ABSTRACT
In Ruanda, as in most other regions of Black Africa, the concept of land ownership, which exists in the Western legal tradition and is based on the Roman Law, is not applicable. The rights resulting from manifold utilisation of land remain separated, whereas in the Western system these rights constitute a whole which is vested in the owner. It is an exclusive right to various uses to which a thing can be assigned. In Ruanda, the multiplicity of usage rights and the distinction between them are particularly marked, because the population of Ruanda consists of two groups: the pastoralists and the agriculturalists. As a result, the lands, at least the best part of them, being capable of a large number of pastoral and agricultural uses, give rise to a great diversity of rights.
