Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.3

c8.3

Thus according to Gaut. 10, 39 the sources of the right of ownership are inheritance, purchase, partition, seizure (of unclaimed property) and finding, over and above which the Brahmans have the acceptance of presents, the Kṣatriyas the booty of war or conquest and the Vaiśyas and Śudras the wages for labour. In this connection the seizure of an unclaimed property is of particular importance in establishing ownership. For this reason a person who makes a piece of fallow land arable by felling the trees on it becomes the owner of the soil (M.