How did gardening rights differ from collective ownership of land in traditional Melanesia?

In traditional Melanesian society, the distinction between land ownership and gardening rights was defined by a hierarchical system of tenure:

• Collective Ownership: Local kin groups held corporate title to the land itself. This ownership was typically inherited and maintained by the descendants of the founding ancestors who originally cleared the territory.1
• Gardening Rights: While the land was held collectively, domestic groups or individual members typically exercised specific rights over the gardens and cultivated trees located on that land. These use rights could be granted to others by the kin group holding the corporate title.1

This structure allowed for flexibility in land use while maintaining the social cohesion of the kin group. In many areas, the connection between the people and the land was conceptualized through chains of descent, which could be traced through patrilineal, matrilineal, or cognatic lines.1