Customary Land Tenure in Liberia - Land Tenure and Property ...

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This chapter begins with a presentation of the study objectives, then proceeds to summarize some of the
literature describing land tenure and livelihoods in Liberia today and in the past. This is followed by a brief
historical account of land tenure in the customary realm drawing partly on ethnographic research. Next, we offer
a synthesis of the main pieces of Liberia‟s civil law that affect the land tenure of tribal people. The chapter
concludes with remarks on the interface of customary and statutory tenure.
1.1 BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
As described in the LPIS Scope of Work, the overarching objective of the study was to increase the Land
Commission‟s understanding of the needs of rural communities and opportunities for policy and legal reform
governing land held under customary tenure. Within this framework, the study sought to address the following
objectives, which were agreed upon with the Land Commission prior to embarking on the study and
subsequently revisited following the pilot study:
Figure 1.2: Research Objectives: Customary Tenure Research
I. Area claimed by community (note: not an inventory of claims in the area):
Under customary tenure; and
Under formal tenure arrangements (public, fee simple).
II. Composition of community:
Autochthonous/migrants;
Women/men;
Elderly/middle-aged/youth;
Dominant/minority groups; and
Former internally displaced persons (IDPs) (from area and not)/people who stayed throughout war/persons
who settled during war/new settlers (not former IDPs from area) since war.
III. Land and resource uses/tenure niches:
Household land/resources–resources, uses, primary and secondary right holders;
Commons–resources, uses, primary and secondary right holders;
Seasonal changes, historical trends and changes, factors shaping those changes; and
Foreseen changes in resource availability and in land uses, ideal changes.
IV. Livelihood activities:
Farming–specific crops grown, when, and by whom (men/women/youth/other groups), commercial/
subsistence;
Livestock, forest resources, water resources, fishing, etc.–when, who, commercial/subsistence;
Relative importance of different livelihood activities;
Historical trends and changes, factors shaping those changes; and
Anticipated changes in livelihoods in the future, ideal changes.
V. Rights and rules surrounding land/resources (formal and informal):
Accessing land and resources: allocation, inheritance, sharecropping/rental, borrowing;
Using private and public land–as a household and in common, restrictions;
Overlapping rights–uses, users, seasonal shifts;
Differences between women and men, between different groups (including migrants)–accessing
land/resources, use rights to land/resources and control rights (who decides), rationales for different rules;
Historical trends and changes, factors shaping those changes; and
Anticipated changes in rights and rules in the future, ideal changes.
CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA