Common Lands and Customary Law: Institutional Change in North India Over the Past Two CenturiesIn 1978 villagers in Kanjhawala agitated against the partition and parcelling of their common lands among the landless by the Delhi administration. Common Lands and Customary Law delves into the past to dispel the negative images of this rural protest built up by the media and by theauthorities.The author argues that communally held resources are not necessarily open to misuse and private exploitation, and that the "tragedy of the commons" is not inevitable. For this purpose she examines hundreds of court disputes in greater Punjab, an area which includes present-day Pakistan, over thepast two centuries. These court disputes highlight the role of customary law and institutions of property rights devised by rural communities to induce cooperation among individuals and to discourage free-riding or cheating in the use of resources held in common.This book will interest environmental, agrarian and economic historians, and development economists. Minoti Kaul's conclusions about the role of customary law in the governing of common property resources will be of significance to policy-makers and non-governmental organizations working in thefields of environmental and rural development. |
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Contents
Common Lands in History and Theory | 3 |
Regional Patterns | 37 |
Colonial Perception and the Commons | 63 |
Copyright | |
5 other sections not shown
Common terms and phrases
abadi according acres action Administration adverse possession Agri agricultural banjar became boundaries British canals cattle caused Chief Court co-sharers collective colonial Commissioner common lands continued created crops cultivation customary Customary Law customs Delhi demand demarcated Department district Economic example existed extensive fallow Famine Ferozepur fields forests Further given grass grazing grazing land groups held hills Hissar hold Hoshiarpur Ibid important increased India individual institutions irrigation joint Kangra Karnal Lahore Land Revenue land-use less long fallow major malikan-deh ment nineteenth century nomadic Notes occupancy officers ownership partition pastoral pattern plains population possession Progs property rights proprietary body proprietors Punjab question recorded region Regulation Report river rules Secy settled settlement shamilat share Sirsa situation supported Table tenants tenure tion tracts village common wajib-ul-arz waste
References to this book
Bibliographic information
| Title | Common Lands and Customary Law: Institutional Change in North India Over the Past Two Centuries |
| Author | Minoti Chakravarty-Kaul |
| Edition | illustrated |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press, 1996 |
| Original from | the University of Michigan |
| Digitized | 27 Oct 2008 |
| ISBN | 019563862X, 9780195638622 |
| Length | 315 pages |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |