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Legibility and political authority are often conflated in debates over formalization processes, including land titling. This can lead to a fundamental misunderstanding of what it is that citizens anticipate would strengthen their property rights. This study examines the effects of legibility on citizens' evaluations of property rights in Malawi, a country with limited but increasing land titling. We argue that legibility is a strategic resource for citizens, which has value in itself. To disentangle the effects of legibility and authority on tenure security, we employ a survey experiment. Our findings show that respondents perceived land with written property rights to be more secure and more desirable regardless of whether a state or customary authority granted these land rights. In contrast to scholarship that examines legibility as a technology of state control, this research suggests that legibility can help citizens advance their interests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Certificates of title are a feature of the Torrens system of land registration which originated in Australia and which operates in Uganda. The system confers primary responsibility to register title, and guarantee its security, upon the state. A certificate of title is indefeasible and conclusive evidence of ownership, except in cases of fraud by the registered proprietor. This article uses a doctrinal legal research approach to analyse the legal framework on certificates of title, citing court decisions to give an interpretive lens to the law. It finds that the almost century-old system remains immature and its actualization is hampered by the socio-political context of Uganda. Certificates of title are a feature of a capitalist order and produce unfavourable outcomes, including fraud through double titling, illegal entries in the register and spurious caveats. Government needs to address the socio-political and administrative challenges inhibiting the evolution and practical application of the Torrens system in Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis is the property of Acta Agriculturae Zhejiangensis Editorial Office and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study utilizes regression discontinuity design to examine the impact of the land titling program on farm size in China between 2009 and 2016. Results indicate that the land titling policy effect upsizes farm by around 50% and increases the transaction of management rights in farmland by around 4% points in China for 2015 national survey. Using data from the 20th century, it shows private ownership historically had lowered farm size. Today, given ownership is stable, farmland management rights provide incentive structure for farmers to participate into farmland lease market and expand their farm size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala's 1616 El primer nueva corónica y buen gobierno stands as the author's staggering attempt to obtain by privilege that which he could not secure through justice: status as a native lord and title to lands. Indeed, the last 20 years of the native chronicler's life as we know it, roughly from 1595 to 1615, are marked by the usual milestones of an ascending clerical career in the service of provincial priests, inspectors, and administrators from the south central Andean region stretching between Jauja and Huamanga. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land is the key asset in the agricultural sector and hence land policy is one of the key elements that determine whether SDGs are achieved in developing counties or not. In developing countries, land titling programs have been seen as a strategy for addressing SDGs. Even though the government of Ethiopia launched the rural land registration and certification program (LRCP) to secure the land rights of rural households in 1998, currently, there are limited empirical studies to examine the contribution of LRCP in addressing sustainable development goals (SDGs). This study is employed to fill this knowledge gap by assessing how LRCP supports the achievement of the UN SDGs. The research data were collected through key informant interviews, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and reviewing published and unpublished documents. Content analysis, narrative analysis, and SWOT analysis were applied to examine the research data. The study confirms that LRCP improves tenure security, which greatly contributes to the achievements of SDGs, such as SDG 1 (end poverty), SDG 2 (end hunger), SDG 5 (gender equality), and SDG 15 (life on land). The tenure security of rural societies is a key pathway for the achievement of SDGs in Ethiopia since their livelihood mainly depends on agriculture. Therefore, developing countries should focus on land rights to improve the livelihoods of rural societies in particular and to enable sustainable development in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents aftermaths of Indigenous collective land titling in Northern Paraguay, drawing on participant observation, interviews, and archives involving Indigenous Guarani, private landholders, NGO partners, and campesinos. While collective title attempts to safeguard Indigenous land, I argue that land available for Paĩ Tavyterã Guarani livelihoods was reduced, with sometimes violent sociopolitical impacts and challenges to land control. I contend that the unfinished, hegemonic process of land titling is contested through Guarani communities' sociopolitical creativity, where the Paĩ creatively adapt their ways of life on land reduced. This contributes to debates on territorialization, land titling and rights, and political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociedad y Economia is the property of Universidad del Valle and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article focuses on role of various social actors, political changes, wars and collective violence, transformations and appropriations of natures, as well as facing dispossession of their assets and their almost subsequent exclusion, were for the indigenous peoples of Michoacán, Mexico. It mentions search for the free market, the circulation of goods, the creation of more solid public administrations. It also mentions social homogenization in legal terms.

