ABSTRACT
The value of property lies not just in the economic benefits that might be gained from its sale, or from the rents or income it generates, but also from its use. This is particularly the case in societies where individuals have limited access to material goods, either because they lack the financial resources to acquire them, or because the range of available material wealth is limited. In such cases the use of things, especially land but also other commodities, is extremely important.1 Continued use over generations links people to the land and to their history. At the same time, as more people compete to use shared resources, new ways of sharing the use and enjoyment of property have to be devised and – as indicated in the previous chapter – new controls established to ensure that one person’s use or enjoyment does not encroach upon that of another person. In island countries of the South Pacific, control over the use and enjoyment of certain property for the good of the community is nothing new. What is more recent, however, is the increase in legislation restricting or determining the use and enjoyment of certain property, with individual interests or priorities giving way to considerations of public benefit or public welfare, environmental considerations and even global pressures. In this chapter, therefore, both mechanisms for facilitating use and enjoyment are considered, as well as mechanisms for how use and enjoyment are curtailed or controlled for the greater – or more general – good.
