The Fon symbolises unity and represents the link with the past, the ancestors. This symbolism is well borne out by the perception of the land as 'the spirit of the people' and a ritual link between them and the ancestors. Under customary law, land is viewed more as a source of sustenance rather than as a means of material accumulation (Goheen 1988 and this volume). It is useful to distinguish the political rights of sovereignty that accrue to the chief as a political figure (the chiefdom lands), from the rights of control and management which accrue to any landlord in the area, of whom the chief might be one (the lineage lands).

It is in his political capacity that the chief can rightly claim that 'this is all my land, and these are my people'. In this capacity, the chief welcomes all new arrivals as his 'strangers'. They, in turn, are expected to pay tribute to him as their Fon and as a sign of their respect and submission to his authority. Even though these new arrivals might be given land by any of the land-owning lineages, they are still accountable to the Fon as his people. It is also in his capacity as political leader that land attributions, such as for a school or other development project, are made by the Fon in consultation with the land owning lineage.

For example, the Fon of Ndu gave land to the Cameroon Baptist Convention Mission for the construction of a primary school, a secondary school, a teachers' training college, and a Baptist Bible Training College. Subsequently, the primary school was moved to a new site while the teachers' training college was transferred to Kom. This left much land to lie fallow and so the Fon of Ndu requested that part of the unoccupied land be returned to him for redistribution. Without taking any account of customary land tenure, the Baptist mission instead claimed ownership and sought to have the land registered under the 1974 land ordinances. This dispute necessitated the intervention of the divisional administration from Nkambe.

In 1982, eight years after the dispute began, the Land Consultative Board (commonly known as the Land Commission) came to the site for judgment. It concluded that the Fon could no longer re-enter the property he had given to the Baptist mission. This was now the private property of the mission since it was already registered and a land certificate for it issued. It is reported that the ageing Fon (now of blessed memory) overtly lamented: 'who now owns land in Ndu and in the Wiya Clan? ' The response was that 'the Fon owns Ndu and the Wiya (clan), but the government owns the land and everyone who lives on it, including the Fon'.

This was a moment of great desolation. Chia's [n.d.] account of this event states that tears rolled down the Fon's cheeks as he walked away, helpless before the administration. Obviously, the message the Senior Prefect and his Land Consultative Board wanted the Fon and his notables to understand is that he was no longer the undisputed owner of all the land in his jurisdiction. As the land slipped from his hands, so too did political control over the territory, and so too he is losing control over the subjects.

Ten years later, in 1992, during the period of popular unrest that shook the country, Ndu became the scene of intense state violence in a tax collecting exercise. The area came under military control and six people were killed. The local population hastily accused their newly installed (educated) Fon of 'culpable inertia', and condoning the brutalization and killing of his subjects by state gendarmes. The local population denounced their Fon and even came to doubt whether he still represented their ancestors, the symbol of continuity with the past. At some critical moments, certain individuals called him by his name, an overt sign of dethronement. The chief was swiftly categorized as an agent of the state who was out to destroy the sacred nature of the chieftaincy. To restore some credibility, the Fon of Ndu is said to have apologized to his people and sought reconciliation.

The unwarranted brutality of the forces of law and order had further wreaked untold damage to the chieftaincy. The land had to be ritually cleansed of the blood shed on it, were it to recover its fecundity. Such ritual reconstructions could only be achieved if the Fon was 'in one mind and spirit' with his people. Indeed, in such moments of crisis, the people would expect the Fon and his notables to invoke the mediation of the ancestors by pouring a libation to them so that the 'earth could pass judgment'. As chief priest of the land, the Fon is expected to pour a ritual libation at least once a year at the kingdom's shrine, invoking the ancestors and gods of the land to protect the land and bestow numerous blessings on it. Similarly, each land-owning notable or lineage head is expected to pour a libation on his land if a dispute arises, praying the 'earth to pass judgment'. Occasionally, this practice involved drinking the Fon's wine containing a speck of earth from the disputed area (Chilver 1990).

Reliance on the nyuy nsai (god of the earth) to pass judgment has been the main support of ritual sanctions pertaining to land. In the absence of conflict, notables will still pour libations to the ancestors and the gods of the land just before the planting season and during harvest. These manifestations are the symbolic acts of ownership. Under customary law, no Fon or notable would ever pour a libation on another's land. This is so because one lineage cannot falsely claim another lineage's land with impunity. Any act of trespass will immediately bring about the wrath of the gods and cause the 'earth to pass judgment' and this is a major check on unscrupulous land accumulation by fraud. The performance of ritual functions on land are the obligations that go with the claim of ownership.

These are the political rights and religious duties that accrue to the chief as sovereign. Their observance enhances the protection of the gods and the productivity of the land. The absence of these observances demystifies land; it loses its spiritual value and becomes a mere factor of production. Once land ceases to serve as a link with the past, it is easy for it to be turned into a commodity and then subjected to bureaucratic control.