Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T09:22:10.904Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Law, land, development and narrative: a case-study from the South Pacific*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2010

Sue Farran
Sue Farran*
Affiliation:
Department of Law, University of DundeeE-mail: s.e.farran@dundee.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article explores a primary source of legal studies, case-law, as a form of narrative in the context of indigenous land rights, and considers how this narrative negotiates pre-colonial land claims in a post-colonial context. Its case-study is the South Pacific island country of Vanuatu, a small-island, least-developed, nation-state, where laws introduced under Anglo–French colonial administration are still retained and sit uneasily alongside the customary forms of land tenure which govern ninety percent of all land in the islands. The article looks at the traditional and changing role of narrative presented as evidence by claimants and their witnesses against a context of rapid social and economic change, and asks whether the metamorphosis of narrative signals the future survival or imminent demise of customary indigenous land rights and what that might mean for these island people faced by the pressures of development.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Law in Context , Volume 6 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 1 - 21
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Crowley, Terry (1995) A New Bislama Dictionary. Suva, Fiji: Institute of Pacific Studies.Google Scholar
Fingleton, Jim, Naupa, Anna and Ballard, Chris (2008) ‘Village Land Trusts in Vanuatu: “One Common Basket”’, in Making Land Work, vol. 2. Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia, 21–46.Google Scholar
Guiart, Jean (1996) ‘Land Tenure and Hierarchies in Eastern Melanesia’, Pacific Studies 19(1): 1–30.Google Scholar
Jowitt, Anita (1999) ‘Island Courts in Vanuatu’, Working Paper 3, Journal of South Pacific Law at www.paclii.org/journals/fJSPL/Vol03/ [last accessed 10 October 2009].Google Scholar
Mackenzie, Debra (2006) ‘Case Note: Valele Family v. Touru [2002] VUCA 3: The Legality of Customary Land Disputes in Vanuatu’, Journal of South Pacific Law 10(2) at www.paclii.org/journals/fJSPL/vol10no2/ [last accessed 10 October 2009].Google Scholar
Mugambwa, John (2001) ‘Judicial Assault on the Citadel of Indefeasibility of Title under the Papua New Guinean Torrens System of Conveyance’, Journal of South Pacific Law 5 at www.paclii.org/journals/fJSPL/vol05/ [last accessed 10 October 2009].Google Scholar
Regenvanu, Ralph (2008) ‘Issues with Land Reform in Vanuatu’, Journal of South Pacific Law 12(1): 63–67.Google Scholar
Republic of Vanuatu, Department of Lands (2003) ‘Customary Land Tribunal Progressive Report 2003’, Ref No: LD:/AHKM/ahkm, 12 December 2003. Port Vila, Vanuatu: Government of the Republic of Vanuatu.Google Scholar
Rodman, Margaret (1995) ‘Breathing Spaces: Customary Land Tenure in Vanuatu’ in Ward, Gerard and Kingdon, Elizabeth, (eds) Land, Custom and Practice in the South Pacific. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 65–108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tahi, Steven (2006) Final Report: National Land Summit. Port Vila, Vanuatu: Government of the Republic of Vanuatu.Google Scholar
United Nations International Human Rights Instruments (HRI) (1998) Core Document Forming Part of the Reports of States Parties: Vanuatu.05.02.98 HRI/CORE/1/Add.68.(Core Document) 5 February 1998.Google Scholar