| Update | Copy | Delete |
| Record identifier: | TIM-000856 |
| Record status: | C |
| Country: | Uganda [UGA] |
| Faolex ID: | LEX-FAOC096350 |
| In force: | Y |
| Sector: | Land/Land-use planning |
| Type of text: | LE-Primary Legislation: Act/Law/Order |
| Date of Text: | 1998-07-02 |
| Title: | Land Act (Cap. 227). |
| Reference: | Arts.1-8 |
| Measures: | Art.1 Interpretation. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires [...] (m) “customary tenure” means a system of land tenure regulated by customary rules which are limited in their operation to a particular description or class of persons the incidents of which are described in section 3; (r) “freehold land tenure” means the holding of registered land in perpetuity subject to statutory and common law qualifications the incidents of which are described in section 3; (u) ”leasehold land tenure” means the holding of land for a given period from a specified date of commencement, on such terms and conditions as may be agreed upon by the lessor and lessee, the incidents of which are described in section 3, and includes a sublease; (v) “mailo land tenure” means the holding of registered land in perpetuity and having roots in the allotment of land pursuant to the 1900 Uganda Agreement and subject to statutory qualifications, the incidents of which are described in section 3. Art.2 Land ownership. Subject to art.237 of the Constitution, all land in Uganda shall vest in the citizens of Uganda and shall be owned in accordance with the following land tenure systems: (a) customary; (b) freehold; (c) mailo; and (d) leasehold. Art.3 Incidents of forms of tenure. (1) Customary tenure is a form of tenure: (a) applicable to a specific area of land and a specific description or class of persons; (b) subject to section 27, governed by rules generally accepted as binding and authoritative by the class of persons to which it applies; (c) applicable to any persons acquiring land in that area in accordance with those rules; (d) subject to section 27, characterised by local customary regulation; (e) applying local customary regulation and management to individual and household ownership, use and occupation of, and transactions in, land; (f) providing for communal ownership and use of land; (g) in which parcels of land may be recognised as subdivisions belonging to a person, a family or a traditional institution; and (h) which is owned in perpetuity. [...] Art.4 Certificate of customary ownership. (1) Any person, family or community holding land under customary tenure on former public land may acquire a certificate of customary ownership in respect of that land in accordance with this Act. (2) A certificate for customary ownership shall be in the prescribed form (3) An application for a certificate of customary ownership shall be in the prescribed form and shall be submitted, together with the prescribed fee, to the committee of the area in which the land the subject of the application is situated. Art.5 Functions of committee on application for certificate of customary ownership. (1) On receipt of an application for a certificate of customary ownership, the committee shall: (a) determine, verify and mark the boundaries of all interests in the land which is the subject of the application; (b) demarcate rights of way and other easements over the land the subject of the application and any adjacent land which benefit or burden or are reputed to benefit or burden any such land or which it considers will be necessary for the more beneficial occupation of any such land in respect of which an application may be granted or any adjacent land; (c) adjudicate upon and decide in accordance with and applying customary law any question or matter concerning the land referred to it by any person with an interest in land which is the subject of an application or any land adjacent to it, including the question of whether the customary law applicable to the land the subject of the application recognises individual rights to the occupation and use of land and, if so, subject to what conditions and limitations; (d) record that if any person has, or two or more persons have, exercised rights under customary law over the land the subject of the application that should be recognised as ownership of that land, that person or those persons, as the case may be, shall, prima facie, be entitled to be issued with a certificate of customary ownership and in the case of two or more persons, the shares of each person and the nature of their ownership; (e) if any persons have exercised any right over the land or any part of it or are entitled to any interest in the land or part of it not amounting to ownership, including any lease, right of occupation or use, charge, pledge or other encumbrance whether by virtue of customary law or otherwise, hereafter in this Act referred to as a third party right, record the nature, incidents and extent of that third party right and the persons entitled to the benefit of it; (f) advise the board upon any question of customary law; (g) safeguard the interests and rights in the land which is the subject of the application of women, absent persons, minors and persons with or under a disability; (h) take account of any interest in land in respect of which, for any reason, no claim has been made; (i) exercise such other functions as may be prescribed. (2) The committee shall, in the exercise of any of its powers under this section which involve a hearing, comply with the rules of natural justice and, subject to that duty, may— (a) hear evidence which would otherwise not be admissible in a court of law; (b) call evidence of its own motion; (c) use evidence contained in any official record or adduced in any other claim; (d) refer any matters to any customary institution habitually accepted within the area as an institution with functions over land for its advice and, where relevant, use, with or without adaptations and additions, customary procedures relating to the settlement of disputes over land recognised and in general use within the community where the land is situated; and (e) generally, determine its own procedures. (3) In order to discharge the functions referred to in subsection (1), the chairperson of a committee shall have power to administer oaths and to issue summonses, notices and orders requiring the attendance of such persons and the production of such documents as he or she may consider necessary for carrying out the functions of the committee. Art.6 Procedures for application for certificate of customary ownership. (1) The chairperson of a committee shall be responsible for ensuring that the procedures to be followed by the committee as set out in this section and any other procedures that may be prescribed are complied with. (2) Where an application has been submitted to the committee, a notice in the prescribed form shall be published and posted in a prominent place in the area and on the land which is the subject of the application: (a) specifying the location and approximate area of the land; (b) requiring all persons who claim any interest in the land or in any adjacent land which may be affected by the application, including in respect of any adjacent land claims