Stemming the Loss of Black Owned Farmland Through Partition Actions -- A Partial Solution

Authors

• Christopher Kelley, University of Arkansas School of Law

Keywords

partition, farmland, property

Abstract

This article will briefly note what is happening to black owned farmland in Arkansas and why it is and should be a concern. It will also suggest a way in which the loss of that land might be modestly slowed through a modification of the statutory remedy of partition, a modification already enacted in two other southern states. The focus on modification of pre-existing property legislation is appropriate because most of the loss of black owned farmland has occurred through the lawful, though manipulative, use of traditional property law. Statutory partition is uniquely amenable to manipulation to serve the ends of those seeking to dispossess others of their land and it is not merely coincidental that partition actions “are unquestionably the judicial method by which most [black owned] property is lost.”

Recommended Citation

Christopher Kelley , Stemming the Loss of Black Owned Farmland Through Partition Actions -- A Partial Solution, 1985 Ark. L. Notes