Land as a Human Right: A History of Land Law and Practice in Tanzania

Rwegasira, Abdon

Land as a Human Right

A History of Land Law and Practice in Tanzania

Publication Year: 2012

Wherever there is a personís right, there is a corresponding duty imposed upon that person to respect the rights of others. This co-existence of rights and duties may be explained better by the principle of reciprocity of rights and duties. Such is the basis of Land as as Human Right: A History of Land Law and Practice in Tanzania. The esteemed author documents Tanzanian land law along its line of historical development (pre- and post-independence) whereby the thorny issues about ìrightsî and ìdutiesî of the landed, landless and the intermediaries are elucidated. This volume is not limited to events in Tanzania, but includes jurisprudence of land law of other countries in order to tap some interpretative devices of our own by way of analogies. Various case types- reported and unreported, local and foreign- provide a tangible content to what would otherwise be pure theory. He also makes references to local newspapers as a way of tapping the public responses about land-related matters. His survey of such cases in and outside Tanzania led automatically to judgments touching on womenís right to matrimonial property and inheritance; individual and collective rights to land; and the right to land of the indigenous peoples. It is the authorís view that land law has remained poorly documented in Tanzania. There is plenty of literature about Land Law, yet these sources are not easily available or even accessible to every interested person. Equally, some of the available literature is so old that it may not always depict land law and/or practice as we tend to understand it today. This volume is a comprehensive text on land law in which all the necessary land law principles are highlighted with great precision. Advocate Rwegasira does this with a human rights approach, believing that it is through this approach that a personís right to land, whether individual or collective can best be explained, especially in this era when conflict over land is unabatedly becoming central in family, communal and societal relations. The language of human rights is for all of us to speak. It follows, therefore, that practitioners both of the bar and the bench will also find it useful for quick reference, much as will do policy makers, law reformers and the general public in and outside Tanzania.

Land as a Human Right

Cover

Title page

Copyright page

Contents

Dedication

Foreword

Preface

Abbreviations and Acronyms

Introduction

Chapter One - Human Rights Movement and the Right to Land in Tanzania

Chapter Two - Land Law Reforms and Tenure Systems in Tanzania

Chapter Three - Land Delivery Systems: The Acquisition of Land

Chapter Four - Land Delivery Systems: Disposition of Land or Interests in Land

Chapter Five - Succession and the Law of Inheritance in Tanzania

Chapter Six - Women and the Right to Land in Tanzania

Chapter Seven - The Right to Land of the Indigenous Minorities in Tanzania

Chapter Eight - The Right to Compensation

Chapter Nine - Land Disputes, Litigation and the Role of Courts in Tanzania

Conclusion

Appendixes

List of Cases

Bibliography

Back cover

Research Areas

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