Within the 1795, Dutch Ceylon fell on the British hands, as well as made it a crown colony in 1802. Of the 1815, they’d also beaten the former separate Empire out-of Kandy. British stipulated one to on the former Dutch regions current guidelines will be upheld, while in Kandy typical regulations was to getting adopted, which have been subsequently codified. There are about basic point you to definitely several authors assumed the fresh new Portuguese additionally the Dutch had effectively stamped away polyandry when you look at the the maritime provinces. Several pros say that, in practice, standard laws got stored precedence, until the law are ‘hushed or inapplicable’. Footnote 68 In fact, we come across inside point step 3 how a beneficial European lawyer in fact invoked these types of vintage guidelines to help you beg new validity out-of polyandry. Footnote 69 However, british assumed right away that maritime provinces had been influenced based on Roman-Dutch legislation. Already within the 1822, they purchased new re also-regarding the school thombos, not simply getting Christians but also for the complete society of your maritime provinces. The fresh pre-eminence from Roman Dutch Rules try codified from inside the a constitution out-of 1831, and you can an ordinance out-of 1847 specified their blocked levels of relationship, limited period of activities, and you can cause of splitting up. Ultimately, for the 1861 Roman-Dutch laws is actually announced as binding for the entire area. Footnote 70 That it paradoxical court problem might have been summarised nicely of the Jayawardene: ‘[The fresh new Dutch] introduced the newest Roman-Dutch Legislation so you can Ceylon; however it is the fresh new English… just who established they involving the Singhalese, exactly who managed to make it legislation of one’s land’. Footnote 71
The new lady will get dining from for every single spouse, plus they all of the have more
We surmise that the more strict application of Roman-Dutch rules plus the expansion out-of ilies regarding coastal components offered an excellent polyandrous relationship. As a result a marriage was not courtroom, students cannot inherit using their second father. What about the interior? The new codified Kandyan legislation contains all kinds of stipulations about how inheritances out of joint husbands were to getting divided. However in the newest 1850s an excellent reent happened. Inside 1855, Governor Ward received an excellent petition about Chiefs away from Kandy, ‘hoping into the abolition by the regulations off polygamy and you can polyandry’. The plea is regular double in the 1858, in the end are found from the instead mislead British, which went on in 1859 to help you outlaw polygamy and you may breakup because of the mutual agree and to build joined monogamous relationship truly the only judge form. As to the reasons performed the fresh elites change facing her society and exactly why performed they give british which possible opportunity to ‘civilise’ new Sinhalese? Specific scholars exhort me to understand amongst the contours of petitions. They claim that the top-notch from landowners desired a beneficial ‘reform’ regarding marriage while they aligned to minimize separated and you can widowed ladies’ vintage states to the countries of the parents, which were essentially taken advantage of by the brothers. Home purchases and you will creating high ranches required simplified relationships and you will inheritance rules, but this is cloaked from inside the an attack into polygamy, a lure that the United kingdom grabbed. Footnote 72 Ergo, british implemented a Western european thought of relationship https://gorgeousbrides.net/no/indonesiske-bruder/ toward Kandyan population, and therefore instantaneously caused a flurry out of litigation since the unregistered ous – was indeed today deemed illegal. Berwick, the fresh vital court out-of Colombo, aptly called the 1859 Ordinance good ‘sour provide off bastardy’. Footnote 73
That it conjecture possibly comes from the latest misunderstandings concerning your loved ones between Dutch official rules additionally the standard, uncodified, rules of one’s Sinhalese
No matter if polyandry is penalized because of the doing 36 months of tough labor, the latest routine carried on up until well toward twentieth century, albeit in the diminishing wide variety. Ergo, it had been nonetheless possible for brand new ethnographers exactly who noticed community lifestyle about mountainous interior on 1950s to analyze present polyandrous affairs otherwise assemble reminiscences regarding past such as affairs. By way of example, the folks out of Udumulla when you look at the eastern Sri Lanka evaluated polyandry positively: ‘It is extremely good for all the. .. These folks do not need to hide this new plan, there’s nothing become ashamed of’. Footnote 74 The fresh ethnographic descriptions commonly stress new practical and quite harmonious nature of your own polyandrous arrangement, which in one area happened to be named ‘surviving in you to peace’. Footnote 75 Why after that did it drop off?