To improve or reform a cadastral system, various assessments must first be done to ascertain the aspects that can be made more efficient or more effective. In this paper two such assessments, which were carried out on the Jamaican cadastral system are reported on: a status assessment to describe the extant state, strengths and weaknesses of the cadastral system, including all its components; and a user needs assessment to gain a subjective perspective on what users hold important for a satisfactory experience when interacting with the system. The paper discusses the history and current status of the cadastral system in Jamaica, against the background of the Cadastre 2014 vision and subsequent evolutionary cadastral theories. The findings demonstrate that the system falls short regarding its compliance with cadastre 2014. Additionally, the paper presents the results of the user needs study, which sought to ascertain: the routes most commonly used to access land records; sources of data most frequently utilised; level of user satisfaction; most important features of land records and suggested improvements. The results indicate that attorneys formed the largest group to access land records in Jamaica; eLandjamaica is the lead source for land information; the interactive map (iMap now eLandjamaica) is the most frequently used source; the Land Titles Division commands the highest level of customer satisfaction; accuracy of data is of the greatest importance and a lower cost for services is of least importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social inequality resulting from war, exploitation, and land property is very evident in Ethiopia, which has a significant influence on the economic, social, and political situation of various groups of people. As a result, the primary objective of this study was to assess the significance of the Credibility Thesis in resolving land conflicts via the Formal, Actual, and Targeted (FAT) Institutional Framework. Moreover, this study was conducted to identify the key features and the role of credibility analysis in mitigating land conflicts by employing the Credibility Scales and Intervention (CSI) Checklist. To achieve this goal, a comprehensive literature review including land tenure studies from 1979 to 2020 was conducted. This review used original databases to ensure a comprehensive and extensive exploration of relevant scientific works. The results showed that the land problem in Ethiopia is not only related to the dynamics of social change and inequality at different global, regional, national, and transnational levels, but also provides access to land resources, the foundations of authority, livelihood, property, and citizenship. Furthermore, the lack of land security for non-indigenous minorities contributes to substantial ambiguity for land rights. Therefore, measures to increase land security and transfer land tenure can have an important influence on productivity and should be prioritized by policymakers. These measures may include elements from active land certification initiatives, but they should also specify the legal credit of certifications issued in the system and how to execute them. • This study aimed to identify the key features in mitigating land conflicts. • Measures to increase land security and transfer land tenure have an important influence on productivity. • In order to recognize land title, it is required to resolve the obstacle of structural arrangements. • For preferential levels of institutional validity, proper political action should share choice and satisfaction. • By changing institutional credibility to moderate, acceptance of action without intervention may no longer be sufficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land banking practices in complex informal land markets are growing in developing countries. However, the land banking (LB) literature predominantly focuses on publicly driven land banks operating within formal land markets. Against this backdrop, this study investigates optimal locations for LB projects in Ghana's complex informal land markets from the perspective of private and semi-public real estate developers. Utilising a two-stage research process, first, the study developed a conceptual framework by using: (1) suppositions regarding space under economic geography; and (2) theoretical suppositions on the use of LB and its influence on LB locational choices uncovered from an interpretive hermeneutic literature review. The second stage focused on an empirical assessment of the conceptual framework by taking four urbanised regions in Ghana. The case study stage uses primary data from 30 interviewees selected using purposive and snowball sampling, while secondary data comprised land bank inventories from the regional Lands Commissions of the case study regions. Results revealed land title security as the primary factor determining optimal locations for land banks. There are significant challenges related to land title security in urban and inner parts of peri-urban areas. These challenges are aggravating the transformation of agricultural lands into residential lands in developers' preferred land bank locations. Based on the ongoing land transformation occurrences, the study underscores the need for policy responses that enhance title security to encourage developers to diversify their land banking locational preferences beyond solely greenfield sites to a mix of green and urban brownfield sites. • We explored optimal locations for land banking in complex informal land markets. • Optimal locations were shaped by clear title assurance and cheaper land prices of transitional zones. • Developers' optimal locations are exacerbating the depletion of greenfield sites. • The study underscores the need for policy reaction that inspires the use of brownfields. