92 MALAY LAND TENURE. 



dinate. The right of the subject of a Malay State to appro- 

 priate and cultivate, and thus acquire a proprietary right over, 

 land which, though once tanah hidop, has been abandoned and 

 has relapsed into tanah matt, is unquestioned * ; it is not incon- 

 sistent with any supposed right of the Raja to the soil of the 

 abandoned holding, for Malay tenant right may be established 

 by a cultivator over the land of another. The Raja's absolute 

 property in the soil, is but a barren right, and as he undoubt- 

 edly has, independently of it, the right of levying tenths and 

 taxes and of forfeiting lands for non-payment, Malay law does 

 not trouble itself much with speculation about it. Tenant 

 right is the cardinal doctrine of the Malay cultivator, and, as 

 long as that is fully recognised, it does not matter to him who 

 or what functionary or power may, in theory, be clothed with 

 the original and supreme right to the soil, f 



When Malay laws speak of the grant by the Raja of lands 

 already under cultivation to some Chief or royal favourite, it 

 must be understood that what is granted is the right to exer- 

 cise the royal privileges of claiming from the cultivators a tenth 

 of the produce and of disposing of abandoned and forfeited 

 lands. The Raja's property in the soil is not parted with, and 

 the tenant right of the cultivators is in no way interfered with. 

 The grants of the local Dutch Government in Malacca parcel- 

 ling out the district to a few privileged individuals, which gave 



* Appendix I, p. v. 



f " It does not appear from any of the Siamese writings examined by me, 

 " or from information orally obtained, that the sovereign is the virtual pro- 

 " prietor of the soil. That he is perfectly despotic cannot be doubted. But 

 " eastern despots generally encourage agriculture, and however the case may 

 " have stood originally, it is evident from law cases quoted in the digests and 

 " decisions that the occupiers of the land have a firm prescriptive, if not an 

 u indefeasible proprietary right in it. Perhaps their Kings may have deemed, 

 " and with truth, that their own prosperity was linked with the admission of 

 " that right ; and hence may have arisen the fixed assessment on landed pro- 

 " perty, which has not altered since the days of the earliest intercourse of 

 " Europeans with Siam. It is collected either in kind at 10 per cent, or in 

 " money. Ten per cent, on the value of the net produce is here meant. 

 " Although this, for Asia, is a light tax in itself, yet when taken in conjunction 

 " with the obligation to personal service for the State and with other exac- 

 " tions to which all are liable, it will be found on the whole oppressive. Be- 

 " sides, the Kings will often break through all law, social and moral.'' — Colo- 

 nel Low— Journ. Ind. Arch., I, 336. 



