126 MALAY LAND TENURE. 



Crawfurd mentions the subject very briefly : — " Where 

 " there is a right of private property in land, or at least the 

 " usufruct of it, there is generally a community of goods 

 " among the members of a family. It is held in the name of 

 " the father or elder male of the family, and hence, by the 

 " customs of the greater number of the tribes, the father, or 

 "nearest of kin, is answerable for the debts of all the mem- 

 " bers of a family. I can nowhere discover in any of the 

 " collections of native laws which have fallen into my hands, 

 " that the right of devising property by will had any existence 

 " among the tribes of the Indian Islands."* 



This recognition of a superior right in the eldest male of a 

 family and the tendency of the Malays to confine the right of 

 succession to land to the tribe to which the deceased owner 

 belonged, is found in the law of the Chinese also : " The 

 " paternal estate and the houses upon it descend to the 

 "eldest son, but his brothers can remain upon it with their 

 "families, and devise their portion in perpetuo to their chil- 

 " dren, or an amicable composition can be made ; daughters 

 " never inherit, nor can an adopted son of another clan suc- 

 " ceed. "t 



Marsden, writing of the law of inheritance among the peo- 

 ple of Pasummah in Sumatra, says : — 



"If a person dies having children, these inherit his effects 

 " in equal portions and become answ r erable for the debts of the 

 " deceased. If any of his brothers survive, they may be per- 

 " mitted to share with their nephews, but rather as a matter 

 " of courtesy than right and only wTien the effects of the 

 " deceased devolved to him from his father or grandfather. If 

 " he was a man of rank, it is common for the son who succeeds 

 " him in title to have a larger share. This succession is not 

 "confined to the eldest bom, but depends much on private 

 " agreement in the family. If the deceased person leaves no 

 " kindred behind him, the tribe to which he belonged shall 

 u inherit his effects and be answerable for his debts." J 



* Crawfurd— Hist. Ind. Arch., Ill, 98. 

 f Williams— The Middle Kingdom, II, 100. 

 \ Hist, of Sumatra, p. 230, (3rd Ed.). 



