Clarke, Richard [Hrsg.]: The regulations of the government of Fort William in Bengal in force at the end of 1853 - to which are added, the acts of the government of India in force in that presidency: with lists of titles and an index (1): Regulations from 1793 to 1805 (London, 1854)

110

REGULATION XI.

[A.D. 1793.

Reg. XI. 1793.

Aft&r the 1st July,
1794, landed property
to descend according
to the Mahomedan or
Hindoo law, unless the
last proprietor shall
have otherwise disposed
of it in a manner sanc-
tioned by those laws.

succeeding to an estate,
to be at liberty to hold
it as a joint undivided
estate ;

$

A.D. 1793. REGULATION XI.
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I. A CUSTOM, originating in considerations of tinancial convenience, was
established in these provinces under the Native Administrations, according
to which some of the most extensive zemindarries are not liable to divi-
sion. Upon the death of the proprietor of one of these estates, it devolves
entire to the eldest son, or next heir of the deceased, to the exclusion of
all other sons or relations. This custom is repugnant both to the Hindoo
and Mahomedan laws, which annex to primogeniture no exclusive
right of succession to landed property, and consequently subversive of the
rights of those individuals who would be entitled to a share of the estates
in question, were the established laws of inheritance allowed to operate
with regard to them as well as all other estates. It likewise tends to
prevent the general improvement of the country, from the proprietors of
these large estates not having the means, or being unable to bestow the
attention requisite for bringing into cultivation the extensive tracts of
waste land comprised in them. For the above reasons, and as the limi-
tation of the public demand upon the estates of individuals as they now
exist, and the rules prescribed for apportioning the amount of it on the
several shares of any estates which may be divided, obviate the objections
and inconveniences that might have arisen from such divisions when the
public demand was liable to annual or frequent variation, the Governor-
General in Council has enacted the following rules.
II. After the 1st of July 1794, corresponding with the 20th Assar, 1201
Bengal era; the 17th Assar, 1201 Fussily; 20th Assar, 1201 Willaity;
17th Assar, 1851 Sumbut; and the 2nd Zehigeh, 1208 Higeree; if any
zemindar, independent talookdar, or other actual proprietor of land, shall
die without a will, or without having declared by a writing, or verbally, to
whom and in what manner his or her landed property is to devolve after his
or her demise, and shall leave two or more heirs, who by the Mahomedan
or Hindoo law (according as the parties may be of the former or latter
persuasion) may be respectively entitled to succeed to a portion of the
landed property of the deceased, such persons shall succeed to the shares
to which they may be so entitled.
III. If any zemindar, independent talookdar, or other actual proprietor
of land, shall die subsequent to the period specihed in Section II. without
a will, or without having declared by a writing, or verbally, to whom and
in what manner his or her landed property is to devolve after his or her
demise, and shall leave two or more heirs who, by the Mahomedan or
Hindoo law (according as the parties may be of the former or latter per-
suasion) shall be respectively entitled to succeed to a portion of the landed

See Reg. X.
1800.