Madagascar’s High Constitutional Court has approved a law allowing the state to reclaim colonial-era land still registered under foreign names, marking one of the country’s clearest sovereignty moves in decades.
The court ruled on 3 August that Law No. 2026-007 complies with the constitution, according to the High Constitutional Court. The decision, numbered 15-HCC/D3, clears the way for the government to take formal ownership of colonial-era land that was never transferred to a Malagasy citizen.
The National Assembly adopted the bill on 1 July, before referring it to the constitutional court for review, Africanews reported. Lawmakers then waited for judicial approval before the legislation could move towards promulgation.
Under the law, any colonial-era land still recorded in a foreign name on 26 June 1960, the day Madagascar gained independence, will automatically pass to the state. That applies only where the land was never subsequently transferred to a Malagasy owner.
Three categories of property fall outside the law’s reach, according to Rio Times Online. Property used by foreign diplomatic and consular missions is exempt. Land already transferred to Malagasy owners before independence day is also excluded, as is land held by foreigners who later took up Malagasy citizenship.
The High Constitutional Court described the measure as part of a process meant to complete the transfer of colonial-era land still tied to foreign registrations. It said the goal is restoring the rights of the Malagasy people and strengthening state control over strategic property.
French colonial administration produced many of the land titles now affected. Records tied to foreign settlers have stayed unresolved for more than six decades since independence, leaving a legal grey zone that successive governments left untouched.
The law now heads for promulgation and publication in the Official Journal, Rio Times Online reported. Once published, authorities are expected to begin a census and inventory of the affected parcels.
Supporters argue the reform could open a path for ordinary Malagasy citizens, particularly in rural areas, to gain recognised ownership of colonial-era land that has sat in administrative limbo for generations.
The legislation adds to a wider pattern of Madagascar invoking decolonisation in disputes tied to its colonial past. The country has long pressed France over the Scattered Islands in the Mozambique Channel, a territorial dispute that remains unresolved.
France’s colonial rule over Madagascar ended in 1960, but disputes over land, territory and historical restitution have persisted since. In 2025, France returned the skull of King Toera of Menabe, killed by French colonial forces in 1897, following years of Malagasy requests.
The colonial-era land law arrives as Madagascar’s transitional authorities, the Council of the Presidency for the Refoundation, pursue a wider institutional overhaul following the political upheaval of 2026. The council has outlined a two-year transition running into 2027.
For now, the effect of the law is legal rather than physical. Officials must first complete promulgation before identifying and cataloguing which parcels will actually transfer to state ownership.
