Land between two laws : early European land acquisitions in New Guinea.

Abstract

This book penetrates the facade of colonial law to consider European land acquisitions in the context of a complex historical process. Its context is land, but it is fundamentally a legal study of the problems arising out of the dichotomy between traditional New Guinea law and imposed Prussian law. Though these problems arose out of events that took place more than fifty years ago, they are of immediate relevance for New Guinea in the 1970s. They are mostly still unsolved and are only now emerging from under the layers of political compromise that have concealed them. Dr Sack emphasises the differences between traditional and introduced law in New Guinea in order to investigate the chances of a synthesis between them. He offers no panacea, but points up clearly the tasks which must be accomplished before the 'land between two laws' can become a truly independent state. This is an essential work for anthropologists, lawyers and all those concerned with the emergence of a stable, unified Papua New Guinea.