On the Edge of the Law : The Cost of Informal Property Rights Adjudication in Kisii, Kenya

The disjuncture between public and customary law regulating property rights is a problem for capital formation and poverty alleviation across Africa. In Kenya, government efforts to establish clearly defined property rights and adjudication mechanisms have been plagued by the existence of competing processes in formal and customary law. Seeking to advance the state of knowledge regarding the enforcement of property rights in areas with overlapping legal systems, this paper will compare the costs and processes of the formal and informal methods of property rights adjudication. The focus herein is on the property rights of women, who have property rights that are often subject to dispute because of their lack of clarity. This research demonstrates that traditional or customary channels of dispute resolution have become monetized and are so expensive as to be beyond the reach of many Kenyans