THE LAW AND CUSTOMS OF THE MALAYS WITH 

 REFERENCE TO THE TENURE OF LAND. 



Introductory 



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HERE are, probably, few subjects connected with 

 the Government of a Malay population which are so 

 little understood by Englishmen in the Colony as 

 the principles which account for the point of view 

 from which these people treat the possession of, and 

 rights in, land. Successive generations of public servants in 

 the Straits Settlements have been haunted by a bug- bear 

 known as " the Malacca Land Question," which still makes 

 periodical appearances, and is very far from having been set 

 finally at rest : it is nearly sixty years old and has derived 

 from the joint forces of ignorance and neglect an extraordi- 

 nary vitality. From time to time a great deal of well-meant 

 labour has been employed in trying to bring Asiatic customs 

 and English law into harmony without the aid of legislation, 

 and it need hardly be said that the task is an endless one. 

 Two systems of tenure have been in operation in Malacca 

 during the greater part of this century, and the present gen- 

 eration of officials have inherited a legacy of confusion in 

 which time develops fresh combinations continually. 



In all the provinces of British India, British Administrators 

 have taken the native revenue system as the ground-work on 

 which to build up a detailed and consistent structure of land- 

 revenue administration. Native tenure has been fully recog- 

 nised ; native law has been studied ; the technical terms used in 

 the vernacular to express particular documents, tenures and 

 native officials have been preserved and are employed in all the 

 Courts ; nothing so fatal to the prosperity of the country and 



