Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.59

c8.59

The joint ownership of the fields is often seen to-day specially in the Punjab. There the villages are divided into three classes according to the constitution of the land-tenure system, which in the official jargon are called Zamīndārī, Pattīdārī and Bhayācāra villages. In the Zamīndārī system properties are absolutely held in common, inasmuch as the whole of the proceeds of the pieces of land is put in a common coffer and is divided among the family-heads after the expenses have been deducted from it. In the Pattīdārī system the soil, held in common, is divided into lots (patti), as is found in private property, but they can however be redistributed periodically. In the Bhayācāra (bhrātṛācāra) system every family tills its own ground as its free property. Sometimes these three systems are regarded as historical steps from absolute common possession of the soil to pure private property ³. On the other hand Baden-Powell is of opinion that some of the Bhayācāra villages came into existence through the decline of former village communities with joint ownership of the fields, but it is improbable that all of them came into existence in this way. The state of things described in M. is in his opinion preserved in the land tenure system of the N. W. Provinces : the land is divided into small principalities, pure private property of individual families in the villages, great land-owners, nobles etc. through the villages being bestowed upon them as fiefs and the inheritance of these fiefs in their families so that they frequently become common property till it is divided again.¹