Module Outline

1. College Chancellor College

2. Faculty/School of Law
3. Department Foundational Law
4. Programme LLB (Hons)
5. Module Title Land Law I
6. Module Code LLB 212
7. Year Two
8. Credits 3
9. Lectures per week 3
10. Clinical/Practical Hours Per Week 1
11. Tutorial/Reflective Learning Per Week 1
12. Revised After one year
13. Approval Date

14 Prerequisites None
15. Co-requisites None

16. Module aim

The aim of this module is to enable the student to discuss and use key concepts, principles, and
doctrines that form the foundation of rules and governing relations in land as an excludable resource
that is crucial for economic security and vulnerability.
17. Module Descriptor
LLB 212 enables the student to use key concepts, principles, doctrines, and rules on land as an
excludable resource that is crucial for economic security and vulnerability. The module stresses
technical conceptual clarity, competing ownership ideologies, the relationship between policy and
law, and the law’s social, economic, ethical, and legal determination of the acquisition rights and
duties in land. Land Law is pivotal to the development of technical knowledge and skills for effective
work in common law and other jurisdictions. The module is, further, a bedrock, for other modules,
such as conveyancing, succession law, family law, commercial law, intellectual property law, and
environmental law. The delivery and learning uses the law’s primary sources of statutory law and
case law. In addition to buzz groups, group work, short moots, and visits, the delivery of the module
uses case studies to deepen understanding of key principles and trends in land law.

18. Intended Learning Outcomes/Competences

On successful completion of the module, the student should be able to:

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Knowledge
(a) Explain comparatively the philosophical bases for the nature and content of property law;
(b) Illustrate key technical concepts in property law;
(c) Articulate the economic, social, and ethical bases for the application of property law
principles and rules to objects of property;
(d) Discuss critically the historical connection between policy and the content of land law in
Malawi.

Attitude
(a) Defend the ethical function for the need for formalities and compliance with conditions for
land and other property law devises;
(b) Value the need for sensitivity and responsiveness to gender and economic vulnerability in
the development and application of laws about ownership;
(c) Defend the need for responsiveness to gender and other disparities in land law’s regulation
of power related to ownership and access to holdings and benefits in economic resources.

Skills
(a) Use jural correlatives and other key concepts in relations about property relation;
(b) Evaluate policy, law, and practice in land law;
(c) Apply progressively the conditions for the transfer of various holdings in land-related
relationships.

19. Indicative Content and Time

No Indicative Content Class/Practical
/Tutorial Time
(a) Land as Property 15
(i) Property as a power relation versus property as a thing
• Incidents of property and the contents of ownership
• The property relation and jural relations
• The dynamism and variation of Property
• The ‘Orthodox’ and the ‘New Property’
• The right to be included, private, and common property
(ii) Case Study 1.1: Land and the Types of Objects of Property
• Types of objects of property as per section 2 of the General
Interpretation Act
▪ Movables and immovable
▪ Animate and inanimate
▪ Vested and contingent
▪ Present and future interested illustrated by remainders
and reversions
▪ Tangibles and Intangibles
(iii) Case Study 1.2: Contestable (Objects of) Property.
• Air Space
• Quasi-Property
• Carbon Offsets
• Derivatives

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 • Body Parts/Cells
(iv) Case Study 1.3: Key Feudal Concepts and Notions in Land Law
• Estate and types
• Tenure
• Seisin
• Purchase and limitation
• Legal and equitable interests
• Objects of Property per Section 2 of the General
Interpretation Act
(v) Conclusion on the meaning of property
• Gradations of property
• Significations of property
(b) Key Approaches to Property Ownership and their Influence on the 10
Content of the Law
(i) The Pervasiveness of Contract Doctrine and Liberal Property
• The Lockean justification of property
• Market-oriented justification of property ownership
(ii) Contract and personhood and property
(iii) Social Trust-based Conceptions of Property-Ownership
• Traditional African and indigenous conceptions
• Socialist approaches and Private/Common Ownership
• Public/Quasi public trust perspectives
(iv) Case Study 2.1: Property-Ownership, Policy and Land Law Reform
in Malawi
• The Attempts to Reform the Ownership of Customary Land in
Malawi Since Colonial Capitalism
• Salient aspects of the new land law
• Evaluation of the new law
(v) Case Study 2.2: Securing Rights in Land
• Adjudication and Registration
➢ Adjudication
➢ Registration
• Security of rights in land under customary Law
• The new law, adjudication, and registration
(c) Acquisition of Land 17
o Rationales in the acquisition of land
o Capacity for the Acquisition of Land
o Acquisition by possession
o Adverse possession
o Prescription
o Acquisition by Reliance
o Inequitable Exclusion
o Proprietary Estoppel
o Constructive trusts
o Implied trusts
o Acquisition by Transfer and Grant
o The centrality of formalities in Land Acquisition
o The conveyance of rights in land between parties
o Vesting of rights in land conveyed
o Contracts

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 o Gifts inter vivos
o Marriage
o Case Study 3.1: Transfer under Customary Law
o Case Study 3.2: State Transfer
o Death and Succession
o Case Study 3.1: Possession and Land Ownership
o Case Study 3.2: The Centrality of Formalities in Land
Acquisition
o Case Study 3.3: Customary Land, Transfer, and the Law
o Case Study 3.4: Trends on trends of customary land
transfers in Malawi

20. Assessment
Continuous assessment 50%
Final examination 50%

21. Teaching and Learning Methods/Activities

• A contextual and comparative approach;
• Combined doctrinal and clinical delivery; and
• Lectures, case studies, buzz groups, group work, field visit, and work on files obtained
from the Department of Legal Aid, the courts, and communities.