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Property rights and market transactions have constantly been a core topic in development economics, but existing studies rarely, especially using fine-grain data, examine the impact of property rights system reform on land market evolution. Based on the natural experiment of China's land titling and 3053 transferred plots in Yangshan County, we employ a fixed effect model to identify this impact. We find that land titling promotes the marketization of land transfer, enabling it to evolve from relational trust to formal contracts. Specifically, land titling increases the probability of households signing land transfer contracts, especially written contracts with legal force. It also stimulates households to transfer their land to non-acquaintances, to charge rents, and to determine a specific duration. Land titling's impact is primarily achieved by its improvement in the exclusivity, stability, and clarity of land rights. This impact is constrained by the characteristics of plots and households. Households are conservative about the marketization of larger plot transfers. Better irrigation conditions and higher off-farm migration are associated with deeper marketization of land transfer. This evidence emphasizes that land titling, as a combination of technology and institutions, can effectively reduce transaction costs and improve the efficiency of land use. • Property rights are closely related to the evolution of land markets. • 3053 transferred plots are used to identify this connection. • Land titling promotes the marketization of land transfer. • This effect is explained by the reduction of transaction costs. • This effect is constrained by the characteristics of plots and households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article expands on the usability of the concepts of "place making" and "place attachment" as recently developed in urban studies research in the context of housing insecurity of marginalized communities in today's neo-liberal city. Particularly, against the growing threat of urban evictions, the article utilizes a transdisciplinary approach, showing the relevance of both concepts for (a) a better understanding of bottom-up processes of spatial production and attempts to create a sense of place on the part of such communities, and (b) offering an innovative legal strategy for doing justice to these communities in terms of their compensation rights, especially where a title to land has not been registered on a private basis. These issues are critically examined on the site-related case of the Givat-Amal quarter in Tel Aviv, Israel. This district is now under actual final threat of forced evictions following seven conflicted decades with the state, municipal authorities and private entrepreneurs. Our transdisciplinary study is based on qualitative methodologies in human geography such as fieldwork, visual evidence, and interviews, with a glimpse into philosophy. It is equally based on revisiting "traditional" legal property rights through the lens of post-liberal human rights analysis. The argument can apply to many situations of forced evictions across Africa, Latin America, and the West itself. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India continues to urbanise rapidly tinged with sub-standard living conditions of a growing 'slum' population. Improving the living conditions of slum-dwellers remains a gargantuan and intractable challenge requiring solutions at scale grounded on households' real experience of the process. The State of Odisha, in Eastern India, is currently implementing a state-wide land-titling initiative to improve the tenure security of a million slum-dwellers through legal, institutional, and technical innovations based on the Odisha Land Rights to Slum-dwellersAct 2017 (OLRSD). Given the known negative consequences of titling that grants 'full property rights', such as the speculative sale of the titles, the facilitation of elite capture,and disruption of community life and social networks, the OLRSD has fashioned the title as a 'limited instrument' that still assures the possibility to inherit and aims at facilitating mortgage for housing-backed lending. The paper discusses early learnings from Odisha's 'intermediate' aspects of its titling policy in nine settlements researched across three districts. As per people's accounts of their experienced reality, the titling, complemented by slum upgrading, has already facilitated improvements in the housing conditions of households subject to extreme poverty. However, concomitant challenges are surfacing for instance, although the OLRSD formally permits the titles to be used as collateral for housing loans, the non-acceptance of the title by mainstream banks forces the recipients to borrow from spurious private lenders, thus increasing their vulnerability. Understanding such and related challenges is relevant for better addressing the dimension of de jure land tenure security in slums at scale across India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article challenges the assumption that land tenure is contingent on acquiring a land title. It argues that for Indigenous peoples a land may be delineated, occupied, utilised, and collectively owned through