Assessing Land Administration Systems and their Legal Frameworks: A Constitutional Focus (11295) |
| Kehinde Babalola, Simon Hull and Jennifer Whittal (South Africa) |
Mr Kehinde Babalola
PhD Student
University of Cape Town
Cape Town
South Africa
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| Corresponding author Mr Kehinde Babalola (email: bblkeh001[at]myuct.ac.za, tel.: +27670679642) |
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| [ abstract ] [ paper ] [ handouts ] |
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Published on the web 2022-05-16
Received 2022-01-07 / Accepted 2022-04-22 |
| This paper is one of selection of papers published for the FIG Congress 2022 in Warsaw, Poland in Warsaw, Poland and has undergone the FIG Peer Review Process. |
FIG Congress 2022 in Warsaw, Poland
ISBN n/a ISSN 2308-3441
https://fig.net/resources/proceedings/fig_proceedings/fig2022/index.htm
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Abstract |
| Constitutions should provide a legal basis for addressing a country’s land administration system (LAS) and legal reform. Considering this vital role, a country’s constitution should be evaluated to ensure that it supports, in principle, LAS and law reforms that include pro-poor objectives. In recent years, several land administration assessment frameworks have been developed, yet none give attention to the associated legal framework of LAS reform from a constitutional perspective. It is now commonly recognised that a LAS that is significant for all people in a developing country should include pro-poor approaches. A context-specific framework to evaluate a LAS and its legal framework, specifically the relevant constitution, is lacking. The study addresses this gap in developing a conceptual framework to support the holistic evaluation of a country’s constitution in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The framework development involves secondary data (constitution, land laws, land policy, legislation, and published journal articles) collated and assessed using a sampling logic method. Three key areas of a constitution emerged as important to the delivery of pro-poor LAS: human rights, rule of law, and legal pluralism.
The impact of a constitution and potential areas of improvement may be revealed with the application of the conceptual framework. This study is aimed at LAS and the reform of its legal framework from a constitutional perspective. Because the practice of African customary law is principally in rural and peri-urban areas, it is aimed at achieving the significance of the LAS for peri-urban and rural land rights holders. The study is significant for policymakers, professionals, and academics engaged in the reform of the LAS and its legal framework in a developing country SSA context.
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| Keywords: Capacity building; Cadastre; Land management; Security of tenure; Access to land; Legislation; land administration system (LAS); legal framework; legal pluralism; Constitution; land policy; customary law; social justice |
