MALAY LAND TENURE. 77 



Besides persons in the service of the Native Governments, 

 who are brought, by their duties, into connection with native 

 land-holders, there is an independent class of British settlers- 

 planters, miners and others — to whom it may be important to 

 know what rights in contiguous land their native neighbours 

 may have, and how far they are at liberty to alienate them. 



It has occurred to me, therefore, that it may be useful to 

 summarise, as far as I have been able to ascertain it, the law 

 relating to immoveable property in an independent Malay 

 State, and to publish translated extracts from Malay Codes of 

 laws, as well as the judgments of English Judges who have had 

 to deal with the subject. I shall be amply repaid for the 

 trouble which I have taken to examine the available informa- 

 tion, and to arrange it in an intelligible form, if increased recog- 

 nition and respect for the rights of native land-holders should 

 be obtained thereby. 



Chapter I. 

 PROPRIETARY RIGHT. 



The customary law of the Malays with reference to the 

 occupation and proprietorship of land differs little from that 

 of other Indo-Chinese nations — the Burmese, Siamese and 

 others. The natural condition of land in Malay countries, 

 from Sumatra to Borneo, is characterised by dense forest, which 

 demands no small labour and perseverance before a clearing 

 is effected and cultivation commenced. Land is abundant, but 

 the population is sparse ; there is no restriction upon the selec- 

 tion and appropriation of forest land, and a proprietary right is 

 created by the clearing of the land, followed by continuous occu- 



