ABSTRACT
In order to avoid some of the complexities of land restitution programmes, many Latin American states have opted for land reform framed in terms of endowment rather than restitution. In endowment procedures the appeal is not to a legal title but to a general principle of justice. Such procedures, equivalent to those termed ‘redistribution’ elsewhere, are based on the principle of ironing out extreme inequalities of land distribution. Since they do not require evidence
of previous occupation or links with ancestors who were robbed of their land in the past, no complicated investigations to establish the original ownership of land or the reasons for present land inequality are necessary. In land endowment programmes the criteria for eligibility are practical and forward-looking, rather than focused upon the past. A village that is mostly dependent on agriculture, has a certain number of inhabitants, is demonstrably lacking in farmland, and/or is situated next to large landholdings that are apt for expropriation is – in the case under discussion – considered an ideal candidate for such redistribution.
