Definition
and Nature of Nigerian Land Law
Land Law is enjoined to
regulate the legal relationship of persons to corporeal properties, thereby
providing a secure foundation for the acquisition, enjoyment and disposal of it
- it describes and regulates the rights, interests and estates on land. It is
therefore important to understand and define land, what it is and distinguish
between land as a property and or right and other properties. Land is peculiar
property because it is immovable unlike other properties, capable of being
owned, it is transferable in its form, it is capable of being owned in
different forms, it means that different interests may exist on land
simultaneously and each interest is a right enforceable by each interest
holder.
The area of Land Law in
Nigeria is a complex thing. No doubt it constitutes an area in Civil Litigation
where disputes in land matters take a large part of civil suits in the courts.
This disputes range from challenge of ownership, threat to possession (trespass)
whether actionable under Customary Land Law or the Land Use Act. There is no
doubt that we could suppose that the value attached to landed properties in
Nigeria is directly traceable to the fact that supposed owners or possessors of
it guide it with every possible security needed legally.
Land has been defined in the
Interpretation Act (Cap 123 LFN 2004) as
“including, any building and any other thing attached to the earth or
permanently fastened to anything so attached, but does not include minerals”. Section 2 of the Property and Conveying Law
of 1959 defines Land as “…land of any tenure, building or parts of
buildings (whether the division is horizontal, vertical, or made in any other
way, and other corporeal hereditament, also rent and an easement right,
privilege of benefit in, over or derived from land, but not an undivided share
in land.”
From the above definition of
land as to what is obtainable under the Nigerian Land Law, it will amaze to
observe that minerals is omitted from the definition of land notwithstanding
literally speaking it forms part of the land. This could be a deliberate
omission, since ownership of minerals is the exclusive right of the government;
this exclusive right may be inferred from section
3(1) of the Minerals Act, Laws of the Federation 1990, Cap. 226.
rbev
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