Customary Land Tenure Reform: Adopting a Different Approach (Sri Lanka and Solomon Islands)

HDR Candidate: Anne Pickering

Advisors: Professor Jennifer Corrin (Principal) and (Associates) Professor Rick Bigwood, Professor Daniel Fitzpatrick

Title: Customary Land Tenure Reform: Adopting a Different Approach (Sri Lanka and Solomon Islands)

Abstract

In some countries, the failure to accommodate customary land tenure within the state land regime has been a barrier to economic progress. In other countries where customary land tenure is accommodated modernising the existing system poses special challenges. This thesis examines two case studies: Sri Lanka and Solomon Islands. These two countries can be located at different places on the spectrum of a formal system that accommodates customary land tenure. This thesis aims to find a basis for land tenure reform in the two countries and articulate potential options for reform. For that purpose, this thesis also examines whether legal pluralist approach is adequate in finding practical solutions or whether historical course of legal change provides some assistance to articulate practical insights and solutions for customary land tenure reform.