DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34368#0758
748
REGULATION XL
[A.D. 1825.
Reg, XI. 1623.
Preamble.
Claims and disputes
relative to alluvial lands
to be decided by im-
memorial and deAnite
be clearly recognized
and established.
A.D. 1825. REGULATION XI.*
A REGULATION jdm ADA.S' 777
67227722.$ 2*0 A 72727/$ 2/727722?<7 ^2/ A //22P2022, OP o/ 0 767*62' 02- 2^6
Xoo.- PASSED 72/ G^r6f7207'-(rd72d7'%Z 277 Uo2272C7/, 071 26/A JflTT/,
1825.
I. IN consequence of the frequent changes which take place in the
channel of the principal rivers that intersect the provinces immediately
subject to the presidency of Fort William, and the shifting of the sands
which He in the beds of those rivers, churs or small islands are often
thrown up by alluvion in the midst of the stream, or near one of the banks,
and large portions of land are carried away by an encroachment of the
river on one side, whilst accessions of land are at the same time, or in
subsequent years, gained by dereliction of the water on the opposite side;
similar instances of alluvion, encroachment, and dereliction also sometimes
occur on the sea-coast which borders the southern and south-eastern limits
of Bengal. The lands gained from the rivers or sea by the means above
mentioned are a frequent source of contention and affray, and although
the law and custom of the country have established rules applicable to
such cases, these rules not being generally known, the Courts of Justice
have sometimes found it dithcult to determine the rights of litigant parties
claiming churs or other lands gained in the manner above described. The
Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, with a view to ascertain the legal
provisions of the Mahommedan and Hindoo laws on this subject, called
for reports from their law officers of each persuasion, and on consideration
of the reports furnished by the law officers in consequence, as well as of
the decisions which have been passed by the Court of Sudder Dewanny
Adawlut in cases brought before them in appeal which involved the rights
of claimants to lands gained by alluvion, or by dereliction of rivers or the
sea, the Governor-General in Council has deemed it proper to enact the
foliowing rules for the general information of individuals as well as for the
guidance of the Courts of Judicature; to be in force, as soon as promul-
gated, throughout the whole of the provinces subject to the presidency of
Fort William.
II. Whenever any clear and definite usage of shekust pywust, respect-
ing the disjunction and junction of land by the encroachment or recess of
a river, may have been immemorially established, for determining the rights
of the proprietors of two or more contiguous estates divided by a river
(such as that the main channel of the river dividing the estates shall be
the constant boundary between them, whatever changes may take place in
the course of the river, by encroachment on one side and accession on the
other), the usage so established shall govern the decision of all claims and
disputes relative to alluvial land between the parties whose estates may be
liable to such usage.
* Act IX. 1847, provides rules for the assessment of lands gained by alluvion or derelict
in Bengal, Behar, or Orissa, superseding the present enactment in those provinces.
REGULATION XL
[A.D. 1825.
Reg, XI. 1623.
Preamble.
Claims and disputes
relative to alluvial lands
to be decided by im-
memorial and deAnite
be clearly recognized
and established.
A.D. 1825. REGULATION XI.*
A REGULATION jdm ADA.S' 777
67227722.$ 2*0 A 72727/$ 2/727722?<7 ^2/ A //22P2022, OP o/ 0 767*62' 02- 2^6
Xoo.- PASSED 72/ G^r6f7207'-(rd72d7'%Z 277 Uo2272C7/, 071 26/A JflTT/,
1825.
I. IN consequence of the frequent changes which take place in the
channel of the principal rivers that intersect the provinces immediately
subject to the presidency of Fort William, and the shifting of the sands
which He in the beds of those rivers, churs or small islands are often
thrown up by alluvion in the midst of the stream, or near one of the banks,
and large portions of land are carried away by an encroachment of the
river on one side, whilst accessions of land are at the same time, or in
subsequent years, gained by dereliction of the water on the opposite side;
similar instances of alluvion, encroachment, and dereliction also sometimes
occur on the sea-coast which borders the southern and south-eastern limits
of Bengal. The lands gained from the rivers or sea by the means above
mentioned are a frequent source of contention and affray, and although
the law and custom of the country have established rules applicable to
such cases, these rules not being generally known, the Courts of Justice
have sometimes found it dithcult to determine the rights of litigant parties
claiming churs or other lands gained in the manner above described. The
Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut, with a view to ascertain the legal
provisions of the Mahommedan and Hindoo laws on this subject, called
for reports from their law officers of each persuasion, and on consideration
of the reports furnished by the law officers in consequence, as well as of
the decisions which have been passed by the Court of Sudder Dewanny
Adawlut in cases brought before them in appeal which involved the rights
of claimants to lands gained by alluvion, or by dereliction of rivers or the
sea, the Governor-General in Council has deemed it proper to enact the
foliowing rules for the general information of individuals as well as for the
guidance of the Courts of Judicature; to be in force, as soon as promul-
gated, throughout the whole of the provinces subject to the presidency of
Fort William.
II. Whenever any clear and definite usage of shekust pywust, respect-
ing the disjunction and junction of land by the encroachment or recess of
a river, may have been immemorially established, for determining the rights
of the proprietors of two or more contiguous estates divided by a river
(such as that the main channel of the river dividing the estates shall be
the constant boundary between them, whatever changes may take place in
the course of the river, by encroachment on one side and accession on the
other), the usage so established shall govern the decision of all claims and
disputes relative to alluvial land between the parties whose estates may be
liable to such usage.
* Act IX. 1847, provides rules for the assessment of lands gained by alluvion or derelict
in Bengal, Behar, or Orissa, superseding the present enactment in those provinces.