Further on he enforces the same doctrine in these words: —
'Whoever may be in theory the proprietor of land in India, the absence of all actual restriction on the supreme power, in the determination of the amount of its demand, left all property in the land virtually dependent on its will. An estate assessed above its productive power is worthless, and must cease to produce anything to the proprietor unless the demand is relaxed. So long as the worth of the land is left, from year to year, dependent on the pleasure of the Government, its value must be uncertain and cannot be great. But when the Government limits its demand to a reasonable amount, and fixes that amount for a term of years, a marketable property is thereby created, and it becomes of much importance that the person be named in whose favour this property is recognized or created.'
He supports this principle in several passages thus: —
'The assessment (of the land tax) having determined the value of the property in land, it then becomes necessary to declare the right possessed in that property. The object of this investigation is not to create new rights but to define those which exist.'
Then he proceeds to say: —
'It is first requisite to point out what is meant by proprietary right, and what is to be considered the test of such right.'
After presenting several definitions, applicable to complex or obscure cases, he concludes thus: —
'In ordinary cases there is no difficulty. The common voice of the country assigns the proprietary right to a person
