Into the 1795, Dutch Ceylon fell into United kingdom hand, in addition they made it a top colony inside the 1802. Of the 1815, that they had plus defeated the previous independent Kingdom of Kandy. The british stipulated one throughout the previous Dutch places the existing rules could well be kept, whereas within the Kandy standard regulations was to getting followed, that have been after that codified. We have seen throughout the basic area one to numerous writers assumed the new Portuguese together with Dutch got efficiently stamped aside polyandry within the the maritime provinces. Multiple positives claim that, in practice, traditional laws had kept precedence, unless the law is ‘hushed or inapplicable’. Footnote 68 In reality, there are in the section 3 exactly how good European attorneys in fact invoked such classic regulations to help you ask new authenticity off polyandry. Footnote 69 not, the british assumed from the start that the maritime provinces had started governed according to Roman-Dutch legislation. Already inside the 1822, they ordered new re also-advent of the institution thombos, not only getting Christians but for the entire society of your maritime provinces. The pre-eminence off Roman Dutch Rules try codified in a rent out of 1831, and you may an ordinance of 1847 specified the blocked quantities of marriage, limited age people, and you can good reasons for splitting up. Eventually, for the 1861 Roman-Dutch rules is actually announced once the binding for the whole area. Footnote 70 It paradoxical courtroom disease might have been summarised besides by Jayawardene: ‘[The brand new Dutch] lead new Roman-Dutch Laws so you’re able to Ceylon; but it’s the fresh new English… which established they between the Singhalese, exactly who made it legislation of the land’. Footnote 71
The lady gets dinner of for each partner, plus they every convey more
We surmise your a great deal more stringent application of Roman-Dutch statutes gorgeousbrides.net klikkaa tГ¤stГ¤ nyt and also the expansion away from ilies about coastal components given a beneficial polyandrous connection. Therefore a wedding wasn’t judge, people couldn’t inherit from their next dad. How about the interior? The latest codified Kandyan laws and regulations contained a myriad of fine print regarding how inheritances regarding combined husbands was to getting split up. In the fresh 1850s good reent taken place. Within the 1855, Governor Ward acquired a good petition regarding the Chiefs from Kandy, ‘hoping into the abolition because of the rules out of polygamy and you will polyandry’. The latest plea is actually regular twice inside the 1858, eventually is obtained because of the instead confused British, just who continued into the 1859 to help you outlaw polygamy and you may divorce or separation of the common agree and to generate registered monogamous wedding truly the only judge function. As to the reasons did brand new elites change facing their unique heritage and just why did they give the british which possible opportunity to ‘civilise’ the Sinhalese? Particular students exhort me to discover involving the contours of the petitions. They say that the top-notch regarding landowners wished a ‘reform’ away from relationship because they lined up to reduce separated and you will widowed ladies standard says for the lands of the moms and dads, that have been fundamentally exploited because of the its brothers. Homes transactions and establishing highest ranches needed simplified relationships and heredity legislation, however, this is cloaked during the an attack into polygamy, a lure that British grabbed. Footnote 72 Thus, the british imposed a beneficial Eu thought of relationship into the Kandyan population, and this quickly triggered a flurry out of lawsuits due to the fact all of the unregistered ous – was basically now deemed unlawful. Berwick, the latest important legal regarding Colombo, appropriately called the 1859 Ordinance a good ‘bad provide out of bastardy’. Footnote 73
So it conjecture maybe is due to the dilemma concerning your relatives between Dutch formal rules and standard, uncodified, laws of Sinhalese
In the event polyandry will be penalized from the doing three years of hard work, new habit continued up until well towards twentieth century, albeit during the diminishing wide variety. Ergo, it was nevertheless easy for new ethnographers just who observed village lives regarding the mountainous interior on the 1950s to examine current polyandrous relationships otherwise gather reminiscences out of previous eg interactions. For-instance, the folks away from Udumulla within the eastern Sri Lanka analyzed polyandry seriously: ‘It is rather ideal for all the. .. They don’t need to hide the brand new plan, nothing is to get embarrassed of’. Footnote 74 The new ethnographic definitions often stress this new practical and you may somewhat unified nature of the polyandrous arrangement, which in one area happened to be called ‘staying in that peace’. Footnote 75 Why next did it drop-off?
