if the right to property alleged by the Complainant was guaranteed as stipulated in the African Charter. Before conducting such an assessment, it is important to verify if the subject of the dispute actually constitutes property within the meaning of the African Charter and if the Complainant meets the necessary legal requirements to be entitled to the right to property. 106. In its jurisprudence on the right to property, the Commission has not defined property and all that it entails under Article 14 of the African Charter. However, the Commission notes that property is generally understood as the right to use, enjoy and dispose of something in an exclusive and absolute manner subject only to the limitations laid down by law. That said, property also refers to the property on which such a right is based.27 The property which is the subject of dispute before the Commission is a plot of land. As the Commission decided in the case of Malawi African Association and Others v. Mauritania, the Commission notes that a plot of land and any building thereon constitute property within the meaning of Article 14 of the African Charter.28 In this case, the plot of land and the building on it thus constitute property. Before determining if there was a violation of ownership, it is important to establish the Complainant’s right to property over the property in question. 107. The issue to be resolved at this stage is that of the legal guarantee of the right to property. In other words, the Commission has to determine if the Complainant meets the requirements and can prove that she is legally entitled to the right she invokes. In this regard, the Commission notes that the land certificate is the legal guarantee of the right to property. In terms of land in general, property ownership is guaranteed by a document called “land certificate”. This position is in line with national and international laws and jurisprudence. 108. Regarding national laws, the Commission notes that Article 1 of Decree No. 76/165 of 27 April 1976 to establish the conditions for obtaining land certificates, amended and supplemented by Decree No. 2005/481 of 16 December 2005 in Cameroon stipulates that: “The land certificate shall be the official certificate of real property rights.” This view is shared by the European Court of Human Rights which states in the case of Rimer and Others v. Turkey that “the title deed is considered as the indisputable proof of the right to property”.29 In the Endorois case, the Commission recognised legal title as the guarantee for an See S. Braudo Dictionnaire privé du droit privé http://www.dictionnaire-juridique.com/ definition/propriete.php; Juritravail ‘Propriété’ http://www.juritravail.com/lexique/Propriete.html (consulted on 20 March 2015). 28 Malawi African Association and Others v. Mauritania (2000) AHRLR 149 (ACHPR 2000) para 128. 29 See Rimer and Others v. Turkey Application No. 18257/04 ECtHR (2009) para 36. 27 24