A Malay legal miscellany
J.E. Kempe and R.O. Winstedt published this article in 1952, presenting a detailed description of the legal sections contained in Raffles Malay MS 33, a manuscript held in the Royal Asiatic Society library in London. The article establishes that this manuscript is a critical textual witness for the reconstruction of the Malacca legal digest, offering variant readings that correct both van Ronkel’s 1919 edition and the Pahang digest published in 1948, while also preserving unique legal material on adultery, divorce, property division, trials by ordeal, and Selangor slave law.
Summary
The manuscript, copied in Penang on 5 February 1906 by a scribe named Ibrahim under the patronage of Mr. Raffles, contains three sections on law followed by three on Ominous Times (the latter not treated here). The legal material spans a wide range of subjects: property found on the road, robbery, gambling, debt and bondservitude, borrowing, trade and deposits, adultery and its penalties, marriage guardianship, witness qualifications, physical disabilities voiding marriage, divorce and its forms (talak bayan and talak raji’), measures, trade prohibitions including the ban on interest, and the killing of slaves. The authors systematically collate each section against van Ronkel’s Malacca digest (V) and the Pahang digest (P), noting where the Raffles manuscript (R) provides clearer wording, corrects errors, or preserves older readings.
A particularly significant contribution is the full transcription of the “Selangor Slave Law” (folios 62–64), which the authors identify as the first law ever published from that state. This section records the customary redemption prices for fugitive slaves at various locations throughout Selangor and its borders, the procedure for reporting slaves found at sea to the Shahbandar, and a fixed rate of twenty rial for slaves fleeing from Malacca, established by agreement between the Selangor Secretary and the Malacca Shahbandar. The manuscript also preserves a section on trials by ordeal—both the water ordeal (berselam), in which texts tied to the wrists of two disputants are read after they dive, and the “dicing” ordeal (berbuang undi), in which one of two sealed letters invoking either the Prophets or Iblis determines the winner.
The authors note several features of linguistic and cultural interest: the use of the Sanskrit denda in its older sense of “penalty” rather than the modern “fine”; the Bugis term chakara for joint marital property, pointing to Selangor or Riau influence; and the obsolete monetary unit kabat, possibly meaning “a score” (twenty), attested in Dayak and Macassar. The manuscript’s colophon and the preface on folios 61–62, which addresses Allah and His Prophet asking pardon for recording laws that violate Muslim law but pleading that custom from the time of Sultan Mahmud makes for peace, provide important context for understanding the relationship between Islamic jurisprudence and local Malay customary law.
Key Findings
- The Raffles MS 33 provides variant readings that correct van Ronkel’s Malacca digest in at least 40 specific instances, including the restoration of denda mati (an older Sanskrit-based term for capital penalty) in place of van Ronkel’s di-bunoh hukum-nya, and ia lagi dara preserving the Sanskrit usage of dara (pp. 1, 10–11).
- The manuscript contains sections not recorded in any other source, most notably the Selangor Slave Law (folios 62–64), which specifies redemption prices for fugitive slaves ranging from one kabat (at Puting Beliong or Teluk Pulai) to sixty (at Kuala Kerling or within Selangor town), and a fixed rate of twenty rial for Malaccan slaves (pp. 18–19).
- The ordeal section (folio 10) describes two procedures: the water ordeal (berselam), requiring fees for the judge, platform cleaning, and pole-sticking, and the “dicing” ordeal (berbuang undi), using sealed letters invoking the Prophets or Iblis (pp. 7–8).
- The fine schedule (R. § 26) provides a complete table of monetary penalties from 1 tahil 1 paha (20 gold pieces, minimum 4) up to the maximum fine of the Bendahara (10 tahil 2½ emas = 200 gold pieces) and the Sultan (1 kati lima = 400 gold pieces), valuable for the study of mediaeval Malay currency (p. 9).
- The marriage law sections (R. §§ 40–43) detail the hierarchy of guardians (wali mujbar for father and paternal grandfather, wali akrab for other relatives, and the judge as last resort), the minimum of two witnesses (four being preferred), physical disabilities that void marriage (including ratak, kiran, baras, hadm, and kiran), and the distinction between talak bayan (irrevocable, three talaks) and talak raji’ (revocable, one or two talaks) (pp. 11–14).
- The term chakara (Bugis origin) for joint marital property appears in §§ 20–21, indicating Selangor or Riau linguistic influence not found in dictionaries of peninsular Malay (pp. 1, 6).
Conclusion
Kempe and Winstedt establish Raffles MS 33 as an indispensable textual witness for the history of Malay law, demonstrating that it preserves older readings, unique legal material, and regional variations that no other known manuscript contains. The article’s definitive takeaway is that the manuscript represents a composite legal tradition—drawing on the Malacca digest, the Pahang digest, Bugis-influenced Selangor custom, and local Johor law—copied in the early colonial period but preserving content that reaches back to the reign of Sultan Mahmud of Malacca, and that its variant readings are essential for any future critical edition of the Malacca legal corpus.
Context
- The manuscript was copied in Penang in 1906 under the patronage of “Mr. Raffles,” likely a colonial official, and is held in the Royal Asiatic Society library in London as Raffles Malay MS (folio) 33.
- The Selangor Slave Law is explicitly identified by the authors as “the first law published from that State,” making it a foundational document for the legal history of Selangor.