Real pro- 
perty. 
Acquisition 
of. 
Rights of 
Settler. 
Redeemed 
Lands ( Zanah 
bertebus) 
Waris Land 
(i) RE onmersit 
Lands (Utan 
Tanah). 
(ii) Unrede- 
emed Lands 
(Zanah War- 
756) 
66 ; REMBAU HISTORY, ETC. 
~ from HO HORE 4 6 - « . There is no such 
“thing as joint. ownership oe ane inhabitants of a 
“village or tract, of cultivated lands.” This dictum is the 
conclusion drawn from two premises, that proprietary right is 
created by the clearing of the soil followed by continuous 
occupation, and that the right to land is absolute so long as 
occupation continues or the land bears signs of appropriation. 
The settler did not however acquire a free title, even 
during occupancy, for “the doctrine that the soil of the 
Malay States is vested in the Raja is not now to be 
questioned * and “ the settler’s right was absolute only so long 
as a proportion of the grain was paid to the Raja.” 
In Rembau, as the sayings prove, rights to land were 
based on clearing and effective occupation, but to that limited 
extent only, does the dictum of Maxwell hold good for 
Rembau, in regard to proprietary rights in real property. 
The soil of the state vested in the aborigines, and from them 
passed to the heirs (warts)—the descendants of aboriginal 
mothers by marriage with the earliest immigrants. As settlers 
of the eleven immigrant tribes entered the country they ac- 
quired from the “ waris’’* not merely the plots of land actually 
cleared by them, but the right in perpetuity to considerable 
tracts embracing valleys or portions of valleys adapted for 
rice cultivation. 
The tracts of country thus acquired by a nominal 
payment or by a promise of payment never fulfilled, are known 
as redeemed lands (tanah bertebus). On redeemed lands no 
tax or tithe on grain or crop was paid to Undang or to tribal 
chief. 
There were left, then, to the waris after the redemption 
of tribal tracts, the hills and forests * and such valleys suitable 
for rice cultivation as were not redeemed. ‘These two classes 
of land are known as Forest lands (Utan tanah) and un- 
redeemed lands, (tanah ta’ bertebus) or waris land (tanah 
warts). 
(1) vide op. cit. p. 89. (2) vide op. cit. 90. 
(3) vide Saying XXIII App. I. (4) vide Saying XVI. App. I. 
Jour, Straits Branch 
