AbstractThis chapter examines how the tensions between imperial universalism and colonial difference played out in the high-stakes legal battles over land and political authority in the Imperial Appeal Courts. Because land was so central to colonial material culture, disputes over land and property rights offer unique insights into the processes by which colonial difference was constructed, contested, and maintained within the imperial justice system. The chapter also explores how assertions of imperial ideals of justice and equity, the notion of propertied personhood, and the commodification of land intersected with notions of native otherness in judicial discourse and adjudicatory processes. It investigates how colonial difference was invoked and negotiated within and outside of the courts in land and chieftaincy appeals. It also considers the impact of these appeals on imperial jurisprudence and the colonial political order.
