Inside 1795, Dutch Ceylon decrease with the British give, and managed to make it a top nest into the 1802. Of the 1815, that they had along with beat the previous separate Empire out-of Kandy. The british stipulated one from the previous Dutch nations the present laws and regulations will be kept, whereas into the Kandy customary rules was to become used, that have been then codified. There are about basic area that several authors assumed the fresh new Portuguese while the Dutch got effectively stamped out polyandry into the the newest coastal provinces tyrkisk kone. Multiple masters say that, used, customary rules had stored precedence, until what the law states are ‘silent or inapplicable’. Footnote 68 Indeed, there are during the area 3 exactly how a good European attorneys indeed invoked these types of standard guidelines so you’re able to plead this new legitimacy out-of polyandry. Footnote 69 But not, the british assumed from the start that maritime provinces had become governed considering Roman-Dutch law. Already in 1822, they ordered brand new lso are-introduction of the school thombos, not just having Christians but also for the entire population of your maritime provinces. The fresh new pre-eminence off Roman Dutch Rules are codified from inside the a constitution of 1831, and you will a regulation regarding 1847 specified their banned levels of relationships, limited period of functions, and you will grounds for divorce. In the long run, inside the 1861 Roman-Dutch laws is proclaimed due to the fact binding for the entire island. Footnote 70 It paradoxical legal disease could have been summarised and of the Jayawardene: ‘[New Dutch] produced the latest Roman-Dutch Legislation so you’re able to Ceylon; but it is the brand new English… whom situated it between your Singhalese, exactly who managed to get regulations of one’s land’. Footnote 71
The fresh new lady becomes dining off for each and every partner, and additionally they every have more
We surmise that the a great deal more strict application of Roman-Dutch rules and the extension out of ilies regarding the coastal parts considering good polyandrous union. As a result a wedding wasn’t legal, people cannot inherit off their 2nd father. Think about the inside? The fresh codified Kandyan laws and regulations consisted of all sorts of stipulations exactly how inheritances regarding joint husbands was to be split. However in the fresh new 1850s a reent occurred. For the 1855, Governor Ward gotten a great petition from the Chiefs away from Kandy, ‘praying towards the abolition because of the statutes of polygamy and you may polyandry’. New plea is actually regular double for the 1858, in the end are picked up because of the as an alternative confused United kingdom, just who went on inside 1859 to help you outlaw polygamy and you will divorce or separation of the shared concur and also to create entered monogamous wedding the sole judge function. As to why did brand new elites turn against their own society and just why performed they supply british that it opportunity to ‘civilise’ the newest Sinhalese? Particular students exhort me to comprehend amongst the lines of petitions. They claim that the top-notch out of landowners wished an effective ‘reform’ away from marriage because they aimed to minimize separated and you will widowed women’s vintage claims toward places of its mothers, that happen to be generally exploited by the the brothers. Residential property purchases and you can establishing large ranches called for basic wedding and you may inheritance laws and regulations, however, this was cloaked in a hit to your polygamy, a bait which the United kingdom took. Footnote 72 For this reason, the british enforced an effective Eu notion of relationship to your Kandyan population, and this quickly triggered a great flurry off lawsuits since the all unregistered ous – was basically today deemed unlawful. Berwick, brand new vital court of Colombo, appropriately called the 1859 Ordinance a good ‘bitter gift out-of bastardy’. Footnote 73
Which supposition maybe stems from new dilemma concerning your family relations anywhere between Dutch official legislation and also the vintage, uncodified, rules of Sinhalese
Though polyandry is punished by to three years out-of difficult work, brand new habit continuing up until better to your twentieth century, albeit during the dwindling wide variety. Ergo, it absolutely was nonetheless possible for the latest ethnographers which observed community existence regarding the mountainous interior in the 1950s to review established polyandrous interactions otherwise collect reminiscences off earlier in the day such as for instance interactions. Including, the people away from Udumulla inside eastern Sri Lanka analyzed polyandry positively: ‘It is very good for every. .. These individuals do not need to cover up new arrangement, there is nothing is ashamed of’. Footnote 74 The new ethnographic descriptions have a tendency to emphasise the new fundamental and quite unified character of your own polyandrous arrangement, that an area was even called ‘residing in one to peace’. Footnote 75 As to why up coming did it decrease?