the concept of territoriality. Through a combined 'anarchist anthropology' and political ecology the article provides ethnographic evidence from among the Tau-Buhid as a case in point to show that through their everyday relationship with fire and ignition practices territoriality is reinforced among their communities as a basis of land tenure. Thus, despite efforts of the Philippine state to phase out all kinds of fire practice on their land, a portion of which is a declared protected area, ignition continues as a way of orchestrating territorial autonomy against state sovereignty in the highlands. Ultimately, through such practices Indigenous lands have metaphorically transformed into 'territories of fire', a frontier where the state is irrelevant to Indigenous life and where state-control apparatuses are inoperable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2011, artist Tenzing Rigdol transported over twenty-four tons of soil from Tibet into the exile Tibetan community of Dharamsala, India, for a temporary installation—a site-specific work—titled Our Land, Our People. The exile community walked on, held, and sometimes ingested the soil (a clear marker of the importance of this work to this particular audience), the soil signaling the would-be permanent home of the audience. Despite the increase in global site-specific works over the past decades, few of these projects have navigated the issue of temporality as it relates to audiences in exile communities. By evaluating Rigdol's contribution through the lens of site-specificity as theorized by Miwon Kwon, this essay shows how Our Land, Our People expands the site-specific paradigm as it challenges notions of what makes art site specific; it proposes diasporic communities—communities with implied temporality and often tenuous relationships to their current homes—can serve as the foremost component of the work. I also propose Rigdol's Our Land, Our People breaks with the conventional label "contemporary Tibetan art," the phrase currently used to describe art created in Tibet and in exile spaces. Our Land, Our People is primarily in dialogue with one audience in particular—the exile community in Dharamsala. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to land is a crucial factor affecting women's socio-economic status, security, and overall well-being as has increasingly been acknowledged on a global scale in recent years. However, the access and ownership of land by women in sub-Saharan Africa are continually debated, especially in terms of exclusion. The study assessed the extent of women access to customary land titles (CLTs) in Mbozi District, Songwe Region, Tanzania. A cross-sectional research design was used in the study alongside non-probability sampling to purposively select 8 villages. Snowball sampling was used to select 290 women beneficiaries 0f CLTs in each village for the study. Primary data collection involved a survey questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions. Content analysis was used to assess verbal and written information to get an interpretation of their meaning. The Statistical Package for Social Science (V. 20) was used in the analysis of the quantitative data and summary of the responses into frequencies and percentages. In general, the access of women to CLTs seemed to be on an upward trend in the study areas as acknowledged by 85.6% of the study participants. However, the control of land resources was still dominated by men in most cases. Decision-making by the women of their lands was also on an upward trajectory. Nevertheless, patriarchal domination and customary laws still affected women's access to CLTs. The present findings are relevant for land governance in Tanzania and other parts of SSA because they evoke the voices of the marginalized gender on land ownership matters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on a cost–benefit approach, policy dismantling literature typically examines case studies following omitted and blame‐avoidance strategies, which contrasts with the highly visible dismantling fostered by Bolsonaro's far‐right administration in Brazil. This study examines the mechanisms leading to this active process and places it in the context of major policy changes in several fields (i.e., rural development, land titling, social protection, environment, and protection of indigenous peoples). It shows that dismantling decisions were made incrementally by conservative coalitions that seized upon the economic crisis to consolidate a neoliberal turn; however, this turn was radicalized with the expansion of the conservative alliance and tied together by populist rhetoric. This study sheds light on the politics of policy dismantling and addresses it as a process of democratic backsliding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The High Court's decision in Timber Creek is the first to consider the assessment of compensation under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) for acts which extinguish native title rights and interests. The decision establishes a number of propositions fundamental to the operation of the compensation provisions of the Act. The decision leaves for future resolution a range of other equally important issues. This article identifies and examines some of those issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The contemporary quilombola communities, groups of struggle and black resistance to the slavery and oppressor model established in colonial Brazil, having the territory as the basis of the physical, social, economic and cultural reproduction of the collectivity, which remains alive as a diaspora heritage, conquered, from the Federal Constitution of 1988, the right to the title of their lands. These spaces of organization of the black people suffer from a