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. |
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 acres adverse possession Agri agricultural Amritsar arable banjar kadim bhaiachara Bisagama British cattle Chief Court Cis-Sutlej clause co-sharers colonial common lands crops cultivated land Customary Law customs Delhi demarcated disputes district doabs dry tracts example Famine Ferozepur fodder forests free-riding Govt grass grazing fallows grazing land Gujranwala Gurdaspur Gurgaon held hills Hissar Home Jud Hoshiarpur Ibid India individual institutions Jats Jhang johads joint Jullundur Kangra Kanjhawala Karnal Lahore lambardars Land Revenue Act land-use long fallow Ludhiana malik malikan-deh mauzas ment montane Nardak nineteenth century nomadic non-proprietors occupancy tenants ownership partition pastoral pastoralists pattern PBEI possession Progs property rights proprietary body proprietors Punjab Punjab Land Revenue Punjab Tenancy Act recorded region Revenue Department riverain Rohtak Secy settled settlement officers Shahpur shamilat shamilat-deh Sialkot Sirsa Sirsa district sub-montane Sutlej tehsil tenure tion tivated Tupper uncultivated village common lands wajib-ul-arz wasteland