ABSTRACT
All Loziland and its products belong to the nation through the king. Commoners regard themselves as permanently indebted to the king for residential and agricultural land and for all wild and domesticated products of Loziland soil. The king is thus the owner (mung'a, Kololo; minyo, Lozi) of “ Loziland and its cattle [the wild game and fish and birds] and its trees,” in the sense that he has an ultimate right in every portion of Lozi land. But, although he is owner of the land, he is obliged to give every subject land to live on and soil to cultivate and to protect him against trespassers. He must allow every subject to fish in public waters, to hunt game and birds, and to use the clay, iron ore, grasses, reeds and trees, the raw materials of Lozi production, and protect him against any interference with these rights. The king's rights are to claim the allegiance of all residing on his land, to demand (in the past) tribute from their produce, to control the building of villages and to pass laws affecting land tenure and utilisation. He may make treaties with regard to the land. In addition, he retains direct control over unallocated land, has residuary rights to land to which an heir cannot be found, and has a " potential right ” to unused land, i.e. he can beg it from the holder in order to give it to a landless person, or use it himself or for public works. In exercising his rights to land the king must bear in mind the interests of his subjects.
