1. How are the village lands divided out? Do they belong to individuals or to the village generally?
2. Does the same man plough the same land every year? Can he leave it to his children? Can the Sheikh take away land from a man?
3. What is the feddân? Give the size of this measure. Is it always the same?
4. Explain the words Shekârah, Mulk, Wakuf applied to land.
The lands of a village are divided into three classes:—
I. مُلك, mulk, governed, appropriated or owned—that is real or freehold property.
Such lands are generally in close proximity to, if they do not immediately surround, a village or a town; and are almost invariably used as gardens or orchards.
Mulk lands can be given or willed to any person or institution, or they may be inherited by the heirs of the owner after his decease.
Such lands pay a money tax of between 3 and 5 per cent, on the valuation; such valuation being made once every five or seven years. This tax is paid into the Imperial Treasury.
No other tax is imposed on mulk lands. Houses or other buildings may be erected and trees planted on such lands at the option of the owner.[1]
II. امَيريه, ameeriyeh, formerly (originating at the time of the Mohammedan Conquest of Palestine) under the control of the Ameers, but now belonging to the Imperial State.
These lands are invariably arable and are called by the Felaheen اراضي مُفتلح, Aradee Muftala'h, agricultural lands, and are used for growing grain of various kinds, such as wheat, barley, beans, lentils—as a winter crop—or dourra (millet), simsem, an oleaginous seed—as a summer crop. Tobacco is also grown in small quantities in some villages.
Such arable lands of a village are held in common by all the members of the village or community, and are called اراضي مَشَاع, Aradee
- ↑ Houses and other buildings are subject to a yearly tax ad valorem.
