171 



[Acquisition of Proprietary Right. Adjacent Owners to share 

 in Water privileges. Perak Code.] 



The law regarding the clearing of forest-land 

 which has not been taken up for huma cultivation. 

 Such land becomes the property of the person who 

 clears it, subject to two conditions, first, he must be 

 a Muhammadan ;f secondly, the land must not be 

 already in the possession of another person . 



When such land is cleared, everything which may 

 be upon it becomes the property of him who cuts 

 clown the jungle. 



If there be a spring of water on the land which 

 yields more water than is required by the proprietor 

 lor watering his plants, and for drinking purposes 

 for himself and cattle, he must not refuse to permit 

 those who live lower down to share in the use of it. 



[Acquisition of Land. Right to take up Waste Land. Perak Code.] 



To declare the law on the subject of upland fields 

 which are not cultivated by their owners. Should 

 any one desire to cultivate land of this description, he 

 must borrow it or rent it from the owner, and should 

 the latter want it back at any subsequent time, it 

 must be restored to him.. 



* So, in former times, English law denied the possibility of rights over land 

 to non-Christians. 



As late as Coke's time, it was the theory of English lawyers that an 

 infidel or pagan conld have no civil rights. Jews certainly had none before 

 their expulsion by Edward I. Regulations were made for their government, 

 and they were ultimately banished from the realm by the sole authority of 

 the Crown; and they are expressly called the King's serfs in contemporary 

 documents. In mediaeval theory, no one not a Christian could be a real mem- 

 ber of the State, and Christianity was one and indivisible. — Pollock, " Tae 

 Land Laws/' p. 17 n. 



