Introduction: The traditional New Territories, land and society -- The imperial land law -- The customary land law -- Registration for the land tax and collection of land tax -- Arable land : family holdings, trusts and clan holdings -- Restraints on transactions in land -- The next heir -- The middleman and the role of the community in land transactions -- Temporary and reversible alienations : mortgages and leases -- Land deeds and the Japanese occupation, 1941-1945 -- An overview -- Customary land deeds
Summary
Land was always at the centre of life in Hong Kong's rural New Territories: it sustained livelihoods and lineages and, for some, was a route to power. Villagers managed their land according to customs that were often at odds with formal Chinese law. British rule, 1898-1997, added complications by assimilating traditional practices into a Western legal system