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 22. Competences, Sources, and Means
End/Highest Competence : Use key concepts, principles, doctrines, and rules on land as an excludable resource that is crucial for economic security and vulnerability
Credit Hours: 126
Competences Source and Means
Topics (Tick) Learning Minimum Lead Learning Materials .(Please further use Assessment
Activities materials in the schedule)
Type List (a (b) (c) Activity
)
  
Knowledge

a) Explain ▪ Lectures ▪ Re Earnshaw-Wall [1894] 3 Ch 156 ▪ A minimum of 3 group

comparatively the ▪ Buzz group ▪ Kevin Gray, ‘Property in Thin Air’ (1990) 50 Cambridge Law works
philosophical bases ▪ Case study: Journal , pp 252-307 ▪ A minimum of 2 individual
for the nature and land and the ▪ Kevin Gray and Susan Francis Gray, ‘The Idea of Property in assignments
content of objects of Land’, in Susan Bright and John K Dewar (eds), Land Law:
▪ 1 mid-semester
property law property Themes and Perspectives (Oxford University Press 1998), 15 –
51 ]
examination
▪ M. Honore, 'Ownership', in A.G, Guest (ed) Oxford Essays in ▪ Clinical work
Jurisprudence (1961) ▪ A final examination
▪ Charles A. Reich, ‘The New Property After 25 Years’, 24
University of San Francisco Law Review 223 (1990)
▪ Yanner v Eaton (1999) 201 CLR 351
▪ Tewesa v Tewesa Matrimonial Cause No. 9 of 2012
b) Illustrate key   ▪ Lectures ▪ W Maitland, The Beatitude of Seisin (1888) 4 LQR 24
technical concepts ▪ Case study: ▪ F.W Maitland, The Mystery of Seisin (1886) 2 QLR 48
in property law Key feudal ▪ Joseph William Singer, ‘The Reliance Interest in Property’, 40
concepts Stanford Law Review 611 (1988),
and notions http://www.jstor.org/pss/1228814
in land law
c) Articulate the   ▪ Lectures • Chitakale Plantations Limited v Woodworth and Gremu,
economic, social, ▪ Case study: MSCA Civil Appeal No. 68 Of 2009
and ethical bases Contestable • Zomba Municipality v Council of the University of Malawi, HC
for the application property Civil Cause No 3567 of 2000
of property law • Kamuzu Banda’s Will
principles and rules • The Administrators of Dr H. Kamuzu Banda v The Attorney
to objects of General, HC Civil Cause No. 1839 (A) of 1997;

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 property • Dr H. Kamuzu Banda and the Foundation of Integrity
Creation and the Attorney General, Miscellaneous
Application Number 89 of 1994
• Kevin Gray, ‘Equitable Property’ (1994) 47 Current Legal
Problems, Part 2: Collected Papers (eds., M.D.A. Freeman and
B.A. Hepple) 155-214

d) Discuss critically  ▪ Lectures • Africa (Acquisition of Lands) Order in Council 1898

the historical ▪ Case Study: • Africa Orders in Council 1889 and 1892
connection Land Law • British Central Africa Order in Council 190
between policy reforms in • Supervisor of Native Affairs v Blantyre and East Africa Ltd,
and the content of Malawi British Central Africa Gazette, April 30th 1903)
land law in Malawi • Malawi Law Commission, Report of the Law Commission on
the Review of the Sheriffs Act (Lilongwe, Malawi Law
Commission, 2013)
• S.R. Simpson, Land Law and Registration (Cambridge;
Cambridge University Press; 1978)
• Chikosa M. Silungwe, C. Customary Land Tenure Reform and
Development: A Critique of Customary Land Tenure Reform
under Malawi’s National Land Policy. Law, (2009) Social
Justice & Global Development Journal (LGD)
• B. Pachai, Land and Politics in Malawi 1875-1975, (Kingston,
Ontario; The Limestone Press, 1978)
• Chikosa Silungwe, Law, Land Reform and Responsibilisation:
A perspective from Malawi’s Land Question, (Pretoria; PULP,
2015), http://www.pulp.up.ac.za/pdf/2015_03/2015_03.pdf
  
Attitudes

a) Defend the ethical ▪ Case study: • Patricia Critchley, ‘Taking Formalities Seriously’, in S. Bright
function for the Statute of and J.K. Dewar (ed.) Land Law: Themes and Perspectives
need for Frauds (Oxford; Oxford University Press, 1998)
formalities and • Bazuka Mhango & Co. v Blantyre Land and Estates Agency Ltd
compliance with 10 MLR 173
conditions for land
and other property
law devises
b) Value the need for    ▪ Buzz groups • Jane Baron, Rescuing the Bundle-of-Rights Metaphor in
sensitivity and Property Law, 82 U. Cin. L. Rev. 57 (2013-2014)

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 responsiveness to • Anne Bottomley, Feminist Perambulations: Taking the Law
gender and for a Walk in Land, in Hilary Lim and Anne Bottomley (eds),
economic Feminist Perspectives on Land Law (Routledge; Cavendish,
vulnerability in the 2007) 1-30
development and
application of laws
about ownership
c) Defend the need    ▪ Buzz groups • Kamchitete Kandawire, Thangata in Precolonial and Colonial
for responsiveness Systems of Land Tenure in Southern Malawi with Special
to gender and Reference to Chingale’, Africa, 42 (2) 1977, 185-190.)
other disparities in • Paul Kishindo, Emerging Reality in Customary Land Tenure:
property’s law’s The Case of Kachenga Village in Balaka District, Southern
regulation of Malawi, African Sociological Review 14(1) 2010, 102
power related to • Government of the Republic of Malawi, ‘Malawi National
ownership and Land Policy’ (Lilongwe; Ministry of Lands and Housing, 2002
access to holdings • Ambreena Manji, Land Reform in the Shadow of the State:
and benefits in The Implementation of New Land Laws in Sub-Saharan
economic Africa, Third World Quarterly, Vol 22, No 3, pp 327-342, 2001
resources • Pauleen Peters and D. Kambewa, Whose Security?
Deepenong Social Conflicts overCustomary Land in the
Shadow of Land Reform. Journal of Modern African Studies,
(2007) 45(3), 447–472.
 
