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Abstract

This thesis relates to the customary law of property among the Nyimang of the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan. Besides other forms of property dealt with here, the major emphasis of the investigation is laid on land as property. The research is also oriented to investigating rules governing property relations in the traditional sector and changes in attitude and practice due to modern socio-political and economic developments in the Nyimang area. It further involves the investigation of the traditional process of dispute settlement and how customary rules operate alongside or within the general national legal framework. Chapter I is a general description of the people's history and social and political institutions. Chapter II deals with the concept, classification and the effect of property relations in the Nyimang society. Chapters III and IV are about property and domestic relations. There the nature of the Nyimang family, the concept of illegitimacy, the position of the Nyimang father and his role in the management of the Nyimang type of family property are discussed. In Chapters V, VI and VII the nature of the rights and interests in land is investigated. It is shown there that, as a rule, title to land among the Nyimang is held individually. Disposition and acquisition of rights and interests in property by way of gift, sale, pledge and gratuitous tenancy are dealt with in Chapter VIII. In Chapter IX rules governing succession to property and hereditary offices are shown. Under Chapter X the modes of protecting rights and claims over property are discussed.