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of the Board of Revenue;1 and by the Regulations of 25th April 17882 the special sanction of the GovernorGeneral in Council was required."

After the Permanent Settlement, sale became the ordinary method of realising arrears of revenue, and the discretion at first allowed to the Collector or other authority has been gradually abolished. Shortly after the Permanent Settlement, sales became frequent. It is said that nine-tenths of the land of Bengal was advertised for sale within a few years after the Permanent Settlement, but the actual sales were although numerous, but a small proportion of the sales advertised, and many of the sales which actually took place were collusive.5 In some other parts of India the proportion of land sold upon the introduction of the power of sale was even greater. The proclamation of the Permanent Settlement announces that upon default a sale of the whole or a sufficient portion of the defaulter's lands will positively and invariably take place to make good the arrear. Regulation XIV of 1793 gives the details of the procedure to be adopted. It first defines an arrear of revenue as follows:8 "If the whole, or any portion, of

Art. 56.

2 Colebrooke's Supplement, 272.

3 Art. 31.

See Robinson's Land Revenue, 28.

5 Compare the evidence of Mr. Traut before the Select Committee of the House of Commons (1832), 2341, 2342, with Mr. Holt Mackenzie's evidence, 2598.

See the evidence before the same Committee of Mr. Newnham, 2715, 2716, 2719; and of Mr. Robertson before the Select Committee of the House of Lords (1830), 1596, 1597.

7 Regulation I of 1793, s. 7.

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the kist or instalment payable in any month, by a proprie- LECTURE tor or farmer of land, shall remain undischarged on the first of the following month," that is an arrear of revenue. This definition has been varied by the different Regulations and Acts. The Regulation then, by section 13, provides that if a proprietor be in arrear at the end of the year, and be not in confinement, and have not given security, and instituted a suit to try the claim under the Regulation, his lands, or a sufficient portion thereof, will be liable to be sold, but not without the sanction of the Governor-General in Council, This is repealed by Regulation XI of 1822, section 2, clause 1. Again, by section 22 (repealed by Regulation III of 1794, section 11), if the proprietor has been in confinement, but the Ameen has not been able to realise the amount of arrears by the end of the year, the lands of the defaulter may be sold as before. Arrears are to be realised from female proprietors and from proprietors of estates under managers by sale.1 With regard to this class of proprietors, the Regulations of 29th March 17812 had exempted their lands from sale, but made the principal executive officer personally liable for default. The details of procedure in sales for arrears were laid down by Regulation XLV of 1793 (repealed by section 2 of Act IV of 1846). Further rules of procedure were contained in Regulation III of 1794, sections 4 to 7 (repealed by Regulation VII of 1799, section 22), and again by Regulation V of 1796 (repealed by clause 1, section 2 of Regulation XI of 1822). Regulation VII of 1799, after referring in the preamble and section 21 to the abuses which have followed the abolition

S. 48.

* Colebrooke's Supplement, 222,

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of imprisonment for default, which abuses I have before referred to, provides that purchases in fictitious names shall render the land liable to confiscation or such other penalty as the Governor-General in Council may think fit;' and that defaulters cannot purchase under pain of forfeiture." This latter provision reversed the rule of 8th October 1790,3 and was itself repealed by Regulation XI of 1822, section 2, clause 1, which last Regulation, however, by section 13, clauses 2, 3, re-enacted both the above provisions. But by section 30 of Act XII of 1841 and section 29, Act I of 1845, repealed by Act XI of 1859, and substantially re-enacted by section 53, the proprietor is contemplated as a possible purchaser.*

Regulation I of 1801 was passed to remedy the delays which took place in sales for arrears. It substitutes distress and sale of small estates for attachment,5 and provides that estates may be sold for refusal by defaulting proprietors and farmers to deliver up accounts under Regulations XLV of 1793 and VII of 1799.6 It also provides with reference to section 2 of Regulation V of 1796, which required the portion sold to be as nearly as possible of the required value, that the Board of Revenue may sell the whole estate. Regulation V of 1812 provides that sales of entire estates for arrears of revenue are not liable to be annulled on the ground that one or more sharers may not have possession of his or

'S. 29, cl. 3.

• Ib., cl. 4.

• Colebrooke's Supplement, 496.

• Mussamut Neynum v. Muzuffur Wahid, 11 W. R., 265.

& S. 4.

Ss. 3 and 5. Repealed by Regulation XI of 1822, s. 2, cl. 1.

7 S. 6. Repealed by Regulation XI of 1822, s. 2, cl. 1.

their interest in the property;1 nor on the ground that the proceeds of sale materially exceed the amount of arrears due." By Regulation XVIII of 1814, the Collectors may advertise lands for sale for arrears of revenue, but may not actually sell without the previous sanction of the Board of Revenue.

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of 1822.

Regulation XI of 1822, since repealed, was passed to Regulation XI modify and explain the Regulations for sale for arrears. It recites that the existing Regulations are defective in not specifying the conditions necessary to the validity of revenue sales, and in not sufficiently defining the nature of the interest and title conveyed to the purchasers. That it is necessary to clear up these doubts, and to further regulate the course of proceeding. That in order to protect the zemindar against the risk of hardship and injury, which experience has shown must in many cases result from the absolute confirmation of sales according to the prescribed conditions, it is desirable to give the Board of Revenue power to annul sales by the Collectors, not only when irregularly conducted, but also when the defaulter may clearly appear to have been defrauded or deceived by his own agents, or when for any reason the confirmation of the sale may appear to be a measure of excessive severity or otherwise inexpedient or improper. By section 2, clause 2, a previous demand orattachment before sale is dispensed with, and the provisions restricting the revenue officers in selecting lands for sale or in fixing the time of sale are repealed. Section 3, clause 1, recites that the estates of proprietors are

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LECTURE primarily liable to sale for arrears under section 2 of Regulation III of 1794, and that the property of all persons under engagements with Government, whether as proprietors, farmers, or managers, or as sureties for such, is likewise answerable for arrears. And it provides that the Collectors shall, with the sanction of the Board of Revenue, be entitled to have recourse to sale for the realisation of any arrear or interest thereon, or other revenue demand, whether any other revenue process shall have issued or not, and at any time of the year, subject only to the restrictions specially prescribed by any Regulation. By clause 2 estates under the Court of Wards are not to be liable to sale for arrears while under such management. By clause 3 joint estates during the progress of a butwarra or partition, and estates under attachment by a Court of Justice, are exempt from sale until the end of the year in which the arrear becomes due.1 And further, by clause 4, a power is reserved to the GovernorGeneral in Council to issue further restrictions upon the Board of Revenue and the revenue officers: and sales made in contravention of such orders shall be liable to be annulled within three years after such sale although not voidable under section 5.

Further stringency is given to the remedy by sale by section 4, which provides that sales regularly conducted shall not be set aside by the Courts, except on the ground of failure to comply with one of the conditions thereinafter specifically declared essential to the validity of a sale. Parties aggrieved by any other defect in the proceedings are left to an action for damages. The conditions referred

This is repealed as to land under butwarra by Act XX of 1836. See Act XIV of 1870.