Skills

a) Use jural ▪ Lectures • Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld, Fundamental Legal Conceptions

correlatives and [1913] 23 Yale Law Journal 16
other key concepts • Nkotima –v- ESCOM, MSCA Civil Appeal No. 39 of 2013,
in relations about (MSCA) (unreported)
land relations • Re Ellenborough [1903] Ch 697
• Lancaster v Eve (1859) 5 CB (NS) 717
• Re Ethel and Mitchell Butlers Contract [1901] Ch 945
• State v. Shack (1971) 277 A. 2d 369, (N.J. S.ct
• Woodworth v. Woodworth 337 N.W. 2d 332 (Mich. App.,
1983)
• Tulk v. Moxhay (1848) 2 Ph. 774, 14 E.R. 1143
• The Queen in Right of Canada v. Committee for
Commonwealth of Canada (1991) 77 D.L.R. (4th) 385
• Victoria Park Racing and Recreation Grounds Co. Ltd v.

7
 Taylor (1937) C.L.R. 479
• Pilcher v. Rawlins (1872) 7 Ch App 259
• International News Service v Associated Press, 248 US 215
(1918)
• British Telecom v One in a Million Telecommunications
Company Ltd [1999] 1 WLR 903
• Case C-59/89, Commission of the
• R V Kelly [1999] QB 62; Moore v Regents of the University of
California, 51 Cal 3d 120; 793 P 2d 479 (1990)
• Association for Molecular Pathology V. Myriad Genetics, Inc.
569 U. S._ (2013)
b) Evaluate policy,   ▪ Lectures ▪ Adjudication of Title Act, especially sections 3, 4, 6 7, 8, 9, 14
law, and practice in 16 17, 21, 23, 24
land law ▪ Constitution of Malawi, Act No. 20 of 1994, section 28
▪ Customary Land Act, No 19 of 2016, section 2 and Parts V and
VI
▪ General interpretation act (chapter 1:01, Laws of Malawi),
section 2
▪ Land Act, No 16 of 2016, section 2
▪ Registered Land Act, No. 6 of 1967 (Chapter 58:01, Laws of
Malawi), section 2
▪ Tito and Others v. Waddell and Others [1971] 1 Ch. 106F
▪ Minors Oposa v. Secretary of the Department of Environment
and Natural Resources (DNR) 33 I.L.M. 173 (1994)
▪ Telstra Corporation Ltd v Commonwealth (2008) 234 CLR 210

▪ Loretto v Teleprompter Manhattan CATV Corp 458 US 419

(1982)

▪ Qwest Corporation v United States 48 Fed Cl 672 (2001)

▪ Amadu Tijan v Secretary, Southern Nigeria [1921] 2 AC 399

▪ Mabo v Queensland (No 2) ("Mabo case") [1992] HCA 23;
(1992) 175 CLR 1 (3 June 1992)
▪ Kuwali v Kanyashu, HC CC No 109 of 2010
▪ Government of the Republic of Malawi, ‘Malawi National

8
 Land Policy’ (Lilongwe; Ministry of Lands and Housing, 2002)

▪ Malawi Government, The Malawi Growth and Development

Strategy II (Lilongwe; Malawi Government, 2011)

▪ Guerin v. The Queen (1984) 13 D.L.R (4th) 321

▪ Connors v United Kingdom, Application No 66746/01 (27 May

2004)

▪ Wachauf v Federal Republic of Germany (Case 5/88) [1989]

ECR 2609

▪ Presidential Commission on Land Reforms, Report of the

Presidential Commission on Land Reform, Volumes 1 and 2
(Lilongwe; Malawi Government, 2001)

▪ Larissa Katz, Exclusion and Exclusivity in Property Law, The

University of Toronto Law Journal, (Summer, 2008) Vol. 58,
No. 3 pp. 275-315
▪ Tomas W. Merrill, Property and the Right to Exclude, (1998)
Neb. L. Rev. 77
c) Apply progressively   ▪ Case Study: ▪ Constitution of Malawi, Act No. 20 of 1994, sections, 12, 20,
the conditions for State 24, 28, 207
the transfer of transfer and ▪ Deceased Estates (Wills, Inheritance and Protection) Act,
various holdings in acquisition section 1(3), 2,
land-related of land ▪ Deeds Registration Act, sections 6, 8, and 16
relationships ▪ Estate Duty Act, sections 29,
▪ Land Acquisition Act, No. 21 of 1970 (Chapter 58:04, Laws of
Malawi), sections 2, 3, 5-7, 10-14, 15, 16, 17,
▪ Limitation Act, sections 6, 12
▪ Land Act, No 16 of 2016, sections 2,
▪ Registered Land Act, No. 6 of 1967 (Chapter 58:01, Laws of
Malawi), sections 4, 10, 15, 20, 22, 39, 53, 135-136
▪ Statute of Frauds, section 4
▪ Physical Planning Act, No. 17 of 2016, Part VII
▪ Chitakale Plantations Limited v Woodworth and Gremu,
MSCA Civil Appeal No. 68 Of 2009

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▪ Mwala V Lipaya, Civil Appeal No. 20 Of 2015, Principal
Registry

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23. Additional Learning Materials

Topic (a): Land as Property

Key Statutes
• Personal Property Act, No 8 of 2013, section 2
• Securities Act, No 20 of 2010, section 2

Key Cases
Malawi
• Administrators of Dr H. Kamuzu Banda v The Attorney General, HC Civil Cause No. 1839 (A) of 1997;
• Chale Chiwambo –v- Mpinganjira, Gondwe, National Bank of Malawi, and The Attorney General
(Ministry of Lands), Civil Cause No. 1194 of 2006 (HC)(PR), (unreported), decided 2014
• Chavula and others v Chavula and others, Civil cause No.8 of 2012, decided 2015