serious problem: their constitutional rights are not being guaranteed in practice. The slow pace of land titling processes and the omission of the State are evident and put the life and culture of quilombola communities at risk. However, the quilombolas need official recognition of their land to achieve a better quality of life and access to public policies. In this context, this article aims to discuss the right to traditionally occupied lands and the reasons for the slowness of the land titling process in Brazil. For the formulation of the present work, we carried out bibliographical research, of a qualitative nature, looking for the main authors who spoke about the theme of slavery, the historical formation of quilombos, and the current difficulties of these traditional communities. Therefore, despite the Federal Constitution of 1988 ensuring, in Article 68 of the Transitory Constitutional Provisions Act (ADCT), the right of quilombolas to own their land, the process of regularization and implementation of land titling in Brazil has not yet materialized. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Romanian Review of Private Law / Revista Română de Drept Privat is the property of Universul Juridic Publishing House and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Disputes over farmland constitute an important challenge for tenure security, economic growth and social stability. Land titling is a theoretically promising policy instrument that can enhance tenure security and reduce the occurrence of farmland disputes in the developing world. However, the impact of land titling on the occurrence of disputes has been found to be highly conditional. Empirical evidence on this issue has been surprisingly limited and has often lacked the consideration of a specific context. In this study, whether land titling affects the incidence of farmland disputes in the context of China is investigated, focusing particularly on the interaction between land titling and social capital and household capability. Both the probit and CLL models are applied, using household data entailing a total of 3693 samples located in rural China. The results show that (1) land titling in China reduces the incidence of farmland disputes, and that (2) the analysis based on interaction terms indicates that households who are disadvantaged in social capital and household capability are more likely to experience fewer disputes. Implications for the government and organizations are as follows: (1) the titling programme should seriously consider the current tenure arrangement. Confirmation of current tenure is recommended over the establishment of a new system to avoid possible institutional shopping and overlapping claims; and (2) land titling, if well implemented, is recommended to redress local power asymmetry and to help vulnerable groups defend their property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the Land Title and Property Law Amendment Act, 2024 in British Columbia, which allows all First Nations to hold land under their own names, aligning with UN declarations and provincial reconciliation efforts. Topics include jurisdictional issues, governance frameworks, and economic impacts for First Nations.

The article focuses on forms of ‘legal translation' to discern how Andeans shaped interpretations of Spanish legal tenets and procedure in the very landscape and the court and in their own cultural idioms. It mentions Virgin and the land surveyor and symbolic representations of space, land titles, and social networks to shape attributions of possession. It also mentions Bourbon fiscal demands only exacerbated social discontent.

Access to land is crucial for food systems to address the challenges caused by habitat and biodiversity loss, land and water degradation, and greenhouse gas emissions. Sustainable food production requires land security upstream for agricultural production. Land security emanates from the land law implemented in-country by government policy. In the span of a decade (2007–2017), three different land reforms have been adopted in Benin. This paper aims to investigate the land rights and land tenure security for sustainable food production according to land law and the factors that influence agricultural entrepreneurial activities in North Benin. The study was carried out in the Borgou department, mainly in five communes that are beneficiaries of the Responsible Land Policy Project of GIZ (Promotion d'une Politique Foncière Responsible: ProPFR/GIZ). A multistage sampling procedure was used to select the agricultural entrepreneur respondents. A total of 102 agriculture entrepreneurs were interviewed in 25 villages. According to land law in Benin, the results highlight the different levels of land tenure security and land rights represented by types of land documents: type contract (use right), certificates of customary ownership (ADC), and land title. The research reveals that 44.3% of the land of agriculture entrepreneurs' respondents possessed the certificates of customary ownership and 18% possessed the land title. The facilitation of access to legal land documents such as certificates of customary ownership and land titles can protect agricultural entrepreneurship for sustainable food production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Expanding and intensifying anthropogenic land use is one of the greatest drivers of changes of biodiversity loss and political inequality worldwide. In the Greater Mara, Kenya, a trend of private land enclosure is currently happening, led by smallholders wishing to protect and uphold their land titles. Here we expand on previous work by Løvschal et al. quantifying the rapid, large-scale development of fencing infrastructure that began in 1985 but has increased by 170% from 2010 onwards. We provide