Land as a Source of Wealth and Economic Success throughout the world governments seek social stability and sustainable economic performance for their countries and their people. Countries with different histories, cultures and environments share common aspirations for certainty and for growth. A framework of land and property laws that recognize the rights and duties of the individual, but also the shared concerns of the wider community, is essential if these aspirations are to be realized. No country can sustain stability within its boundaries, or economic development within the wider world, unless it has a land rights policy that promotes internal confidence between its people, its commercial enterprises, and its government. Recognizing that land is the source of all wealth lies at the heart of good government and effective public administration. States that prosper promote widespread and secured private ownership of land as a foundation of social and economic policy.
| Document Download | Download |
| Document Type | General |
| Publish Date | 19/01/2005 |
| Author | |
| Published By | HM Land Registry, London, |
| Edited By | Tabassum Rahmani |
Uncategorized
Social and Economic Benefits of Good Land Administration
The inter-relationship of people and land is fundamental to human existence. It is worth summarizing what has been described by others about the relationship of man and the land on which he depends. The modern market economies generate growth because widespread formal property rights, registered in a system governed by legal rules, afford indisputable proof of ownership and protection from uncertainty and fraud so permitting massive low cost exchange, fostering specialization and greater productivity. It is law that defines the relationship of rights to people. Civilized living in market economies is not simply due to greater prosperity but to the order that formalized property rights bring. (Hernando de Soto 1993). Land is the place of all shelter, in the city, the town the village and the home, It is the source of food, of materials for construction and manufacture, of coal, gas and oil, of springs and rivers and other essentials for life, Indestructible, immovable, it is the foundation of all human activity. Houses and factories, forests and farms, rivers roads and railways, mines quarries and reservoirs are all fashioned from the land. It offers endless opportunities for development and discovery. It is the ultimate source of wealth. (Sir Charles Fortescue Brick dale 1913) For nations to unlock that wealth requires effective systems of land registration. Good land registration promotes an active land market and productive land use. It makes possible the security of tenure and the development of a mortgage market on which a functioning economy depends.