LoS) 
16° MALAY LAW IN NEGRI SEMBILAN. 
Land once held by atribe is very seldom sold to other 
tribes. If debts have been incurred and a person’s holding 
has to be sold it is nearly always bought in by the tribe and 
this avoids many complications in proprietorship that might 
otherwise arise. There are of course disputes in a tribe, but 
these are disputes of inheritance more than of boundaries and 
are far more easily settled. The technical terms for land pur- 
chased from the Waris and the dry outline of land tenure has 
already been described in my former paper. I have referred 
also to “‘ herta membawa,’ that is, property brought by the hus- 
band to his wife’s house, as in these States, the women being 
inheritors of all lands, the man always goes to his wife’s house 
(‘tempat semenda’’). If he divorces or his wife dies he re- 
turns to his mother’s house (‘‘herta pesaka’’). Cases of “‘ herta 
_membawa”’ are most difffcult to decide upon. I will give an 
instance. A foreign Malay from Sungei Ujong married a wo- 
man in Ulu Muar; he was accidentally wounded by a spring 
gun that had been set for pig, and died. His mother who lived 
in Sungei Ujong was informed by letter by the Chief of her 
daughter-in-law’s tribe. The mother arrived and claimed $150 
worth of property that she had given to her son when he was 
coming to live with his wife here and which she stated he had 
brought to his wife’s house. The orang semenda or male re- 
lations of the lady denied this saying that the property had 
never been declared to them as “ herta membawa’’ which was 
necessary and that they altogether discredited the statement. 
After hearing amass of contradictory evidence with good 
points on both sides, it was ruled that the mother would not 
-have claimed without cause and awarded to her half the amount 
claimed. 
A question of some importance and which has not yet been 
decisively settled is that of “ pencharian berdua,’ 7. e., the for- 
tune acquired by husband and wife apart from “ herta mem- 
bawa’’ or “ herta pesaka.”’ 
The law runs ‘chart bhagi dapatan tinggal bawa kem- 
halek.” This cannot be translated literally, but it means that 
the money acquired by husband and wife must be divided, 
each person’s share remain to each, and the husband’s share 