fine-scale analysis of the spatial and temporal trends in fencing using high-resolution Sentinel-2 imagery. The formally unprotected regions have distinctly more fences than the rest of the Mara, one experiencing a 740% increase in fenced land in four years. Conservancies have an effect in stemming fencing but fences crop up within and along conservancy boundaries. We estimate the actual geographical coverage of the fences in the Mara to be 130,277 ha (19% of the total region) using an error margin of 8%, derived by calibrating our satellite mapping with ground-truth data. The study suggests the need for revising community-based eco-conservation efforts and pursuing a richer understanding of the socio-political and historical dynamics underlying this phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Namibia currently undergoes a rapid process of urbanisation of 4% annually, visible through an exponential informal settlement growth. Alternative measurement methods in cadastral mapping could secure land tenure in these settlements and fasten land registration. This article investigates the performance of five alternative measurement methods within the Flexible Land Tenure System (FLTS): orthophoto-based boundary demarcation, mapping applications on mobile devices, hand-held GPS, low-cost GNSS with u-blox receiver and GNSS RTK based on the Namibian CORS. The article evaluates all five methods on technical performance, affordability, time efficiency, feasibility, and simplicity. Based on the evaluation, all methods are appropriate for Namibia except for the hand-held GPS method. Low-cost approaches are appropriate for starter titles, whereas high-technology methods are better when requiring higher positioning accuracy (land hold title). Orthophoto-based boundary demarcation is surprisingly less suitable for the Namibian case. Overall, the results support a fit-for-purpose land administration in Namibia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1860s and 1870s the Native Lands Acts facilitated the colonial appropriation of huge amounts of Māori land. The acts, as is commonly known, were explicitly implemented to destroy the 'communism' identified as foundational to Māori society, and sought to achieve this by 'individualising' Māori land title. However, in addition to this movement of individualisation, the acts fundamentally enacted and relied upon the financialisation of Māori lands, their transformation into securities against debts. This paper examines the colonial weaponisation of credit as a means of division and seizure and contrasts this with the anticolonial deployment of credit by Māori in the form of Te Peeke o Aotearoa. Founded in 1885, and situated within a broader politics of unification and the defence of land, Te Peeke o Aotearoa was an exclusively Māori alternative to prevailing colonial financial institutions that not only reasserted Māori economic autonomy but threatened to weaken the fabric of the colonial project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1730 the natives of San Juan Zitácuaro requested the notary of the "novohispanic" capital, a testimony of the titles of their lands, which dated their foundation in the improbable year of 1519. The document elaborated according to the characteristics of the primordial titles (Títulos Primordiales), presents characters, appeals, and facts of the past intertwined with their present. Beyond the blatant historical inaccuracies, a detailed reading of the document reveals a discursive form of political power based on its legitimate right to land and water, the demarcation of geographic space, and the interest in controlling social relations. Among their arguments were divine protection, agreements for the exercise of government, common history, the decisive intervention of ancestors, and the principle of merit. The moment in which the testimony is requested coincides with the growth of the village of Spaniards and mestizos in the head town, in addition to the intention of the subject towns to emancipate themselves. The information is relevant because it contributes to the territorial and historical recognition of eastern Michoacan peoples, in central western Mexico, where native populations currently live and propose self-determination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In August 1644, the eldest nephew of Charles I landed in England and publicly declared his support for parliament. Charles Louis, the exiled Elector of the Palatinate, has been accused by successive generations of scholars of either harboring ambitions for his uncle's throne, or having a long-standing friendship with leading parliamentarians which made his eventual allegiance an inevitability. However, such interpretations ignore the influence of short-term developments in the British Isles and on the continent on the actions of this impoverished and exiled prince, who was dependent on English financial and diplomatic support and faced the very real risk of being permanently excluded from his ancestral lands and titles. This article therefore provides a valuable insight into how political and financial necessities could clash with the perceived obligations of dynastic loyalty between ruling elites in early modern Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global restructuring of productive systems in the last few decades has led to the rapid expansion of large-scale, industrial agriculture. This agricultural expansion has occurred by means of the acquisition and consolidation of vast tracts of land by agribusinesses, fundamentally changing the dynamics of land control. In order to secure access to resources, agribusinesses employ tactics of privatization and enclosure, which are supported by state-led processes of legalization and territorialization, as well as tactics