SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The law relating to landlord and tenant is of special economic and social importance in contemporary Nigeria. At the same time a form of grant by the issue of "a right of occupancy" (analogous to a lease) has been the preferred means imposed by Statute for the public regulation of the use and alienation of land in the Northern Region which comprises three-quarters of the land area of Nigeria. Except in Lagos, an alien cannot acquire a better title to land than by way of a lease for up to a maximum period of 99 years. The Nigerian law of landlord and tenant is at the same time an extremely complex one, since the law comprises several distinct bodies of rules, traceable to different origins, which have to be compared and reconciled, both for academic study and for practical application. This law includes the common and statute law of England, Nigerian legislation amending the English law, special enactments such as the Acquisition of Land by Aliens Law of Eastern Nigeria) and many different systems of unwritten customary law. In this thesis an attempt has been made to restate the main principles of the applicable laws, and at the same time to make a jurisprudential comparison of the institutions, concept, rules and techniques of the different bodies of law, with a view to their explanation and harmonization. Chapter 1 gives a historical sketch of the laws applicable in Nigeria and describes the courts which operate these laws, Chapter 2 deals with the land laws of the country in general. Chapter 3 analyses the concept of the relation between landlord and tenant and distinguishes it from other similar relationships. Chapter U gives an account of the usual methods of creating tenancies and Chapter 5 examines the scope of the grant once a valid tenancy has been created. The duties imposed on landlords and tenants are dealt with in Chapter 6. Chapter 7 discusses the determination of tenancies while Chapter 8 examines the restrictions imposed upon landlords by two pieces of legislation which have been applied more or less in the same way as the English Rent Acts. The thesis concludes with a description of Succession to the rights and duties of landlords and tenants.