Squatters' Rights and Adverse Possession: A Search for Equitable Application of Property Laws
![handle is hein.journals/iicl8 and id is 127 raw text is: SQUATTERS' RIGHTS AND ADVERSE POSSESSION:
A SEARCH FOR EQUITABLE APPLICATION OF
PROPERTY LAWS
Human history has been an endless struggle for control of the
earth's surface; and conquest, or the acquisition of property by
force, has been one of its more ruthless expedients. With the
surge of population from the rural lands to the cities, a new type
of conquest has been manifesting itself in the cites of the
developing world. Its form is squatting, and it is evidencing
itself in the forcible preemption of land by the landless and
homeless people in search of a haven.'
I. INTRODUCTION
According to the United States Census Bureau, the total world
population on January 1, 1998, will be 5,886,645,394 people.2 Using
average annual growth rate percentages, the Census Bureau estimates that the
world population will be approximately 9,368,223,050 by the year 2050.3
With this geometric rise in world population, invariably there will be an
increase in scarcity and competition for vital resources, including food, fossil
fuels, raw materials, shelter, and land. With increasing disparities in wealth
and resources between the world's rich and poor, many of the world's
citizens will continue to be forced into homelessness. Already, the United
Nations (U.N.) estimates that one hundred million [persons] have no home
at all while more than one billion persons throughout the world do not
reside in adequate housing. ' An accurate number of currently homeless
1. C. ABRAMS, MAN'S STRUGGLE FOR SHELTER IN AN URBANIZING WORLD 12 (1964),
reprinted in CURTIS J. BERGER, LAND OWNERSHIP AND USE 513 (3d ed. 1983).
2. U.S. BUREAU OF CENSUS (visited Nov. 17, 1997) <http://www.census.gov/cgi-
bin/ipc/popclockw >.
3. Id. The United Nations' World Population Prospects 1990 confirms this forecast;
it predicts the world population to approach 8.5 billion persons by the year 2025. STANLEY
JOHNSON, WORLD POPULATION-TURNING THE TIDE 235 (1994).
4. Justice R. Sachar, Working Paper on Promoting the Realization of the Right to
Adequate Housing, at 4-11, U.N. Doc. EICN.4/sub.2/1992115 (visited Oct. 8, 1997) < http:/
www.undp.org/unlhabitat/presskit/dpil778e.htm> [hereinafter Realization]. The Global
Report on Human Settlements released in March 1996 estimates that 500 million urban
dwellers are homeless or live in inadequate housing. Id. The World Health Organization
estimates that the number of homeless children ranges from 10 million to 100 million, with
the possibility that 20 million live in industrialized nations, 40 million in Latin American
nations, 30 million in Asia, and 10 million in Africa. Robin Wright, Gimme Shelter: The
Plight of the Homeless in Lands of Plenty in Advanced Nations, the 'New Poverty' Sends More
and More People into the Street, L.A. TIMES, Oct. 4. 1994, available in 1994 WL 2351607.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/iicl8&div=9&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
What Is HeinOnline?
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most
Squatters' Rights and Adverse Possession: A Search for Equitable Application of Property Laws
Contact us for annual subscription options:
Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?
profiles profiles most