Kingdoms & polities · in force throughout the pre-1822 period
The landlord–stranger reciprocity
The legal convention by which a resident ruler granted a foreigner protection, land use and trading rights in exchange for tribute and obligation.
Biography
Across the Upper Guinea coast, a stranger — African or European — could not simply arrive and trade. He attached himself to a landlord, who housed him, stood surety for his conduct, gave him access to markets and, if required, a wife from the landlord's kin. In return the stranger paid customs and accepted the landlord's jurisdiction.
The relationship was revocable. Land use was granted, never alienated; the landlord retained the reversion. This is precisely the point on which the 1821 Mesurado contract broke down, and precisely the point that later Liberian and colonial land law refused to recognise.
Historical significance
The single most important legal concept for understanding what the coastal kings thought they were signing in 1821 — and why they believed the settlers had breached the agreement, not they.
Timeline
- 15th c.Portuguese traders accommodated under the convention
- 17th–18th c.Governs European factories on the Grain Coast
- 1821The Mesurado contract read as freehold by one side, tenancy by the other
Related entries
References
- Brooks, George E. (1993). Landlords and Strangers: Ecology, Society and Trade in Western Africa, 1000–1630.
- Holsoe, Svend E. (1976). 'A Study of Relations between Settlers and Indigenous Peoples in Western Liberia.'
Suggested reading
- Brooks (1993) — the definitive treatment.