NRC I Displacement, HLP and access to civil documentation in the north west of the Syrian Arab Republic The Syrian Civil Code of 1949 has played an important role in the development of the current land tenure system. The Code divides land into five categories: 1. mulk – Land “susceptible to full ownership lying within the perimeter of administratively determined built-up areas;” 27 2. amirié (or miri) – Land owned by the State; 3. métrouké murfaka – Land owned by the State but subject to a right of use in favour of a collective of people, usually governed by local customs or administrative regulations; 4. métrouké mehmi – Land that belongs to the State at the governorate or municipality level, and which is part of the public domain; 5. khalié mubah – Amirie land that has not been inventoried and delimited, and on which the first occupant with the State’s permission acquires a right of preference. These categories still apply today; however, substantial overlap of different types of tenure coexists. Although officially abolished in 1958, customary laws, institutions and practice were very strong and influential pre-2011. Customary law is fused with Islamic law in Syria as it is throughout the Muslim world. Pre-2011, customary institutions had authority over rangeland management and benefited from implicit recognition by the State; accordingly, HLP dispute management and resolution was also a key function they performed.28 27 Syrian Civil Code 1949, Art. 86(2). 28 Norwegian Refugee Council, 2016, op. cit., 7 – 8 14 I NRC Assessment Report