• Dr H. Kamuzu Banda and the Foundation of Integrity Creation and the Attorney General,
Miscellaneous Application Number 89 of 1994
• Dr Hastings Kamuzu Banda v Attorney General, Civil Cause No. 1641 of 1994
• Dr Kamuzu Banda and the Foundation of Integrity Creation and the Attorney General, Miscellaneous
Cause No.75 of 1994
• Dzikolaweni -v- George Nyamphota, Civil Appeal Cause No. 44 of 2013, HC
• General v Malawi Congress Party and Chimango and Ntaba, MSCA Appeal No. 22 of 1996
• Kanjuchi Vs Moses ,Civil Appeal No.61 of 2012
• Kuwali v Kanyashu, HC CC No 109 of 2010
• Lexus Development Limited v Kanjanga and Others (3234 of 2006), http://www.malawilii.org/mw/judgment/high-
court/2007/6
• Malawi Congress Party and others v Attorney–General and another [1996] MLR 244 (HC)
• Maulidi v Maulidi [1991] 14 MLR 251
• Mbale Vs Maganga, Misc Civil Appeal Cause No. 21 of 2013, decided 2015
• Mhango v Nyausisya, Civil Appeal Case No. 91 of 2011, Mzuzu District Registry (unreported).
• Skipco (Pty) Ltd v Msiyadungu t/a Mwai Enterprises [1991] 14 MLR 444

England and Other Jurisdictions

• Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd [2011] 1 AC 380

• British Telecom v One in a Million Telecommunications Company Ltd [1999] 1 WLR 903;
• Burns v Morton [2000] 1 WLR 347
• Cave v. Cave (1880) 15 Ch D 639
• Goldberg v. Kelly 25 L. Ed. 2d 287, 90 (S.ct , 1970 )1011
• Hardiwcke in Wortley v. Birken head (1754) 2 Ves Sen 571.
• Harrow LBZ v Qazi [2004] 1 AC 983
• Holt v. Markham [1923] 1 K.B. 504
• In re Ming, 469 F. 2d 1352 (7th Cir. 1972);
• Linden Gardens Trust Ltd v Lenesta Sludge Disposals Ltd [1994] AC 85
• Lloyds v. Banks (1868) 3 Ch App 488
• London and South Western Railway Company v. Gomm (1882) 20 Ch. D. 562
• Lord Bernstein of Leigh v Skyviews & General Ltd [1978] QB 479
• National Carriers Ltd v Panalpina (Northern Ltd [1981] AC 67
• Postema v. Postema 471 N.W. 2d. 912 (Mich. App., 1991)
• Sports and General Press Agency Ltd. v. ‘Our Dogs’ Publishing Co. Ltd. [1916] 2 K.B. 880
• Union Lighterage Co. v. London Graving Dock Co. [1902] 2 Ch. 557.
• Walsingham’s Case 75 ER 805
• Wilkes v. Spooner [1911] 2 KB 473
• Winston v. City of New York, 759 F. 2d. 242 (2d Cir. 1985

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Classic and Other Key Articles

• S.K.B. Asante, ‘Fiduciary Principles in Anglo-American Law and the Customary Law of Ghana: A
Comparative Study’ (1965) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 1144
• Edith Brown-Weiss, ‘In Fairness to Future Generations and Sustainable Development’ 8 American
University Journal of International Law and Policy 19 (1992)
• E. Jason Burke, ‘Quasi-property’ Rights: Fantasy or Reality? An Examination of C.B.C. Distribution &
Marketing Inc. v. Major League Baseball Advanced Media, L.P. and Fantasy Sports Providers’ Use of
Professional Athlete Statistics; Journal of Law & Policy [Vol. 27:161],
http://law.wustl.edu/Journal/27/Burke.pdf
• Roger Cotterrell, ‘Feasible Regulation for Democracy and Social Justice,’ 15 Journal of Law and Society
(1988) 5
• Roger Cotterrell, ‘Trusting in Law: Legal and Moral Concepts of Trust’ (1993) 46 Current Legal Problems,
Part 2: Collected Papers 75 (eds., M.D.A. Freeman and B.A. Hepple)
• Roger Cotterrell, ‘Power, and the Law of Trusts: A Partial Agenda for Critical Legal Scholarship’, 14
Journal of Law and Society (1987) 77
• John Edward Cribbet, ‘Concepts in Transition: the Search for a New Definition of Property’ (1986)
University of Illinois Law Review 1,
http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPage?collection=journals&handle=hein.journals/unilllr1986&div=8&id=&
page=

Key Books and Book Chapters

• Roger Smith, Property Law: Cases and Materials, (Pearson Education Limited: Edinburgh Gate, 2015)
Chapter 1
• Olayide Adigun, Cases and Texts on Equity, Trusts and Administration of Estates (Abeoukuta; Ayo
Sodimu, 1987)
• S.H. Goo, Sourcebook on Land Law (Cavendish Publishing: London, 2002) Chapters 1 and 2
• Edward Burn, John Cartwright, Cheshire and Burn’s Modern Law of Real Property (Oxford University
Press, (2011), Part II
• Kwamena Bentsi-Enchill, ‘The Traditional Legal Systems in Africa’ International Encyclopaedia of
Comparative Law Chapter 2, ‘Property and Trust,’ F.H. Lawson (ed.) Vol. VI (Tubingen; 1980)
• Kevin Gray and Susan Gray, Elements of Land Law (Butterworths; London, 2014), Part A
• John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, Edited by Mark Goldie (London; Everyman 1993)
• Henry Summer Maine, Ancient Law: Its Connection with Early History of Society and Its Relation to Modern
Ideas (London; John Murray, 1906)
• C.B. MacPherson, ‘The Meaning of Property’, in C.B MacPherson (ed.) Property: Mainstream and Critical
Perspectives (Buffalo; University of Toronto Press, 1978) 1
• C.B. MacPherson, ‘Liberal Democracy and Property’, Property: Mainstream and Critical Perspectives
(Buffalo; University of Toronto Press, 1978)
• F. W. Maitland, Equity: A Course of Lectures (eds. A.H. Chaytor and W.J. Wittaker) (Revised by John
Brunyate) (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press, 1936)
• N. A. Ollennu, Principles of Customary Land Law in Ghana (London; Sweet and Maxwell, 1962)
• B. Pachai, Land and Politics in Malawi 1875-1975 (Kingston, Ontario, The Limestone Press, 1978)
• Karl Renner, The Institutions of Private Law and Their Social Functions (ed. O. Kahn-Freund, London;
Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1949)
• Jean-Jacques Rousseau, The Social Contract; and Discourses (Translated by G.D.H. Cole, Revised and
Augmented by J.H. Brumfit and John C. Hall, (London; Dent, 1990)
• Edith Brown Weiss, In Fairness to Future Generations: International Law, Common Patrimony, and
Intergenerational Equity (New York; Transnational Publishers, Inc., 1989)
• World Commission on the Environment and Development, Our Common Future (Oxford; Oxford
University Press, 1987))