of intimidation and violence. For smallholders faced with such pressures, maintaining access to land and resources is of critical importance. Here, we examine how changing access to land and resources influences what livelihood strategies smallholders are able to pursue in the Argentine Gran Chaco, a region that is experiencing high rates of deforestation for the expansion of large-scale soybean and cattle production. Our findings indicate that the ability of smallholders to engage in activities critical to their livelihoods has been impacted by changes in access brought about by the expansion of commodity frontiers in the Gran Chaco, leading to a restructuring of these activities. In particular, we found that cattle and goat herding were constrained by the spatial conditions and relational pressures associated with frontier expansion, possibly leading to a greater reliance on pig rearing, but that smallholders who deployed access mechanisms, such as working with lawyers to obtain land titles, were better able to maintain these activities. Our results demonstrate the value of adopting a disaggregated view on the different dimensions of smallholder access, and more generally highlight the need to assess smallholders' access to land and resources, rather than merely the availability of resources, in order to better understand the impacts of agricultural commodity frontier expansion and properly target policy to reduce smallholder vulnerability. • Access to land is critical for smallholder livelihoods. • Agricultural commodity frontier expansion is paralleled by changes in land control. • Changes in land control lead to loss of land access for smallholders. • Livelihood impacts depend on land access mechanisms, pressures, and conditions. • Disaggregating dimensions of access better reveal livelihood constraints. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic development of a nation much depends on the prevalence of land-men proportion. Availability of the inhabitable land being constant, but the population pattern is changing. Explosion of population followed by the environmental pollutions are matter of concern. India's land surface being 3,287,263 Sq. KM and the country's population is 140 billion (as per worldmeters.info/world-population as retrieved on 25-12-2021) which is equivalent to 17.7% of the total world population and that makes India the second largest populous country in the world with her population density being 464 persons per Square Kilometres. This high density of population is putting a constant pressure on the land surface. This situation further aggravates when the real estate market is based on seller's information and the other party hardly able to gather any information input on the property he is going to purchase, followed by the absence of a sound regulatory mechanism to curb multi-dimensional land title irregulatories, which in other words called the prevalence of asymmetrical information-based market. This has paved the way of several market irregularities leading to title disputes of land and property and have adversely affected the governance of the real estate market. The situation is such a grave that as per the World Bank Study, two third of all pending judicial cases in the various courts of India are land title related. The same has been reiterated by one of the studies. "It is estimated that around 2/3rd of the cases pending with the Indian judiciary are related to real estate disputes" (roofandfloor. thehindu.com and sitersources. worldbank.org). Keeping in mind the multidimensional land title irregularities, here is an effort to make an academic exercise through observatory study on the subject and to draw some inferences to resolve such a burning issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land marketization and its effects are widely documented across developing countries. Few studies, however, have investigated the link between industrial land price determination and industrial land market reform, based on the establishment of a pilot open trading platform for the secondary market. Moreover, no studies have specifically examined the link between primary and secondary industrial land markets. This study, therefore, investigates industrial land price determination using a quasi-natural experiment to interpret distortions in industrial land prices in China. Using industrial land sales data for 2006-2017 in the city of Haining, Zhejiang Province, China, this study compares industrial land value in the secondary market with land transfer prices in the primary market and identify undervaluation in the primary market. The results show that the growth rate of industrial land transfer prices increased every year after the open trading platform was established. Moreover, compared with nonpilot districts and counties, industrial land prices in the pilot city (Haining) increased by 11.14% from 2015 to 2017. The findings suggest that, based on the pilot program, further market reforms should be undertaken by establishing open trading platforms in a broader area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Demand for Residential Licence is higher in homogenous neighbourhoods with higher shares of older, male and cooperative landholders. • This statutory property right is of higher priority to marginalised individuals, such as newcomers, women, and uncooperative landholders. • Landholders expect substantial returns from land titles, including gains of tenure security and public goods provision via state mechanisms. • Expectations of social sanctions for formalisation are low and neighbours do not provide significant (dis)incentives to land titling choices. • Land titling is seen primarily as an act of state contribution and a private decision: local leaders and households are more relevant