From the Pages of the Defter (ص 80)

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From the Pages of the Defter (ص 80)

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may well have been the case in Hebron. At least, that is what bits of evidence found here
and there suggest. Consider, for example, part of the testimony given at the Hebron sharia
court by Ahmad b. Muslim ‘Awdh of the village of Sa‘ir in 1894. He and his uncle Khalil were
partners in two feddans of land involved in a land conflict over part of the Tamim al-Dari
waaf lands in his village’s Wadi al-Nasari: As recorded in the court register, he declared,
At the time of the registration of properties (tahrir emlak), the land was
registered in my name and in my uncle Khalil ‘Awdh’s names, and it was
also registered like that in the tapu. °”
The phrasing of Anmad’s testimony seems to imply that the emlak came before the yoklama
tapu commission. It suggests as well that discrepancies in registration between the emlak
and tapu registers could exist. Otherwise, why would he explicitly state that his lands were
registered to him and his uncle in the same way in both registers? Even more significantly,
the phrasing of his testimony clearly reveals that the emlak, property-tax registration was
considered a more important proof of ownership than the tapu.’*®
137 Mlcmsaily galdatls Sissi ANS 9 (320 96 Jal (pe pel g pauls abel) ashi ADLal jy jad Ob 9 9” (emphasis
added). HR 16 /9 / 11 (19 Sh ‘aban 1311 / 25 February 1894. The land in conflict, as well as the lands
bordering it, are clearly identifiable in the 1876 Esas-1i Emlak (EE entries 12936-12939, and see also
12928-12929.) The two relatives individually registered a number of (inherited) properties together, half
of each one to Ahmad and half to Khalil. On incongruence between the tapu and tax registers in the
Jerusalem district, see Gerber 1985 (204-206 ). For observation of the same phenomenon in
Transjordan, see Mundy and Saumarez-Smith 2007 (117-118, 180-181).
*88 Ahmad’s claim is traceable in the esas-1 emlak. IN 1876, he and his uncle each registered three plots of
lands in Wadi al-Nasart. For each plot, Khalil’s line-entry immediately follows Ahmad’s, and in each case
each of them registered the same number of dunams, i.e. half the land. (Esas-: Emlak Sa‘ir entries,
agricultural entries #142 and #143, #150 and #151, and #156 and #157.) The first plot’s total size was 44
dunams; the second, 13 dunams; and the third totalled 6 dunams.
63

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From the Pages of the Defter

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Susynne McElrone

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