X-Nico

3 unusual facts about Certificates of Claim


Certificates of Claim

Eugene Sharrer claimed to have acquired 363,034 acres, and he had attempted to induce chiefs to give up their sovereign rights: he also possibly intended to form his own Chartered company.

On his death on 1893, this land passed to the A L Bruce Trust, whose main beneficiaries were his two sons.

Certificates of Claim were a form of legal instrument by which the colonial administration of the British Central Africa Protectorate granted title to individuals, companies and others who claimed to have acquired land within the protectorate by grant or purchase.



see also

Abrahams Commission

When the legality of the Certificates of Claim system was challenged in 1903 on the basis that the agreements made by the chiefs breached the rights of their community members, the Appeals Court upheld their validity.

Native Trust Land

However, when the legality of the Certificates of Claim system was challenged in 1903 on the basis that the agreements made by the chiefs breached the rights of their community members, the Appeals Court upheld the validity of the certificates, ruling that that title arose from a grant by the Crown’s representative, not from any agreements made by the chiefs.