Reports and Others

• Malawi Law Commission, Report of the Law Commission on the Review of the Sheriffs Act (Lilongwe,
Malawi Law Commission, 2013)

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Websites

• www.bailii.org
• www.lawtel.com
• www.legalresearch.westlaw.co.uk
• www.lexisnexis.co.uk
• www.loc.gov/law/find/database.php
• www.malawilii.org
• www.westlaw.co.uk
• www.worldlii.org

Topic (b): Key Approaches to Property Ownership and their Influence on the Content of the Law

Key Statutes and International Treaties

• Te Ture Whenua Maori Act, Maori Land Act, No. 4 of 1993

• United Nations Treaties and Principles on Outer Space, http://www.oosa.unvienna.org/pdf/publications/STSPACE11E.pdf

Key Cases
Malawi

• Ismael v Lilongwe City Assembly and Others (HC CC 58 of 2003), http://www.malawilii.org/mw/judgment/high-

court/2008/114
• Malinki v. Malinki (H.C) 9 MLR 441
• Maliro v Maliro 16[1993] (1) MLR 282
• Mauwa v. Chikudzu (H.C.) 5 MLR 183
• Mkoka v Banda and another 15 [1993] MLR 278
• Munthali v Mwakasungula [1991]14 MLR 298
• Nyangulu v. Nyangulu (H.C.) 10 MLR 433

England and Wales and Other Jurisdictions

• Amadu Tijan v. Secretary, Southern Nigeria [1921] 2 AC 399

• Harrow London Borough Council v Qazi [2004] 1 AC 983
• Hunter v Canary Wharf Ltd [1997] AC 655
• J A Pye (Oxford) Ltd v Graham [2003] 1 AC 419
• Mabo v Queensland (No. 2) (1992) 175 CLR 1
• Telstra Corporation Ltd v Commonwealth (2008) 234 CLR 210
• Victoria Park Racing v Taylor (1937) 58 CLR 479
• Western Australia v Ward (2002) 191 ALR 1
• Connors v United Kingdom, Application No 66746/01 (27 May 2004)
• Wachauf v Federal Republic of Germany (Case 5/88) [1989] ECR 2609
• Guerin v. The Queen (1984) 13 D.L.R (4th) 32

Classic and Other Key Articles

• David Abraham, ‘Liberty Without Equality: The Property-Rights Connection in a ‘Negative Citizenship
Regime’, 21 Law and Social Inquiry, 1-65 (1996)
• S.R. Munzer, A Theory of Property (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 1990) Part 1 and 2
• K. Akuffo, The Conception of Land Ownership in African Customary Law and Its Implications on
Development (2009) 17 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 57
• Antony Allott, ‘Legal Personality in African Law’, in Max Gluckman (ed.), Ideas and Procedures in African
Law (Glasgow; International African Institute, 1969), at 179-195
• .K.B. Asante, ‘Fiduciary Principles in Anglo-American Law and the Customary Law of Ghana: A
Comparative Study’ (1965) International and Comparative Law Quarterly 1144

