1845.] the owners, and occupants of the soil in Bengal, $c. 537 



very much to our English copyhold * ) is transferable by sale, and is 

 undefeasible as long as the rent is paid. In Central Bengal where the 

 introduction of Indigo has raised the demand for land, and the pre- 

 sence of Europeans has given greater stability to the interests of culti- 

 vators, these jotes are recognized as valuable properties, and are trans- 

 ferred from hand to hand by sale or mortgage solely at the pleasure 

 of the jotedar without reference to the zemindar, who has no claim 

 except for his rents. In Eastern Bengal where land is more abundant 

 in proportion to the demand, and where the system of underletting 

 exposes the ryut to the ever varying aggressions of new farmers, if 

 confidence in the stability of the rates is not so strong, and tenures 

 held under prescriptive title have not the same value as marketable 

 commodities, neither will the cultivator himself incur the risk of any 

 extensive outlay in the formation of gardens, the excavation of tanks, 

 and the building of houses, unless under the additional guarantee 

 of a lease or other document. The estimation in which it is held 

 in the market, however, does not affect the real validity of the title ; a 

 tenure under rates established by prescriptive usage is valid in Eastern 

 Bengal as elsewhere, but there are not the same facilities for asserting 

 it as in Central Bengal, where it has been already recognized as a 

 transferable property. 



Nerick M oroza-waree. Prescriptive usage has in some places given the 

 inhabitants of a village a title to cultivate the lands in it at the rates 

 established for each peculiar class of soil ; this title acquires its validity 

 from the inability of the zemindar to levy more than the established 

 rates; he sues a ryut for land which he has cultivated without enter- 

 ing into engagements, although duly served with a notice, under 

 Section X. Reg. V. 1812. The cultivator in defence states, that that 

 notice raised the rates above those of the village ; the questions then 

 to be determined are, what are the village rates, and what title the 

 ryut has to the enjoyment of the privilege of cultivating at those rates ? 

 The first is regulated by such evidence as may be procurable ; the se- 

 cond depends very much on local usage ; the nearest approach to a ge- 

 neral rule is, that the cultivator if not duly served with a notice to 

 enter into fresh engagements, cannot at the end of the year be called 



* Vide Vol. IV. Stickler Dewanny Adawlut, 274. 



