Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.4

c8.4

9, 44). Similarly the hunted deer belongs to him who hits it first; he who hits it later has shot his arrow in vain. A person earns a certain right even merely by cultivating a field which is lying fallow for the time being. In Indian inscriptions the expression is often met with that a village or a piece of land is presented *bhūmicchidranyāyena*. It is clearly meant by this that the donee is endowed with all the rights of him who makes a fallow land arable for the first time and this is exactly the view of the law-books¹. According to the latter somewhat similar rights upon a piece of land may be gained if it has remained fallow for 5 or 3 years or at least for 1 year (*aṭavi, khila, ardhakhila*). True, the legitimate owner may reclaim it from the cultivator, but the latter may keep his profit and must be indemnified by the owner for his labours (Nār. 11, 23-27).