networks. In much of urban Africa, demand for statutory property rights remains low even when governments coordinate land titling programmes and reduce the costs of registration. This paper studies the Residential Licence programme of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), which has had moderate and decreasing uptake since the early 2000 s. It tests hypotheses that social cohesion – measured via neighbourhood homogeneity and individual connectedness (or marginalisation) – affects choices of formalisation and explores two potential channels through social cohesion producing returns from informal systems and social sanctions for exit. Statistical analysis of city-wide administrative data shows that more homogenous neighbourhoods with higher shares of older, male and cooperative landholders have lower individual titling, and marginalised individuals, such as newcomers, female and uncooperative landholders, make more recourse to statutory property rights. However, primary survey data and vignettes suggest that landholders expect substantial returns from formalisation, including gains of tenure security and public goods provision over and above the informal tenure system. Expectations of social sanctions by neighbours are negligeable overall, and neighbours do not provide significant disincentives (nor incentives) for land titling decisions in this context. By showing that dimensions of social cohesion make land title acquisition of higher priority for specific groups and individuals, these results add to a growing literature on the links between social cohesion, tenure security and land titling decisions. They underscore a need for further research on how informal tenure systems produce and distribute public goods (including tenure security) generating heterogenous (dis)incentives for transitioning to alternative land institutions. This knowledge will provide better understandings of demand for land titles in rapidly urbanising developing cities and inform more effective land policies addressing specific shortcomings of informal tenure systems for diverse contexts, communities and individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ghana's Land Administration Project (LAP), initiated in 2003, aimed to enhance certainty regarding land rights. What has been achieved since then? We explore landowners' perceptions of tenure security in Ghana using micro-level data from two waves of the Ghanaian Living Standards Surveys: GLSS5+ (2008) and GLSS7 (2017). This data allows us to study the linkages between land title formality and perceptions of tenure security, measured by landowners' perceived ability to sell or use their land as collateral. This is complemented by analysing government policy documents and appraisal reports from independent organisations, making our study a valuable contribution to ongoing research on the formalisation-security link in Ghana and other African countries. The results indicate that those with formal titles are more likely to perceive their land ownership secure. However, in some regions customary systems persist in parallel with perceived security. These regional nuances highlight the complex factors influencing perception of tenure security. For policy, these findings emphasise the need to consider contextual peculiarities and expertise when assessing the compatibility of customary traditions with formal titles and finding solutions for potential coexistence. • In Ghana, formal titles yield higher perceptions of security than customary ownership. • The observed regional nuances highlight the complex factors influencing tenure security. • Inclusive land administration requires trust-building among stakeholders. • Land reforms should incorporate local expertise to avoid sub-optimal outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We analyze 12,000 parcels in the Brazilian Amazon and Cerrado biomes. • Scraped weekly, our data come from online advertisements of land sale offers. • Hedonic analysis reveals low net benefits from formal private property rights. • Environmental compliance with the Forest Code does not alter parcel prices. • Results highlight challenges to property entitlement and environmental compliance. Lack of property rights is associated with lower investment, development, and welfare. In the Brazilian Amazon, insecure property rights have historically led to civil conflicts and deforestation, which would be expected to provide incentives for landowners to seek formal title. In this paper, we construct a novel database of land prices in Brazil to measure the market value of formal title to land and compliance with environmental regulation. Using online advertisements of land sale offers scraped from a widely used seller's platform, we first estimate a hedonic model that regresses the last offer price on property attributes such as farm-level agricultural production, land characteristics, structure amenities, and capital equipment included in the offer, as well as spatial and temporal fixed effects. We use this hedonic model to examine how property rights and environmental compliance capitalize into land prices across the Amazon and Cerrado biomes. Our main results imply low net benefits from property rights and low net benefits from compliance with the central Brazilian regulation that aims to maintain forest cover, the Forest Code. Finally, we estimate a duration model that follows the sequence of weekly offers for a specific property until it sells. Our findings show that parcels compliant with the Forest Code sell 46 % faster in the Amazon, while entitled properties in the Cerrado sell 9 % faster, unless they are compliant with the Forest Code, which requires a substantial portion of the property to be under native vegetation cover. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]