Conflict and Compromise: Devolution and Disposal of Property in a Matrilineal Muslim Society

History provides examples of societies that come to accept two sets of rules simultaneously, both being viewed as sacrosanct: those subsumed in traditional customary law and derived essentially from kinship; and those subsumed in the legal codes of their new faiths. The inhabitants of the Lakshadwee...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Economic and political weekly 1994-05, Vol.29 (21), p.1273-1284
Main Author: Dube, Leela
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Children
Coconuts
Gift deeds
Islamic law
Kinship
Land ownership
Property deeds
Property inheritance
Property rights
Sons
Special Articles
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Summary:History provides examples of societies that come to accept two sets of rules simultaneously, both being viewed as sacrosanct: those subsumed in traditional customary law and derived essentially from kinship; and those subsumed in the legal codes of their new faiths. The inhabitants of the Lakshadweep group of coral islands present a fascinating instance of this kind. The people of Lakshadweep have followed matriliny under the rubric of Islam. As a consequence their conceptions of rights relating to property and its actual distribution have been governed by customary law upholding matrilineal principles along with an application of rules deriving their sanction from Quranic injunctions and the sharia. Focusing on the process of devolution and disposal of property in Kalpeni, one of the 10 inhabited islands of the Lakshadweep group, this study presents situations in which parts of two legal systems were used at different points in the same disputes or in which there was simultaneous use of elements of both systems.
ISSN:0012-9976
2349-8846