GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND EVOLUTION OF LAND LAW

Nigeria has a land mass of an area size of approximately 935million square kilometers and is situated along the west coast of Africa, bordered by Sahel desert in the north, by the Bight of Benin in the West, by Cameroon in the east, and by the Atlantic Ocean in the south. Before the advent of the British, several communities made up of what is now known as the Nigerian nation. Each community had its traditional land tenure system which predominantly can be divided into two i.e. the south and the north. In the southern part of the country, communal ownership governed land tenure system for a considerable amount of time. Several methods of acquisition of communal land were recognized by the communities in this area such as settlement, conquest and history of ownership and possession of such piece or parcel of land. Thus, for a long time, ownership was vested in the community as a body or entity in what can be described as joint ownership under the English system of land tenure. But subsequent development witnessed a transfer of communal ownership into the family unit. By this arrangement, every family in a community is vested with ownership, management and control of land situated within the family unit. In such instances as will be shown later on, the head of a family who usually is the ancestor or the eldest male child is conferred with right of ownership of such family land either separately or in conjunction with other principal members of the family.

Modern civilization and the concept of private ownership led to the transfer of family ownership into individual ownership of such parcel of land. Thus, private ownership became a norm for land tenure system in most communities in Nigeria until the coming of the British into the Nigerian territory.

The advent of the British into the territory of what is now known as Nigeria officially commenced in 1861. In that year King Docemo of Lagos who was the reigning king then was induced to sign a treaty with her majesty the Queen of England through her representative ceding to the British crown 'the port and island of Lagos with all the rights, profits and territories and appurtenances.' On March 13 1862, a new government called the settlement of Lagos was established by commission and subsequently, merged into the west African settlement under the leadership of the Governor General in Chief, with the headquarters in Sierra Leone though Lagos had a separate legislature. This arrangement continued until the enactment of letters patent dated 24^th July 1874 with the inauguration of the colony of Gold Coast which Lagos was for administrative purposes included for twelve years. On 13^th January 1886, Lagos was separated from the Gold Coast and established as an independent colony.