Land Tenure and Use

In 1899, the Leeward Valley and immediately adjacent region&s;s 1,300 acres were divided into only 12 holdings; in 1970, the 1,434 acres were divided into 289 pieces of land, a 24-fold increase during the 70 year interval. Valley lands are held in the same way as village houses and house-spots. Bought land refers to property purchased by the present owner and accounts for 140, or 48 percent, of the 289 holdings. Family ownership and joint purchases of valley land have produced a multiplicity of proprietary rights over holdings and there are 545 separate claims to the 289 pieces of land. The contrast between a folk system of tenure and transmission of property and an overarching societal jural system has been reported throughout the English-speaking Caribbean. As elsewhere in the West Indies, land and its possession are valued in and of themselves.