SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The various communities now comprised in the State of Ghana were, before their absorption into the Gold Coast under British colonial rule, separate independent polities. Boundaries between such traditional states were neither abolished, defined nor demarcated. For over three centuries, the basis of the relation between Britain and the Gold Coast was the import-export trade which did not require direct involvement of British subjects in land exploitation. Thus until the last two decades of the nineteenth century, land problems did not concern the colonial government. However, the long contact with Europeans led to the reception of English conceptions of tenure. The introduction of commercial agriculture based on permanent cultivation of cocoa and coffee plantations and the development of the mining and the timber industries during the 1880s had significant impacts on the traditional tenure systems. The concession boom which accompanied these developments caused problems. Land values appreciated and rights to them became keenly contested. Since boundaries remained undefined, there were conflicting and overlapping concession grants. English conveyancing forms and terminology which the grantors could not understand were employed in drafting concession agreements. It was difficult for strangers to identify the persons with legal capacity to deal with the lands which were group-held property. These problems caused insecurity of titles and costly litigation. The measures contained in the abortive Public Lands Bills, 1894 and 1897 were designed to solve these problems. When they were withdrawn on account of European and native opposition, the establishment of a deeds registration system and special courts established to administer concession grants were relied upon for their solution. The Study investigates the effectiveness of these measures and Land administration in the North where the principles of the abortive Land Bills were applied. The period between 1880 and 1977 is covered by the Study.