78 



INDIA. 



*****. this part of Hindostan is that of Bissunpoor, in the 

 *"- "Y ' Burdwan district of Bengal. It appears from good au- 

 thority to have been in possession of the present pro- 

 prietor's family for upwards of 1 100 years, the present 

 zemindar having a list of 56' successive Rajahs who 

 held it in regular succession. Its area comprises 1256 

 square miles. 



m thf When the Northern Circars were acquired by the 



northern British, they consisted of zemindary lands and havellie 

 Circwi ; lands. The former were situated in the hill country, 

 and in the plains between the hills and the sea. The 

 zemindars who possessed them were surrounded by 

 military tenants, who held their lands on the feudal 

 tenure of personal service. The latter not being so 

 well secured by the nature of the country, seem to 

 have been more quiet, and- more disposed to encourage 

 agriculture; accordingly they farmed their lands to the 

 Ryots, on annual or longer leases', for rent paid either in 

 kind or money ; one or more villages or districts, and 

 sometimes entire zemindaries, were thus leased out. 

 The havellie lands consisted of the demesne lands of 

 the Circar or government; they constituted a large por- 

 tion of the northern Circars. After the usual deduc- 

 tions were made from the crops of these lands for the 

 Pagodas, &c. the government possessed the right to 

 certain proportions of the remainder. But in order to 

 obtain this proportion with the least trouble, a whole 

 Circar was rented to one individual ; the more ancient 

 custom, however, was to let the land in smaller por- 

 tions. 



In the Jaghire, there were lands held as inheritance 

 from father to son, called meerass lands, and lands held 

 by the pyacarries, or subtenants. For some time, it 

 was matter of doubt whether the meerassadars had a 

 proprietary right in the soil or not ; but this question 

 was set to rest by Mr. Place in the year 1799. who 

 proved that they possessed this right originally derived 

 from the sovereign, to whom they paid a certain pro- 

 portion of the produce, as the tenure on which they 

 held their land ; that they could sell, mortgage, and be- 

 queath their land ; and that, till the period of the Ma- 

 homedan conquest, they were described, in the Malabar 

 language, by the term Caniatchy, compounded of can i, 

 land, and atc/iy, heritage. The pyacarries, who were 

 called strangers by the meerassadars, under whom they 

 held their lands, seem to have had a life-property in 

 them, receiving, however, only about 45 per cent, of 

 the produce. Such were the resident pyacarries ; but 

 there were other pyacarries, who seem to have had 

 meerasse lands in one village, and to have taken lands 

 on liferent, or sometimes only from year to year, in 

 another. These pyacarries were allowed 50 per cent, 

 of the produce. 



in Csr; In the provinces of Canara and Malabar, the tenure 

 of lands is very ancient, and is clearly pointed out by a 

 series of regular deeds, which have a very striking re- 

 semblance in both these provinces. Land formed a 

 clear private property, more independent and perfect in 

 its tenure than even in England, and it still remains so. 

 It is possessed either by a single individual, or by a 

 number in partnership, each of whom possesses an 

 equally inalienable right in the estate. In Canara there 

 are three kinds of occupiers : those who hold under the 

 nair mul guerry tenure ; under the shud mul guerry te- 

 nure ; and the chalic guerries. The land held under 

 the first tenure descends to the heirs-at-law, and is in- 

 alienable. In cases of the non-payment of taxes, or of 

 mortgage, it reverts to the owner as soon as he satisfies 



1 



government, or the Mutgolle. Under this tenure, Statistics, 

 land is not even forfeited where the owner's life is ta- S ^"Y"^*' 

 ken away by the laws of the country, but passes imme- 

 diately to the heir-at-law. On the failure of heirs it 

 reverts to government ; but is always granted to indi- 

 viduals on the payment of a few years' rent. In some 

 instances the proprietors hold immediately off the go- 

 vernment ; but their proprietary rights are not in the 

 smallest degree lessened by this circumstance. The 

 shud mul guerries, or tenants for ever, are in fact lesser 

 proprietors, holding under those j-ist described; they 

 can, however, give up their lands to the latter, who are 

 bound to reimburse them for the improvements they 

 have made; and in case the tenants for eyer die with- 

 out heirs, their lands revert to the superior landlord. 

 Chalic guerries are tenants at will, who hold under the 

 lesser proprietors. The tenants for ever, as well as the 

 tenants at will, pay a fixed rent either in money or in 

 grain ; and never by a share of the crop, as in the other 

 parts of the British possessions in India, where fixed 

 rents exist. 



Private property in land in Malabar, where it has and Mala, 

 rested, from the most remote times, on a tenure as well bar. 

 defined, extensive, and secure, as in Canara, is called 

 jummum, a word which signifies birthright. In one 

 respect, indeed, these lands differ from the lands of the 

 greater proprietors in this latter province ; for in Mala- 

 bar they may become forfeited by acts of treason to the 

 sovereign. In the event of the proprietor having no le- 

 gal heirs, he possesses the right of adoption, which pre- 

 vents his land from escheating to the government. In 

 mortgaging land* in Malabar, there are some peculiari- 

 ties. The proprietor receives from the mortgagee two 

 thirds of the produce or rent of the estate, and retain- 

 ing an interest in the land itself; when he loses this inte- 

 rest, he ceases to be a proprietor. There are two other 

 modes of transferring land, which, however, are very 

 little different from that just described. In all cases 

 the mortgagee accounts to the proprietor for the surplus 

 of rent above the interest to which he is entitled. If 

 the proprietor is under the necessity of raising further 

 sums on his land, there are other forms of deeds esta- 

 blished by the custom and laws of the country, by 

 which he alienates so much more of his proprietary 

 right; and, in many instances, the money advanced 

 on mortgage bears a value so nearly equal to that of 

 the estate, that the proprietor at length " has nothing 

 left him but a handful of rice, or a measure of grain," as 

 an acknowledgment of his title. In some parts of Ma- 

 labar the option of redemption is in the mortgagee ; in 

 others, in the proprietor. Where the former has a 

 right to refuse the redemption, and has long been in 

 possession, there is another species of contract, by which 

 the land is transferred to the mortgagee as a kind of 

 freehold. All these kinds of contract must be executed 

 previously to the execution of the deed called oltiper, 

 by which the proprietor absolutely transfers his pro- 

 perty. There are several descriptions of tenure by 

 which lands are granted in lease. According to one of 

 them, the proprietor receives a sum of money in addi- 

 tion to his rent ; the tenant retaining so much of the 

 latter as will cover the interest of the money advanced. 

 Under another kind of lease-hold tenure, the interest 

 of the money and the rent are considered security for 

 .each other. Lands are also let for a number of years 

 for a gross sum advanced by the tenant on his entry to 

 the farm. In those cases in which the land requires 

 improvement, the tenant binds himself to improve it, 



