Meaning of Land in Law

Meaning of Land in Law

• Cujus est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos means whoever owns the soil owns everything up to the heavens and down to hell.
• Cujus est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos was a common Roman maxim that determined land ownership.
• At common law, land refers to the earth's surface, the soil beneath it, and the air above it.
• Land in common law includes anything growing on or attached to the soil, such as trees, crops, and buildings.
• Minerals are included in the definition of land, except for gold and silver, which are crown or royal minerals according to Hallman 1994:91.
• In PNG customary context, rivers, trees, and mountains were used as markers to identify land belonging to a family within the clan.
• Land ownership was passed down orally from one generation to the next.
• Tribal fights determined ownership, where multiple clans owned land through conquest.

The Feudal System

• Land was held through a chain of feudal relations.
• The king was at the top, followed by aristocratic "tenants in chief," then intermediate tenants of "mesne," and finally the tenant "in demesne" who occupied the land.
• Each piece of land was held under specific conditions of tenure, requiring certain service or payment.
• An armed knight may have been required to provide service for a period each year, according to BE:2024.
• Succession to tenancies was controlled by "estates," determining the duration of a tenant's interest.
• Land held in "fee simple" could be inherited by any heir.
• Land held in "fee tail" could only be passed to direct descendants.
• Life estates are tenancies lasting only for one person's lifetime, and could also be created according to BE:2024.
• Free tenures, or knight service required military service to the king for 40 days a year.
• Serjeanties included nonmilitary services to a lord in exchange for land.
• Spiritual tenures and free socage meant a tenant provides nonmilitary service to the lord.
• Incidences relating to free tenures included burdensome homage.
• Tenants had to serve the lord with an oath.
• Actions such as breaking the oath or committing serious offenses were considered incidences to free tenures.
• Lords claimed money upon a tenant's death or succession to the deceased property.
• Suits in court-tenants were obligated to attend court and perform duties.
• Aid-assist- tenants assisted their lord in paying debts and fines.
• Barons were to consult the king on the marriage of a baron's daughter.
• Escheat and forfeiture refers to forfeiture to the state, or Re Johns.
• Unfree tenure is also known as copyholds.
• Tenancy at will, which is normally not inherited, depended on its existence and ownership, and at death went back to the owner of the land.
• Character of unfree tenure was agriculture or domestic in character, and had uncertainty in character and time.
• Freehold land characteristics under common law give the owner title in perpetuity, and can only be passed to a surviving heir upon death.
• Freehold interest allows the owner to create other interests.
• Most plantations in the 1800s were held under freehold title system.
• The Land (Ownership of Freehold) Act 1981–s26 also restricts the transfer of freehold land.

Meaning of Land under Custom

• Section 4 of the Land Act dictates that all land other than customary land is the property of the state.
• According to the Land Act 1996, customary land is owned or possessed by citizens or a community through rights or possessory claims regulated by custom.

Meaning of Land in Modern Context

• Cujus est solum eius est usque ad coelum et ad inferos, means whoever owns the soil owns everything up to the heavens and down to hell. It is a common Roman maxim that determined land ownership.
• In Steamships Trading Company Limited & Waterfront Development Limited –v- Magellan Properties Ltd N6092, decided on 12 August 2015, land includes the soil, everything above and below it, land below the low water mark, and land covered with water, rivers, and streams.
• According to Land Registration Act 1981, s3(2), "land" includes all easements and appurtenances pertaining to the described land.
• The Mining Act, Section 2 defines land as including the surface and ground beneath, water, the foreshore, offshore areas, the beds of water features, and any interest in land.

Land, People and Culture

• Land has a strong connection to the indigenous people of PNG and other Pacific Islanders.
• People and land are inseparable, and their association is at the heart of economic, cultural, and spiritual foundations of society.
• Connections to the land underpins an individual's and group's sense of social identity and belonging.
• According to a person from the Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB), land is life, providing physical sustenance, social identity, and is essential to their existence.
• Detachment from land leads to the loss of experience and community.

Minerals and Petroleum

• Most mineral and petroleum projects are found on customary land.

Legal Arguments

• The Mining Act and the Oil and Gas Act vest ownership of minerals and petroleum in the state.
• The hierarchy of Laws is a legal argument related to resources.
• Relevant judicial interpretations can be found in the Application by Simon Ekanda(2024) PGSC 133.
• The CPC desired collective ownership of minerals and petroleum.
• Constitution section 212(b) and section 6 of the Oil and Gas Act were amended to reflect CPC's wishes, per Salika Chief Justice.