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

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Bong County, for example, politically powerful individuals from the coast used money and connections to
pressure farmers and chiefs into selling their land. In other cases, such individuals would promise to contribute
to local development (e.g., offering to build a road) in exchange for land, for which outsiders would subsequently
acquire a deed. Some local authorities offered land to powerful individuals in exchange for political patronage,
but justified the exchange to their constituents in the name of development (Cobb et al., 1979).
Road construction further induced speculative behavior and altered the tenure landscape as well-connected elites
sought to acquire land near roads (Rose, 2011). According to Cobb (1979), as soon as road development projects
were announced – or even rumored – speculators would “rush to obtain deeds to land” in the area. Those with
money and/or personal connections were able to purchase or otherwise obtain long-term control over large
swathes of land near to motor roads. Those without resources, however, were disenfranchised and forced to
move away from roads and into the bush (p. 13).
As land grabbers pushed to validate their claims by private deeds and concessions, indigenous farmers found
themselves losing access and rights to their land. Over time, land held under customary tenure was increasingly
alienated and transferred to statutory tenure. This shift occurred by way of the acquisition of land deeds by
Americo-Liberians and other well-connected individuals, principally wealthy individuals from Monrovia, who
bought land in the interior for the cultivation of cash crops and mining (Bledsoe, 1976). The establishment of
Firestone in the 1920s paved the way for commercial concessions to also become a legal basis for conversion of
land rights to the statutory tenure system. Unruh (2009) argues that the unbridled appropriation of land
generated tenure insecurity and conflict among those who held land under customary tenure.
Despite the encroachment of statutory tenure claims, land in the interior continued and continues to be
principally governed by customary tenure systems. However, these systems have also changed. For example,
Rose (2011) found that farmers were claiming inalienable ownership of trees, and that cash cropping was being
grafted atop subsistence farming. Cobb (1979) also found that deeds were out of the reach of the majority of
rural farmers, who thus planted life trees to strengthen their customary claims to land (p. 14).
1.3.2 Overview of Statutory Law Governing Tenure in Rural Liberia
As a common law country, Liberia relies on both statutes and case law to define the legal regime governing land
tenure. This likewise holds true when it comes to law governing the land rights of Liberians residing in rural
areas where customary tenure systems still prevail, though most such law derives from statutes.
The basis for the recognition of customary law in Liberia is found in the 1986 Constitution which requires courts
to apply both statutory and customary law. 8 The Supreme Court of Liberia has made it clear in a series of case
opinions that customary law will be upheld where it does not directly conflict with the Constitution or the
express provisions of statutory law (World Bank Report, 2008, p. 30). Despite this, customary land law has not
been dealt with in any significant way by statutory courts. The issue of where customary law fits within the
statutory system has not been addressed. This has prevented customary law from being absorbed into the larger
framework of formal law in Liberia as it has in many other African nations. This creates ambiguity concerning
the enforcement of customary land rights in the courts.
The 1956 Public Lands Law provides the basic legal framework governing public land, although what constitutes
public land is never defined in this or other Liberian law. The law provides a process for purchasing public land,
thereby converting it to private tenure in the form of a deed. To begin the process, the purchaser must acquire a
Tribal Certificate or Public Land Certificate and have it signed by the appropriate authorities confirming that the
parcel is not owned or occupied and that the tribe claiming that land has given the government permission to sell
the land. 9 In the case of county land, a Public Land Certificate must be signed by the Land Commissioner of the
county. For land in the Hinterlands, a TC must be signed by either the Paramount or Clan Chief. Although many
rural Liberians believe the TC alone grants them legal rights to their land, under the Public Lands Law, the
8 1986 Constitution, Art. 65
9 Public Lands Law, 1956, revised 1974 (Title 34, Liberian Code of Laws Revised), Ch. 3, Sec. 30
CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA