LEGAL PRINCIPLE: CUSTOMARY LAW – Customary Tenancy – Existence Without Payment of Tribute
PRINCIPLE STATEMENT
It is not unknown that there can be customary tenancy without the payment of tribute; as long as the landowners accept or permit the use and occupation or possession of their land not upon absolute grant although without spelling out the terms of the tribute, nor for a temporary use as licensees, a customary tenancy is thereby impliedly created.
RATIO DECIDENDI (SOURCE)
"it is not unknown that there can be customary tenancy without the payment of tribute... As long as the landowners accept or permit the use and occupation or possession of their land not upon absolute grant although without spelling out the terms of the tribute, nor for a temporary use as licensees, a customary tenancy is thereby impliedly created."
EXPLANATION / SCOPE
Customary tenancy can exist without tribute payment. When landowner: accepts/permits land use and occupation, not as absolute grant (permanent transfer), not spelling out tribute terms, and not as mere license (temporary permission)—customary tenancy is impliedly created. This serves: recognizing flexible customary arrangements, identifying tenancies from circumstances, and protecting both owners’ and occupiers’ rights. Elements creating implied tenancy: (1) Permission: Landowner accepts/permits use; (2) Not absolute grant: Not permanent transfer of ownership; (3) Not temporary license: Not merely temporary permission; (4) Without tribute terms: Tribute not specified or required. These create tenancy by implication—legal relationship arises from circumstances. “Impliedly created” means: tenancy exists without express agreement, inferred from circumstances, and binding despite lack of formal terms. This distinguishes: Absolute grant (ownership transfer), License (temporary permission, revocable), Tenancy (ongoing possessory right, not easily terminable). The middle ground: permitted possession that’s neither ownership nor temporary license creates tenancy. Tribute absence doesn’t prevent tenancy—relationship can exist without it (see Principle 589). This recognizes: customary land law’s flexibility, informal arrangements’ validity, and that tenancy exists from relationship nature, not tribute payment. Courts infer tenancy from: landowner’s acceptance of occupation, occupier’s continuing possession, and relationship characteristics.