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

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We also found that, in the clans where TCs have been introduced, the majority of citizens regard them as
statutory certification of “ownership” with permanent, heritable use rights. Given how widespread this
interpretation is, it may be that officials introducing these documents to rural communities conveyed this
interpretation and that they were likewise informed by the government that these documents alone conferred
robust land rights without the need to subsequently acquire a deed. Moreover, this interpretation could have
been reinforced where local land commissioners reissued TCs to TC holders who had lost their documents
during the war. As a result, over the last half century, TCs have acquired substantial legitimacy in certain parts
of the country and any attempt to nullify them would likely be met with considerable resistance.
Nevertheless, where TCs have resulted in exclusion of some members of the partilineage from land that was
traditionally theirs, their legitimacy is more contested. Moreover, uncertainties prevail about the maximum
area of land that can be secured by a TC. We heard different assertions, even within the same community,
that ranged from 250 to 500 acres. All of these factors are important to consider when assessing whether TCs
should be accorded recognition as legal evidence of a customary holding, and if so, what terms should be
applied to them to ensure that those who are considered to have legitimate claims are not excluded.
Our research suggests that, with the exception of deeds to large areas secured for purposes of securing land
on behalf of clan citizens, deeds have largely been associated with the right to exclude others from using the
land. More recently, deeds are being acquired by elite insiders and wealthy outsiders who choose to remove
their land from the customary tenure system. Perpetuation of the deeds system in rural Liberia – whether
those deeds are issued on behalf of outsiders or insiders – could spell increasing exclusion of the majority of
rural citizens whose claims are rooted in custom and their ancestral, marital, and other ties to the local
community.
Two particularly thorny issues that reforms will have to confront are: 1) the social legitimacy associated with
existing deeds and TCs, and 2) overlapping statutory claims, such as were encountered in Dobli. The latter is
likely to necessitate determining which rights are conferred to which individuals or entities and who ultimately
holds the administration rights.
CUSTOMARY LAND TENURE IN LIBERIA