Colonial Land Registry history in Guinea (1888-1948)

Abstract

After the attempts to turn Guinea into a settlement colony during the 19th century failed, the land registration system that was established in the 20th century served two purposes: being institutionally cheap and to allowing an agile and economical negotiation for european settlers who did not intend to make that land their homeland, but merely to speculate with the wealth generated there. In consequence, it was decided to institute some elements of the Torrens system that favoured mobility. But others that had a constituent meaning of new ownership were discarded, such as the perfect identification of the estate, the indefeasibility of titles, the accountability of the State or considering the registrar as a territorial judge. Nontheless, the type of registration that was finally adopted consisted in the transposition of the land law system that governed in Spain, with some facilities for the mobility of the Australian system. All of this was obstructed by unforeseen phenomena in colonial policy like the necessity to legitimize indigenous private ownership. These factors, as well as the disproportion between the technical complexity of the system and the lack of specialized personnel for its managment explain how, before being a tool for the constitution and guarntee fo new property rights, the Registry had perhaps become and obstacle. Nevertheless, and even though Equatorial Guinea, unlike other colonial experiences, was a failed laboratory for registration solutions, it was proven —against what was claimed by 20th century legal doctrine in Spain— that an institutional integration of a Registry with a dependent Cadastre was feasible.