Ahli waris (Arabic-Malay, “the people of inheritance,” heirs) was the term used in Atjeh for the lawful heirs of a deceased possessor of land, whose rights conditioned the re-issue of abandoned ground by the radja.
In the law of re-clearance
Where a piece of recently abandoned sawah was applied for in the self-governing territories, the applicant could be granted a three-year bruikleen (loan for use) under padjoh asoè only if no heirs of the owner could be found who would undertake to work the land. Heirs who existed but did not intend to exploit the ground might not disturb the applicant in the right of use granted him by the radja. After the three years, if the original owner had not returned, the ahli waris had the right to demand a share-cropping contract from the new cultivator, who could thereafter continue only on that condition.
For gardens and ladangs within the gampong boundaries, where the owner or his ahli waris failed despite warning to maintain them properly, the radja might give the land out to an applicant in mawaih asoë, the produce to be shared with the owner or his heirs. Where nothing remained of the old planting on a garden outside the gampong, the applicant obtained full possession free of any obligation towards a waris subsequently appearing.
In the law of estates without heirs
Where a person died leaving no heirs, or where a deceased stranger left land, the oeléëbalangs laid ex officio seizure on the unadministered estate for the benefit — at least according to the formula — of the bait ul-mâl, after the ghafan had been defrayed from the eeang male.
Inheritance and Mohammedan law
De Boer noted that Mohammedan inheritance law allotted the widow only a small share in her husband’s estate — the consideration underlying the institution of the atra peunoelang, by which a bride’s father gave the couple property of twice the value of the djinaméë paid by the bridegroom’s father, so that a widow might maintain herself according to her rank and station.
See Also
- Three-month warning term for re-clearance in the Atjehnese self-governing territories
- Haq padjoh asoé
- Atra peunoelang
- Baitul mal
- Mawaih
Source
Het recht op den grond in Atjeh, by D. W. N. de Boer, dated Scheveningen, November 1931, pp. 59-80. Offprint DLP-141, Koninklijk Instituut voor Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde, ‘s-Gravenhage; Bibliotheek KITLV accession 0060 4460 60 081470 428.