13
• Kwamena Bentsi-Enchill, ‘The Traditional Legal System in Africa’, in International Encyclopaedia of
Comparative Law, Chapter 2, ‘Property and Trust’, ed. F.H. Lawson, Vol. VI (Tübingen; J.C.B. Mohr,
1980) 68, at 75-83
• Erling Berge, Daimon Kambewa, Alister Munthali, Henrik Wiig, ‘Lineage and land reforms in Malawi: Do
matrilineal and patrilineallandholding systems represent a problem for land reforms in Malawi?’, Land
Use Policy 41 (2014) 61–69, http://ac.els-cdn.com/S0264837714000945/1-s2.0-S0264837714000945-
main.pdf?_tid=1e7aa7fa-2aae-11e5-8629-
00000aab0f6b&acdnat=1436936482_03ade6ae95fb04df186ff156c7269bff
• Blessings Chinsinga, ‘Exploring the Politics of Land Reforms in Malawi: A Case Study of the Community
Based Rural Land Development Programme (CBRLDP)’, Discussion Paper November Twenty (PPG and
DFID; Oxford, 2008)
• Rashmi Dyal-Chand, Useless Property, March 2011) 32(4) Cardozo Law Review 1369
• C. B. MacPherson, ‘Capitalism and the Changing Concept of Property’, in E. Kamenka and R.S. Neale
(eds.) Feudalism, Capitalism and Beyond (London; Edward Arnold, 1975)
• Garton Kamchedzera, ‘Land Tenure Relations: The Law and Development,’ in G. Mhango (ed) Malawi
at the Cross-Roads: the Post-Colonial Economy (Harare: SAPES, 1992) 188-204
• Ambreena Manji, Land Reform in the Shadow of the State: The Implementation of New Land Laws in
Sub-Saharan Africa, Third World Quarterly, Vol 22, No 3, pp 327-342, 2001
• Clement Ng’ong’ola, ‘Land Problems in Some Peri-Urban Villages in Botswana and Problems of
Conception, Description and Transformation of ‘Tribal’ Land Tenure’ [1992] Journal of African Law 140
• Pauleen Peters and D. Kambewa, Whose Security? Deepenong Social Conflicts overCustomary Land in
the shadow of Land Reform. Journal of Modern African Studies, (2007) 45(3), 447–472.
• Margaret Jane Radin, ‘Property and Personhood’, 34 Stanford Law Review 957 (1982)
• Charles Reich, ‘The Liberty Impact of the New Property’, 31 William and Mary Law Review 295, at 295
(1989-90);
• Paureen E. Peters, Conflicts Over Land and Threats to Customary Tenure in Africa, (2013) African
Affairs, 112/449, 543–562, https://dokumente.unibw.de/pub/bscw.cgi/d8781553/10%20Afr%20Aff%20(Lond)-
2013-Peters-543-62.pdf
• Pauline Peters and D. Kambewa, ‘Whose Security? Deepening Social Conflict over ‘Customary’ Land in the
Shadow of Land Tenure Reform in Malawi’, Center for international Development at Harvard University,
Working Paper No. 142.
• Chikosa Silungwe, Law, Land Reform and Responsibilisation: A perspective from Malawi’s Land Question,
(Pretoria; PULP, 2015), http://www.pulp.up.ac.za/cat_2015_03.html )
• Chikosa M. Silungwe, Customary Land Tenure Reform and Development: A Critique of Customary Land
Tenure Reform under Malawi’s National Land Policy. Law, (2009) Social Justice & Global Development
Journal (LGD), 1. http://www.go.warwick.ac.uk/elj/lgd/2009_1/silungwe
• Akuffo Kwame, ‘The Conception of Land Ownership in African Customary Law and Its Implications on
Development’, 17 RADC (2009)
• Ben Cousins and Ian Scoones, ‘Contested Paradigms of the Validity in Redistributive Land Reform:
Prospects from Southern Africa’, Journal of Peasant Studies 37: 1, 31-66
Ambreena Manji, ‘Land Reform in the Shadow of the State: The Implementation of New Land Laws in
Sub-Saharan Africa’, Third Word Quarterly Vol 22, No. 3, pp. 327-34

Key Books and Book Chapters

• William Blackstone, Commentaries, Book II, Chapter 2

• Alison Clark and Paul Kohler, Property Law, Commentary and Materials (Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2005), Chapters 1-3, and 5-8
• Kevin Gray and Susan Gray, Elements of Land Law (Butterworths; London, 2014), Part A
• John Locke, ‘On Property’, in John Locke, The Second Treatise of Government (1690)
• Garton Kamchedzera, ‘Land Tenure Relations: The Law and Development,’ in G. Mhango (ed) Malawi at
the Cross-Roads: the Post-Colonial Economy (Harare: SAPES, 1992) 188-204
• B. Pachai, Land and Politics in Malawi 1875-1975, (Kingston, Ontario; The Limestone Press, 1978)
• Chikosa Silungwe, Law, Land Reform and Responsibilisation: A perspective from Malawi’s Land
Question, (Pretoria; PULP, 2015), http://www.pulp.up.ac.za/pdf/2015_03/2015_03.pdf

14
• S.R. Simpson, Land Law and Registration (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press; 1978)

Reports and Others

• Government of Malawi, ‘Vision 2020: National Long Term Perspective Study’ (Lilongwe; National
Economic Council, Government of Malawi, 1998)
• Government of Malawi, The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (Lilongwe; Malawi
Government, 2006
• Government of Malawi, The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II (Lilongwe; Malawi
Government, 2011)
• Government of Malawi, The Malawi Growth and Development Strategy III (Lilongwe; Malawi
Government, 2014)
• Malawi Law Commission, Report of the Law Commission on the Review of Land-Related Laws
(Lilongwe; The Law Commission, 2010)
• Presidential Commission on Land Reforms, Report of the Presidential Commission on Land Reform,
Volumes 1 and 2 (Lilongwe; Malawi Government, 2001)

Websites
Same as under (a)

Topic (c): Acquisition of Land

Key Statutes

Key Cases

Malawi

• Ali v Mandala, HC CC No. 1349 of 1992, decided on 14 July, 1994

• Alimohamed v. Attorney General, HC CC No. 1855 of 1993.
• Anti-Corruption Bureau v Atupele Properties Limited (27of 2005), http://www.malawilii.org/mw/judgment/supreme-
court/2007/2-0
• Bareness Msiska and Family v Traditional Authority Bibi Kaluunda, Civil Cause No 187 of 2012 (Lilongwe
District Registry)
• Bazuka Mhango & Co. v Blantyre Land and Estates Agency Ltd 10 MLR 173
• Botha vs. Kumwenda Civil Cause No 28 of 20009 Mzuzu District Registry (unreported)
• Bwanali v Lilongwe City Assembly and Others (66 of 2007
• Chavula & 2 others Vs Chavula & 2 others, HC CC No of 2015
• Chipula v Scot, HC CC No 347 of 1982
• Chirwa vs. Faizal Karim and Pwelenje Civil Cause No 9 of 2009 Mzuzu District Registry (unreported)
• Chiseka v Majamanda, HC Civil Appeal No. 42 of 2006
• Chitakale Plantations Limited v Woodworth and Gremu, MSCA Civil Appeal No. 68 Of 2009
• Chokani v Property Sales and Management Services (Civil Cause Number 1145 of 1999)
• Glens Waterways Ltd v Attorney General, Commercial Case No. 49 of 2009
• Gombera v. The Attorney General, HC CC No. 155888 of 1993, decided on 27 June 1996; and
• Harz Co. Ltd v National Seed Cotton Milling Ltd (Civil Cause No. 2229 of 2001)
• Hon David Faiti Vs Kandiado Civil Cause 1412 of 2005
• Jobe v Village Headman Kwenje, High Court Civil Cause No 20 of 2011 (Lilongwe District Registry);
Sikalioti v Chimkasa, Civil Appeal No. 65 of 2011 (Lilongwe District Registry);
• Kampaundi v Rev Sisco [2002-2003] MLR 117
• Kitching v Conforzi , 1923-60 ALR Mal 71
• Kuwali v Kanyashu, High Court Civil Cause No 109 of 2010, decided on 2 November, 2011
• Likhule and Another v Rep, Criminal Appeal No. 7 of 2008
• M’manga Vs M’manga Civil Cause No. 1172 of 2010, decided 2014
• Mahata v Malawi Housing Corporation, Civil case No. 628 of 2005, High Court, Principal Registry,
(unreported)
• Malinki v Malinki (1978-80) 9 MLR 441

