Developing the Concept of Legal Perpetuities: An Expansion of the Scope of Perpetuity in Property and Environmental Law


Daphne Duruoha, Carleton University (Canada)

In legal terms, perpetuity refers to an arrangement designed to last indefinitely. Property law has traditionally used perpetuity to describe the landlocking of resources and ownership across generations, often viewing such arrangements as problematic or illegal. This research, however, argues that dispossession, much like possession itself, can also become perpetual, and can be reproduced through legal means. This poster follows research that introduces the concept of Legal Perpetuities to expand discussions in property and environmental law around multigenerational dispossession. Using the Shell plc oil extraction in the Niger Delta, Nigeria as a case study, it examines how environmental destruction and long-term extraction regimes intersect with conflict and environmental justice. Beyond loss of livelihood and ecological damage, prolonged extraction has contributed to oil bunkering and recurring tensions between local communities, corporations and the Nigerian state through the rise of the militant group called the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND). In this poster, we ask how the concept of legal perpetuity captures unending stages of dispossession and conflict.