Page 234 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

214 Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf

registration of existing rights but did not make it compulsory. After 1929
only properties for sale, or gifted by the ruler, had to be vetted by land
officials who issued title deeds after having verified claims of ownership,
and solved disputes with the support of the courts. 50 Further, in order to
assuage the sensibilities of large landowners (members of the Al Khalifah
family, tribal leaders and urban entrepreneurs) no land tax was imposed
with the exception of a stamp duty on sales, which was replaced by a fixed
51
percentage on the value of the transactions after 1948.
In common with urban Manama, government policies tended to pro-
tect the interests of rural landowners while rationalising customary prac-
tice. In theory, the institution of private property and the fixation of
categories of land tenure entailed the separation of individual rights
form collective ownership and the detachment of properties of the Al
Khalifah from those of the state. 52 In practice, the new land regime
recognised collective ownership but encouraged the parcelling up of
agricultural land in order to create a class of small landholders and
increase agricultural production. 53 In the case of the estates under the
control of the Al Khalifah, they were classed as private property and could
be registered in the name of individual holders but ultimately were con-
sidered family assets and could not be alienated outside the group. Land
Registration faced considerable difficulties in enforcing the new provi-
sions as suggested by the several proclamations issued between 1927 and
1932 which banned the purchase of land from members of the family. 54
Land sales by the Al Khalifah resumed during World War II, when the

50
I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn, n.1 of 1349, R/15/2/1923 IOR; ‘Memo on Land Registration
in Bahrain’ by Belgrave, c. 1934, R/15/2/1715 IOR.
51
In the early years the stamp duty was of one rupee. In 1930 new fee brackets were
introduced according to the value of the properties, and in 1948 the stamp duty was
fixed at 3 per cent. I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn n. 1 of 1349, and n. 1 of 1367, Hamza
Archive (hereafter HA).
52
The cadastral survey recognised awqaf al-sunnah, ja‘fariyyah and dhurriyah (family endow-
ments), amlak al-waratah (properties shared by partners in inheritance), and miri and
rahmaniyyah land, the former controlled by the government and the latter including areas
with no agricultural value. Awqaf dhurriyah and government land did not undergo system-
atic registration, while rahmaniyyah plots became by default property of the state after 1942.
Khuri, Tribe and State in Bahrain,pp.37–49, 101–107; interview with anonymous inform-
ant, Manama, 12 September 2004; I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn n. 1 of 1361, HA.
53
Manaf Yusif Hamza, Mu‘jam al-ta‘mir wa al-khara’it wa al-watha’iq al-‘aqariyyah al-
Bahrayniyyah (Manama: Dar Akhbar al-Khalij, 2001), p. 79–80; files n. 9, 11 and 14, IT.
54
I‘lan Hukumah al-Bahrayn, n. 10 of 1350 and n. 42 of 1351, R/15/2/1228 IOR; I‘lan
Hukumah al-Bahrayn, 3 Jumad al-Awwal 1347/17 October 1928, R/15/2/1227 IOR. The
Bahrain Government Annual Reports, 1924–1970: ‘Annual Report for the Year 1349’,vol. I,
p. 27; ‘Annual Report for the Year 1362’,vol. III, p. 26.