Land Administration and Policy Law Vocabulary

This set of flashcards covers fundamental legal concepts, land classifications, and reform models from the Land Administration and Policy Law (05.20712) study guide, Units 1 through 3.

Quic Quid plantatur, solo solo cedit

A common law maxim meaning everything permanently attached to the soil, such as fixtures and permanent crops, is considered part of the land.

cujus est solum jus est usque, etc.

A common law maxim stating that the owner of the land surface owns the airspace above stretching to the atmosphere and the soil beneath down to the centre of the earth.

Allodial ownership

An ownership concept in customary law where land rights are vested in the land-owning community rather than an individual.

Radical Title

A common law principle where the ultimate proprietary rights of all land are vested in the Crown or State.

Unalienated land

Land owned or possessed by automatic citizens or communities through proprietary or possessory rights regulated by custom.

Alienated land

Land removed from customary tenure voluntarily or through compulsory processes such as expropriation or waste and vacant declarations.

Waste and vacant lands

A legal concept involving land considered unowned or unoccupied that vested in colonial powers upon annexation.

Usufructuary

A developer under customary law who may own improvements on land they do not own, with the right to remove them or claim compensation if permission to occupy is revoked.

Bona vacantia

A legal principle that replaced the law of escheat in Papua New Guinea, where land without an heir passes to the State.

Incorporated Land Group (ILG)

An instrument of land ownership and security recognized as a legal person under the Land Groups Incorporation Act $1974$.

Transformation model

A radical land reform strategy focused on converting customary communal land into individual freehold tenure to support a land market.

Improvement model

A land policy based on the CILM Report recommending development through existing customs and traditional communal landholding units.

Land Mobilisation

A strategy aimed at increasing the economic use of land to overcome customary arrangements that may inhibit development beyond subsistence levels.

Fingleton's Model

A land registration approach implemented in East Sepik involving procedures for formal recognition of group ownership and adaptation to land use requirements.

Spurious ILGs

Groups created with the aim to deceive and extort financial returns, such as rent or royalties, from genuine land owners.