Colonial land policies in Lagos

Abstract

Land policies in colonial Lagos were variegated. They alternated between freehold at inception of colonialism in 1861, and customary tenure at the beginning of the twentieth century and later coalesced into a combination of both. The variegated nature of the colonial government's land policies created a lot of confusion in land matters, which often led to litigations. The same difficulties that plagued colonial legislators on land matters continue to dog the postcolonial Nigerian government. The paper argues that colonial policy influenced the administration of justice in land matters in colonial Lagos, where the judiciary operated within the framework that colonial authority had to be paramount otherwise, it would be ineffective and colonial rule might be impossible.