This paper provides a critique of the English Common Law Real Property Concepts of Strict Settlements, the Rules Against Perpetuities and evaluates their applicability to selected Common Law jurisdictions. The two concepts impact on Land ownership in different countries. It scrutinizes the possibility of their existence today in the light of the constraints imposed by real property legislations of selected countries. The study looks at the gifts made under strict settlements which may be invalidated for infringement of the old and new perpetuity rules and the powers of the tenants for life regarding the settled estates created under the received English laws. This research centers’ around evaluating how far the common law jurisdictions welcome English Real Property Concepts of Strict Settlements and the Rules Against Perpetuities, bringing out successes and difficulties in some cases while using Nigeria as a case study. The research also tries to defined the concept, citing some cases and statutes to bring to lime light the dynamics in the applicability when it comes to real property ownership. It ends up by bringing some results, although not completely positive[1] and propose improvements.
[1] The authors are thankful to the anonymous referees and reviewers for enhancement comments on their earlier draft. The usual disclaimer applies, only the authors are responsible for any defect (s), although unintended and regrettable.
