Property
Customary native land, inalienable to non-citizens, with a Lands Court
Land is customary native land held under the Native Lands Ordinance and administered through the Lands Court, and it cannot be sold to non-citizens. Scarcity is extreme and worsening with erosion.
Key rules
- Deadline — Land disputes are heard by the Magistrates Court in its lands jurisdiction with appeal to the High Court
- Deadline — Government leases of native land are registered with the Lands Division
Governing law
- Native Lands Ordinance (Cap. 61) (s. 4)
- State Acquisition of Lands ActCap. 96
- Land Planning OrdinanceCap. 48
- Banaban Lands ActCap. 8
In practice
Native land is held under custom by family groups, with entitlement recorded in registers maintained since the colonial period and determined by the Magistrates Court sitting in its lands jurisdiction. Non-citizens cannot own it; the state leases land for public and commercial purposes and sublets. Two special regimes sit alongside: Banaba, whose phosphate lands were mined out and whose community was resettled in Fiji, retains distinct statutory treatment, and the Christmas Island group has its own arrangements reflecting later settlement. The physical dimension is acute — total land area is roughly 811 square kilometres of low atoll, and coastal erosion and saltwater intrusion are removing usable land and freshwater, which makes land law inseparable from climate adaptation.