Harta seuhareukat (Atjehnese atra thihareukat; the Malay-Minangkabau form harta seharkat) was the property in Atjeh acquired through the joint labour of husband and wife during marriage, and subject on divorce to division in fixed proportions varying by district.
Land newly cleared during marriage
Ground made fruitful by man and wife in new clearance during the marriage was regarded as belonging to both together, although the husband had the management of it; the produce of such ground served the common maintenance of the couple. Property so acquired by the joint labour of man and wife bore, D. W. N. de Boer wrote, the same name in Atjeh as in Minangkabau: harta seharkat, Atjehnese atra thihareukat.
Division on divorce
In the event of divorce the harta seharkat was divided as follows:
- in the onderafdeeling (subdivision) Sigli — two-thirds to the husband, one-third to the wife;
- in the onderafdeeling Lho’ Seumawe and in Groot-Atjeh — one half to each.
Significance
The institution, together with the atra peunoelang, formed the customary counterweight in Atjeh to the small share allotted to a wife or widow under Mohammedan inheritance law, and its regional variation illustrates the district-by-district diversity of the adat within a single gewest (region).
See Also
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.