From the Colonial Doctrine of Discovery to Contemporary Land Grabs

Drawing from several African cases of ‘land deals’, this chapter argues that contemporary land grabs in the Global South should be firmly viewed as a version of, and having been enabled by, the colonial Doctrine of Discovery, an international legal principle that facilitated colonial land dispossession, and whose legacy remains evident in contemporary property law. The chapter further argues that, while subject to polarization of facts between proponents and opponents, land grabbing taking place on the African continent largely amounts to dignity takings, because even in cases where land deals are ‘legal’, or where foreign investments on land are supported by the domestic governments, marginalized land users, particularly in rural areas, bear the brunt, and often are not given autonomy to decide about their land.