Affirming rights over land and resources
Originals and authoritative documents in the legal culture of the Malay Peninsula (c. 1780 – c. 1910)
2021–2024
RFC08
The progressive establishment of the British Straits settlements in the Malay Peninsula between 1786 and 1914 led to a multiplication of diplomatic relations and transactions. These brought about a range of documents like treaties of friendship, letters, and grants of authority, which displayed the legal practices and concepts that were articulated within the Malay culture, and became a part of it. The concept of original documents that were legally binding and had authoritative value was one of them.
This project focused on the juridical culture of the Malay peninsula and its evolution in the long 19th century (c. 1780 – c. 1910) related to land use and ownership. It took as a starting point the cosmopolitan juridical culture documented in the region prior to the 19th century and examined the material attributes of inscribed artefacts taken as authoritative and highly valued in the Malay-speaking world. It then considered how the concept of original, as understood historically by the British and the Dutch, has been brought to the region, and how European legal practices have mingled with existing usages in Malay writing culture. In particular, the study examined the archives of the sultanate of Johor and the surat sungai (river documents), which have been compared and put in perspective with other land deeds, land right transfers, and powers of attorney produced in different administrative contexts on the Malay peninsula (Straits settlements, federated and non-federated Malay States) in the same period.
The surat sungai and associated documents absorbed elements of British legal documentary culture in order to support the development of a Malay one, which relied on more than one source of inspiration and differed from one Malay state to another. The Malays of Johor adopted the practice of archiving copies, supported by clerk scribes whose names often appear in the margin together with the number attributed to the document and the date of the copy. By doing so, the rulers of Johor adapted their administration to the conditions of the19th century, when multiple transactions needed to be recorded under new terms and new archiving practices, which differ from earlier ones in Malay chancelleries, emerged.
People
Project lead: Elsa Clavé