15
• Mbale v. Maganga (judgement delivered on 1st June, 2015)
• Mbekeani v Nsewa 1993] 16(1) MLR 295 (HC)
• Mbendera v Attorney General, Civil Cause Number 2124 Of 2006
• Mbirintengerenji v Traditional Authority Nsomba and Others (Civil Cause No. 101 of 2007
• Mkandawire v Wawanya, HC CC No. 412 of 1990
• Mkandawire vs. Village Headman Zulu Civil Cause No 145 of 2008 Mzuzu District Registry (unreported);
• Mkoka Vs Banda and Another [1992] 15 MLR 278
• Mpasu, Criminal Case No. 17 of 2005
• Mponda v Osman HC CC No 1400 of 1993
• Mtsuko v Jere, HC Civil Cause No 8 of 2011, decided in 2013
• Namalamba Vs. Village Headman Mwalabu Civil Cause No. 11 of 2007
• Ndegwe Vs Mangoni Civil Appeal No. 59 of 2008, decided 2014
• Nyangulu v Nyangulu (1981-83) 10 MLR 435
• Plant v Bourne [1897] 2 Ch 281
• Registered Trustees of the Church of God of Prophecy v Mkisi (Civil Cause Number 1210 of 2008);
• The Administrators of the Estate of Dr Kamuzu Banda v Attorney General [2002-2003] MLR 272
• Village Headman Mangwere v Traditional Authority Kuluunda and Others, High Civil Cause No. 111 of
2012
• Village Headman Zakeyo Chunga vs. Nowell Jere, Civil Cause No 176 of 2000, Mzuzu High Court,
(unreported)
• Xerographics v Little, HC CC No. 411 of 1995
• Zakulanda v Namukopwe [1993] 16 (2) MLR 914 (HC
• Zomba Municipal Assembly V Council of The University Of Malawi, Civil Cuase No. 3567 OF 2000
decided on 12 December, 20
• Shire Highlands Rifle Club V Makandi Tea And Coffee Estates Limited , Civil Cause No. 473 Of 2010,
Principal Registry

Other Jurisdictions
• Abbott v Abbott 2 All ER 432
• Amalgamated Investment and Property Co. Ltd. v. Texas Commerce International Bank Ltd. [1982] A.C.
431
• Brown v Perry [1991] 1 WLR 1297;
• Bucks CC v Moran [1989] 3 WLR 152;
• Caddick v Skidmore (1851) 2 De and J 52
• Cobbe v Yeoman’s Row Management [2008] 2008] 1 WLR 1752
• Doherty v Allman (1878) 3 App Cas 709
• Durrell v Evan (1862) HL 191
• Eccles v Byrant [1948] Ch 93
• Fairweather v St Marylebone Property Co Ltd [1963] AC 510
• Grant v. Edwards [1986] Ch. 638
• Greasley v. Cooke[1980] 1 W.L.R 1306
• Griffifth v Young [1970] Ch 675
• Hong Kong v Humphreys Estates (Queens Gardens) Ltd [1987] AC 114
• Hutton v Warren (1836) 1 M and W 466)
• Jarret v Hunter (1866) 34 Ch D 182
• Javins v First National Realty Corporation 428 F2d 1071

• Law v Jones [1974] Ch 112)

• Lerox v Brown (1852) 12 CB 801
• Lloyds Bank plc v. Roset and Another [1991] 1 A.C. 107
• Lord Advocate and Lovat [1880] 5 App Cases, 273
• Maddison v Alderson (1883) 8 App Cas 467
• Marshall v Green (1875) ACPD 35
• Mobil Oil (Zambia) Ltd v Loto Petroleum [1977] ZR 336
• Moses v. Lovegrove [1962] 2 QB 53

16
• National Provincial Bank v Ainsworth [1965] AC 1175
• Oglive v Foljambe (1817) 3 Mer 58
• Plant v Bourne [1897] 2 Ch 281
• Pulbrook v Lawes (1876) 1 QBD 284
• RB Policies at Lloyds v. Buttler [1950] 1 KB 76
• Rooke’s Case (1598) 5 Co. Rep. 99 b, at 100 a, 77 E.R. 20
• Selby v Selby (1817) 3 Mer 2
• Sempra Metals Ltd v HMRC [2007] UKHL 34; [2008] 1 AC 561
• Shardlow v Cotterrell (1881) 20 Ch D 90
• Simon v Motivus (1766) 1 WM at 601
• Slade Case 1602 Co Rep 92a
• Stack v Dowden [2007] AC 432; [2007] 2 WLR 831; [2007] 2 All ER 929
• Steadman v Steadman [1974] QB 164
• Sticklehorne v Hatchman (1586) Owen 43;
• Terrene v Nelson [1937] 3 All ER 739
• Thorner v Major [2009] 1 WLR 776
• Timmns v Moreland Street Co Ltd [1857] 3 All ER 265
• Tiverton Estates Ltd v Wearwell Ltd [1975] Ch 146
• Toppin v Lamas (1855) CB 155
• Victoria Park Racing v Taylor (1937) 58 CLR 479
• Wakeham v Mackenzie [1968] 1 WLR 1175, at 1178
• Walsh v Londsdale (1882) 21 Ch D 9
• Winn v Bull (1877) 7 Ch D 29
• Wuta-Ofei v Danquah [1961] 1 WLR 1268, per Lord Guest
• Zambia Stamp Duty v A.J. and Co. [1969] ZR 32

