[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte)](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jolly-1896) › c8.4 # Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.4 Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.4 - **Language:** English ### [c8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jolly-1896.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). - [Previous: c8.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jolly-1896.c8.3) - [Next: c8.5](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jolly-1896.c8.5) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jolly-1896.c8) ## Cites (1) - [Nāradasmṛti](https://indike.org/pramana/in.niti.dharma.narada) — Nārada, Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jolly-1896.c8.4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jolly-1896.c8.4) · Pramāṇa