The issue of property rights in land has taken central stage in research in Institutional Economics regarding developing countries. In the African context, numerous studies have dealt with the individualization and commoditization of customary land rights. The issue of intra-family land rights tends however to remain a black box, regarding the content of the bundle of rights and duties, the identification of the right holders and the transfers of rights within the family. Drawing from the insights of Institutional Economics as well as Economic Anthropology, the paper presents a conceptual framework to rigorously explore the issue of land rights through an economic ethnography. This framework is then applied to the case of Baoulé matrilineal family groups, in Lower Côte d'Ivoire. Disentangling the land rights within family groups sheds light on the debate regarding the individualization of land rights; on the fact that the household constitutes, in such a context, a weak analytical unit; on the potential impact of a land titling policy; on the functioning of the land market; on the productive use of the land; and on land conflicts.