ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the development of land law in East Timor to illustrate the interests and incentives that produced a standardized rule of possession in customary areas, with complex overlays of state land, community property and community protection zones. Account of the development of land law in East Timor illustrates correlations between configurations of rule complexity and simplicity, and the imperatives and incentives of state-strengthening in a post-conflict environment. While the policy note recommended legal space for customary property systems in East Timor, it did not adopt Ostrom-like recommendations for delineation of customary system boundaries, or identification and enforcement of community rules of resource appropriation. As a practical matter, however, the draft 2012 land law of East Timor does not adopt recommendations of a default rule of recognition of custom in rural districts. It applies standardized legal constructs of possession, community property and community protection zones to areas of customary domain.
