Nigeria,

Obi, 1963, The Ibo Law of Property.