as to the boundaries of that land, to attend a meeting of the committee at a specified time and put forward their claims; and the time specified shall be not less than two weeks from the date on which the notice is published and posted as required by this subsection. (3) On the date specified under subsection (2), the committee shall hear and determine all claims made under that subsection. (4) The committee may adjourn any hearing into any claim and request an officer from the district land office, any other person or a group of persons recognised within the area as having knowledge about the land and its incidents of tenure to conduct further investigations into that claim. (5) In hearing and determining any claim, the committee shall use its best endeavours to mediate between and reconcile parties having conflicting claims to the land. (6) The committee shall: (a) prepare a report on the application, recording all claims to interests and rights in the land or to the occupation and use of the land and its opinion on whether those claims have been proved to exist, setting out its findings and recommendations with reasons on the application, including in all cases whether the application should be approved with or without conditions, restrictions or limitations endorsed on the certificate and forming part of the incidents of customary ownership evidenced by the certificate or refused, and all claims made in relation to the application; (b) give or send a copy of the report to the applicant; (c) submit the report to the board; (d) make a copy of the report available within the area for inspection by all persons who submitted claims to or who were heard by the committee. Art.7 Functions and procedure of board on application for certificate of customary ownership. (1) The board shall, upon receipt of the report and recommendations of the committee referred to in section 6(6), consider the application in the light of that report and those recommendations and may: (a) confirm the recommendations of the committee and where those recommendations are to issue a certificate of customary ownership with or without conditions, restrictions or limitations, approve the issue of a certificate of customary ownership accordingly and where the recommendations are to refuse to issue a certificate of customary ownership, confirm that refusal; (b) where the recommendation of the committee is to approve the issue of a certificate subject to conditions, restrictions or limitations, vary the recommendation of the committee and issue a certificate of customary ownership, with or without conditions, restrictions or limitations in accordance with any such variations as it may make; (c) return the report to the committee with directions as to what action, including further investigations or hearings, the committee is to undertake on the application; or (d) reject the report of the committee and where the recommendation of the committee is to issue a certificate, refuse the issue of a certificate and where the recommendation of the committee is to refuse the issue of a certificate, approve the issue of a certificate. (2) Where the board rejects or varies a recommendation of the committee, it shall give reasons for its decision. (3) Where the committee has recorded under section 5(1)(e) that a person is entitled to the benefit of a third party right, a certificate of customary ownership may only be issued subject to that third party right, a record of which shall be endorsed on the certificate. (4) The Board shall communicate its decision in writing to the recorder. (5) Where the Board approves the issue of a certificate of customary ownership with or without conditions, restrictions or limitations, the recorder shall issue the applicant with a certificate in terms of the decision of the Board. (6) Any person aggrieved by a decision of the board under this section may appeal to the land tribunal against that decision; and the land tribunal may confirm, vary, reverse or modify the decision of the board and make such other order in respect of that decision or as it is empowered to make by this Act. Art.8 Incidents of certificate of customary ownership. (1) A certificate of customary ownership shall be taken to confirm and is conclusive evidence of the customary rights and interests specified in it, and the land to which the certificate refers shall continue to be occupied, used, regulated and any transactions in respect of the land undertaken and any third party rights over the land exercised in accordance with customary law. (2) A certificate of customary ownership shall confer on the holder of the certificate the right of the holder to undertake, subject to the conditions, restrictions and limitations contained in the certificate and subject to subsection (1), any transactions in respect of that land which may include, but shall not be limited to: (a) leasing the land or a part of it; (b) permitting a person usufructuary rights over the land or a part of it for a limited period which may include a period for the life of the person granting or the person granted the usufructuary right; (c) mortgaging or pledging the land or a part of it, where a certificate of customary ownership does not restrict it; (d) subdividing the land or a part of it, where a certificate of customary ownership does not restrict it; (e) creating, or with the consent of the person entitled to the benefit, altering or discharging any easement, right in the nature of an easement or third party right applicable to the land or a part of it; (f) selling the land or a part of it, where a customary certificate of customary ownership does not restrict it; (g) transferring the land or a part of it to any other person in response to an order of a court or a land tribunal; (h) disposing of the land either as a gift inter vivos or by will. (3) The holder of a certificate of customary ownership who undertakes any transaction in respect of the land to which the certificate relates shall provide the recorder with a copy or other accurate record of the transaction, and the recorder shall keep all such records in the prescribed manner. (4) No transaction referred to in subsection (3)(a), (c) or (f) shall have the effect of passing any interest in the land to which the transaction relates unless it is registered by the recorder under subsection (3). (5) For the avoidance of doubt, where a mortgage of land to which this section applies has been made under the Mortgage Act, the mortgagee has the power to sell and execute a transfer of that land to a purchaser in case of default by the mortgagor. (6) In this section, “usufructuary right” means the right to use and derive profit from a piece of property belonging to another while the property itself remains undiminished and uninjured in any way. (7) A certificate of customary ownership shall be recognised by financial institutions, bodies and authorities as a valid certificate for purposes of evidence of title. |
| Activity: | GE-General |
| Type of forest: | CO-Community |
| Target subject: | GE-General; ID-Indigenous; CM-Community |
| I. Land Tenure and Forest Management: | customary rights and tenure rights of local, tribal and indigenous communities |