British North Borneo

Indigenous law and land rights

The indigenous people of northern Borneo had their own unique ancestral and historical property rights, which traced their origin from their traditional religions that are protected by Adats based on customary practices. The arrival of the British, and the subsequent formation of the British North Borneo Chartered Company with Western land law, further recognised and gazetted these customary laws within the law of British North Borneo, which continue to influence land rights law in the territory through the Native Court, though these also sometimes conflict with state-backed resource extraction. When the company began to institute law over the territory of North Borneo following its acquisition, European government officials realised the need to recognise the importance of Native Customary Laws (NCL) in the daily lives of the indigenous people. The British administration subsequently incorporated this into Article 9 of the royal charter granted by the British government to the company on 1 November 1881. The article stated that: