LAND LAW – DECLARATION OF TITLE TO LAND – Duty of a Plaintiff where claim for declaration of title to land is based on inheritance “Whether a claim for a declaration of title to land based on inheritance must be traced to the first settler- issue formulation is mine
Where a claimant in an action for declaration of title to land traces his title to someone whose title is based on inheritance under customary law, as in this instance, it is incumbent on the claimant to plead and prove how the inheritance arose. He must plead how the title inherited arose originally, bearing in mind that there are various ways by which original ownership of land may arise. It could be by first settlement/deforestation of a virgin land, conquest during inter-tribal wars etc. Even in the case of conquest, since someone was the owner before the conqueror wrestled it by force of arms, it could not be said to be original ownership. Other forms or sources of title under customary law such as gift or customary grant are not original but derived, and such sources or roots of title cannot be referred to as original ownership. So, where a claimant pleads that his vendors were the ‘original landowners’, as in the instant case, he is saying in essence that they were the first to settle on the land. Rather than merely plead that his vendors inherited the land, he must go further to plead specifically, the nature of the ‘original ownership’ giving rise to the inheritance, including details of who the original founder/owner was, when and how he founded the land and how title in the land has devolved from him over generations until it got to the persons who alienated the land to the claimant”.
Flowing from the position above, it is my opinion that, If the claimants assert that their vendors were the “original landowners,” they must clarify the nature of the original ownership, specifying who the first owner was, how the land was initially acquired, and how the title passed through generations to the current owners who sold it to the claimants. Simply stating only that the vendors inherited the land is legally insufficient.
Solomon Agbator, LLB, LLM, PhD (in View)
(Offering legal principles and analysis).