Colonial land law in dutch new guinea

Abstract

Amendments proposed, in 1955, to the section of the New Guinea Act dealing with the recognition and alienation of land under indigenous tenure in Dutch New Guinea led to open debate. Orthodox views on the land rights of colonial subjects in the Dutch East Indies, and the criticisms levelled at the colonial administration by the distinguished legal expert, C. van Vollenhoven, provide a context for appreciating the debate over land law in Dutch New Guinea. The failure of the 1928 Agrarian Commission to introduce legislative change saw Dutch New Guinea, in 1949, inherit land legislation that had been in place since the late 19th century. The criticisms of the 1955 proposals voiced by V.E. Korn, van Vollenhoven's successor at Leiden, lie at the centre of a debate which essentially turned upon differing visions over the future of Dutch New Guinea and the nature of the relationship between Dutch residents and the indigenous New Guineans.