KHAMIS FARAJI ABDALLA

LAND LAW

COURSE CODE: LW 214

ZANZIBAR UNIVERSITY

DATE: 8/12/215
 Land law

• Land law is the body of law which regulate land matters.

• This body of law deals with the meaning of law it self,
uses and ownership of land, transfer of land, settlement
of land dispute and the laws which regulate land matter
in the country.
• The land law as a body of law existed before coming
colonialism
• This is the known as the customary land law
 Land law

• It is a body of doctrines which governs the ownership

of, commercial transfer and the use of land.
• It focuses on relationships between land and rights
which can exist in and over land and the relationship
between various persons who wish to own or defeat
those competing interests.
• It is about ownership, interests, restrictions and the
machinery of law.
 Land law
• Ownership refers to the physical size of the land owned or
possessed.
• Interest include rights enjoyed by a person not the owner of the
land and are binding on subsequent holders or owners of the land
eg lessees, mortgagees etc.
• Restrictions are limitations or statutory regulation of certain
forms of disposition of land or interest in land.
• The machinery of the law is how to deal with disputes over land
(procedures)
NB Land law therefore addresses all these aspects.
 Sources of land law
• Constitution
- the URT Constitution provides clearly for private property and compensation to all those
whose property has been acquired. Article 24.
- the acknowledgement in the national land policy that land should be constitutional category.
Article 180.
• Statute ie piece of legislation
- The Land Act and the Village Land Act are the principal laws that regulate land in Tanzania
Mainland. The Land Act is specific to land other than village land while the Village Land Act
is specific for addressing village land.
• Customary law
- including cutting down trees, burning, clearing
• Islamic law ie applied in muslim matter of inheritance
• Case law, the court decision act as the source of law
 Objectives of studying land
law
• Generally the objective of studying land law is to get an understanding of
the manner land is managed and regulated. However the specific
objectives include:-
(i) To acquire knowledge on the rights and liabilities attached to interests
in land and how to address them.
(ii) To acquire knowledge on the meaning of land and its distinction with
other sets of properties.
(iii) To provide an understanding on the rules and procedure that regulate
conveyancing. A conveyancer deals with various people he must have in
contemplation: - These include vendors and vendees, mortgagors and
mortgagees, lessor and lessees, ownership and encumbrances .
 Challenges in understanding
land law
• Land law is a legal subject just like any other subject, you will
note that it requires a lot of concentration and revision. The facts
and issues that are normally dealt with are sometimes intertwined.
• It is obvious that studying land law for the first time will make
you come across terminologies which are somewhat new and
confusing.
• It is reduce the bulkness of descriptive hurdles though. But again
while to a lay person land may mean the soil, legally land
includes everything that is attached to it thus Quicquid Plantatur
solo solo cedit.
 Challenges in understanding
land law
• This field of law uses ancient and technical
language and frequently refers back to history,
often at great speed with little depth. But a
structured approach to study the key principles will
help a great deal.
 Land definitions

• According to Zanzibar context as has been provided in the

Land Tenure Act No 12/1992 defined as includes land
covered by water, all things growing on land, and buildings
and other things permanently affixed to land, except trees
when specifically classified and owned separately.
• Land is part of soil and anything permanently fixed on it
whether above or below the surface
• Any things permanently fixed on soil like building, fences,
sheds form part of the land.
 Tanzania Main land

• Land includes the surface of the earth and the earth

below the surface and all substances other than
minerals or petroleum forming path of or below the
surface, things naturally growing on the land,
building and other structures permanently affixed
to or under the land covered by water.
 Let discuss case of Elwis v
Maw (1802) 3EAST 38
• In this case the tenant farmer had build at his own
cost of shade and fuel house and the tenant
removed before the end of the lease.
• It was held that a farmer could not remove chattels
even if they were fixed to his hold for his sole
purpose of improving of his agricultural operation.
 Test for the land

On determining the whether the items attached

form a part of land or whether a fixed items has
become part of the land, two degree will
determine:
a. The degree of annexation
b. The purpose of annexation
 The degree of annexation

The degree of annexation must have be substantial and

actually fixed and it is impossible to remove it easily
without destruction it or cause damage to the land.
Alistone Ltd v Moris (1908) 1 ch 615, the question was
whether wooden bungalows were chattels or were part of the
land. The House of Lords held that the bungalows were not
chattels but were part of the land. A structure of such this
bungalows had been highly likely to be part and parcel of
the land.
 The purpose of annexation
The purpose of annexation was not to affect a permanent
improvement of the land as such but to enable the owner of the
chattel to enjoy it as that or if the improvement is temporary
measured then the article would remain a chattel, provided it
can be removed without injury to it self. This not affect a
permanent improvement.
- case of Hamp v Bygrave (1983) 266 EG 720
The defendant want to sell his flat, he want to remove his items
photolyte and birth room sink the purchaser claim.
 The court held

• The court held that the question to asked is whether those

items fixed or chattels, if it fixed does not allow to remove
those things and it was chattels, it can be removed . So
maxim quic quid plantatur solo solo cedit applied to this
case.
• Another case Barckay v Poulet (1977) 241 EG 911, the
seller wants to remove a white marbles and other pictures.
The purchaser argued that, it was not part of land since
those were chattels. There fore according to UK the owner
of the is owned everything's attached to the land only.
 Distinction between fixtures
and chattels
• The distinction between fixtures and chattels since this
develops and applies the distinction between real and
personal property which may have formed
• The difficulty with the distinction between fixtures and
chattels is that it rests on a factual basis and, although basic
principles have been established and can be applied, there are
numerous cases which have been decided on their own
individual facts. Thus, in one case, a seat can be a fixture, in
another, a chattel.
• There are also some Latin maxims on the loose here despite
attempts to modernize the law. Cuius est solum eius est usque
ad coelum et ad inferos (the owner of the land owns
everything up to the sky and down to the centre of the earth)
Thanks