Classic and Other Key Articles

• Mika Oldham, ‘Neither Lender Nor Borrower Be: The Life of O’Brien’, Child and Family Law Quarterly, vol.
7, No. 3, 1995, 104
• Maureen E. Peters, Conflicts Over Land and Threats to Customary Tenure in Africa, (2013) African Affairs,
112/449, 543–562, https://dokumente.unibw.de/pub/bscw.cgi/d8781553/10%20Afr%20Aff%20(Lond)-2013-
Peters-543-62.pdf
• Dockray "Why Do We need Adverse Possession?", 1985 Conv. 272
• Alison Clarke, ‘Use, Time, and Entitlement’ (2004) Current Legal Problems 239

Key Books and Book Chapters

• Alison Clark and Paul Kohler, Property Law, Commentary and Materials (Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, 2005), Chapter 4
• Kevin Gray and Susan Gray, Elements of Land Law (Butterworths; London, 2014), Part F-J
• John Ibik, Restatement of African Law: 4, Malawi II, the Law of Land, Succession, Movable Property,
Agreements and Civil Wrongs (London; Sweet and Maxwell, 1971)
• Edith Brown Weiss, In Fairness to Future Generations: International Law, Common Patrimony, and
Intergenerational Equity (New York; Transnational Publishers, Inc., 1989)
• S.R. Simpson, Land Law and Registration (Cambridge; Cambridge University Press; 1978)

Reports and Others

Websites

Same as under (a)

24. Reflective/review Questions

Topic (a)

17
(i) Property is not a thing.’ How can that be the case?
(ii) "Property is not a discrete concept but a continuum. How can this be?"
(iii) ‘When the assumptions upon which the law is based are overturned and the changes are denied or
ignored, the result is that the law may cease protecting the interests it was designed to protect.’ 1 With
the use of case and statutory examples, discuss this statement in the light of the progress of the ‘new
property.’
(iv) Use section 2 of the General Interpretation Act to show that objects of property are both corporeal and
incorporeal.
(v) ‘The native has no security of tenure, must move without compensation when called upon … and can take
up no fresh ground for his garden [without] permission. It is this that British protection has brought to the
Central African Native.’2 Compare and contrast the African conception of property land ownership with
that developed around the concepts of estate and tenure in English law.
(vi) Discuss the concept(s) of property reflected in sections2, 8, and 25 of Malawi’s Land Act.
(vii) Choose two debatable and contestable forms of objects property and illustrate the dynamic, flexible, and
limitable nature of property.
(viii) Using the notions of vested and contingent interests, illustrate the centrality of the concept of ownership
to the meaning of property?
(ix) “Proudhon got it all wrong. Property is not theft -- it is fraud. Few other legal notions operate such gross
or systematic deception. Before long I will have sold you a piece of thin air and you will have called it
property. But the ultimate fact about property is that it does not really exist: it is mere illusion. It is a
vacant concept – oddly enough rather like thin air.” Kevin Gray, ‘Property in Thin Air’ (1990) 50 Cambridge
Law Journal , pp 252-307
(x) Using case authorities on contestable property, explain the meaning of Kevin Gray’s statement.”
(xi) How useful is the notion that property is “rather like thin air” in protecting commercial interests with
regard to trade marks as contrasted with any type of mineral rights.

Topic (b)

(i) Discuss three legal positions in Malawi on ownership that have been or may have been influenced by the
traditional common law approach to ownership.
(ii) How different are the current proposed land reform changes from the 1967 reforms?
(iii) Compare and contrast the proposals made by the Saidi Commission about the content of the new land law
and what the Law Commission has actually proposed?
(iv) What ideologies are reflected in the post-1994 land law reforms?
(v) How well do the proposed land law reforms respond to current land related and land law-related reforms
in Malawi?
(vi) What distinction should be made between land reform and land law reform in Malawi?

Topic (c)
(i) Focusing on the conditions for the validity and effect of each, illustrate the difference between a
contract for the sale of land and its conveyance.
(ii) Using Malawian cases and other laws, discuss the meaning of section 24 of the Constitution s with
regard to the modes of holding land and its division upon divorce.
(iii) In view of the rationes decidendi of any two cases on the ownership of customary land in Malawi,
present the case for the application or non-application of the doctrine of adverse possession to
customary land.
(iv) Compare and contrast the conditions for estoppel and prescription in land law.
(v) Discuss the principles regarding compensation whose land may be declared public land for purposes of
public roads.

1. Charles A. Reich, ‘The New Property After 25 Years’, 24 University of San Francisco Law Review 223 (1990) (in this chapter
referred to as Reich: After 25 Years), at 228
2 . Justice Nunan in Supervisor of Native Affairs v Blantyre and East Africa Ltd, British Central Africa Gazette, April 30th 1903.

18
(vi) Use the rationes decidendi in the cases of Amadu Tijan v Secretary, Southern Nigeria [1921] 2 AC 399 and
Kuwali v Kanyashu, HC CC No 109 of 2010 to evaluate the premises of the Customary Land Bill, No. 47 of
2012

25. Annexes

26. Name and Signature of Lecturer

Name: Ms Theresa Chome

Signature:

27. Name and Signature of Head

Name: Mr Samuel Kaphuka

Signature:

28. Name and Signature of Dean

Name: Mr Chikosa Banda

Signature:

19