SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is the first of its kind, so far as Cameroon land law is concerned, in that it is the first attempt to cover the country as a whole. The subject is treated in five parts comprising a total of twelve chapters. Part one, which is the introduction, has two chapters, the first of which briefly outlines the country's history whereas the second chapter explains the present administrative structure of Cameroon. The third and fourth chapters, of which part two consists are devoted to the ethnic composition of Cameroon. Chapter three traces the patterns of settlement of the different ethnic groups in the territory and chapter four undertakes an analytical description of these groups from the point of view of their political, kinship and economic systems as well as their religions and languages. The two chapters of part three which deal with the indigenous land tenures respectively analyse the interests of benefit on the one hand and the interests of control on the other. These are the two broad schemes of interests enjoyed under the indigenous land tenures in the territory. Part four consists of three chapters corresponding to the three European Powers, Germany, Britain and France which administered the territory between 1884 and 1961. Apart from discussing the effects of this European administration on the indigenous institutions, the administrative and political separation of the territory between 1922 and 1961, when Britain and France administered the area is also discussed. The fifth and final part also contains three chapters. The first two chapters examine the reaction of the governments of the two federated states of East and West Cameroon to the land tenure policies which had been adopted in these territories by France and Britain. The twelfth and last chapter takes a critical look at the current land tenure reforms in the country.