Kedah laws
R.O. Winstedt’s 1928 article presents a critical edition of a seventeenth-century Malay manuscript of state laws, initially misattributed to Kelantan but demonstrated to belong to Kedah. Published in the Journal of the Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, the work combines philological identification with full transcription and translation of the manuscript’s principal legal codes, offering a rare window into the administrative and commercial machinery of a pre-colonial Malay sultanate.
Summary
The article’s opening problem is one of attribution. A manuscript obtained through W.E. Pepys of the Malayan Civil Service from the Dato’ Luar of Kelantan purported to contain “ancient Kelantan laws.” Winstedt identified the text as Kedah law by cross-referencing the names of rulers cited within it—Sultan Rijalu’d-din Muhammad Shah, Sultan Muhiyyu’d-din Mansur, Sultan Jamiwa, and Sultan Ahmad Taju’d-din Halim Shah ibni Sultan Abdullah Mukarram Shah—against the known Kedah royal succession (p. 2). This correction is significant because it reassigns a body of legal material to a different political tradition and opens the manuscript to interpretation within Kedah’s specific institutional context.
The manuscript comprises four distinct codes plus a ceremonial chapter. The oldest, dated 1060 A.H. (1650 A.D.), is a detailed port code governing the entry, trade, and departure of foreign vessels, with elaborate provisions for ships from Kalinga and Gujarat. The second code, dated 1078 A.H. (1667 A.D.), is the Tembera’ Dato’ Sri Paduka Tuan, a rural and criminal code enforcing Islamic law, regulating agricultural disputes over buffalo damage to rice paddies, and establishing the authority of the kweng (village headman) as a local judicial officer. The third, the Hukum Kanun Dato’ Kota Star, is a code of court protocol and official precedence, defining the quasi-royal authority of various officers—the Laksamana at sea, the Temenggong on patrol, the Bentara in the audience hall—when acting under royal commission. The final chapter describes the bunga mas (golden flower tribute to Siam), the regalia and seating arrangements at a royal installation, and the graduated etiquette of betrothal presents according to social rank (pp. 37–44).
Winstedt’s editorial method is conservative. He prints the full Malay text of the first three codes with an English outline of the port laws, but omits the maritime code section on the grounds that it duplicates the Undang-Undang Melaka and the Malay Maritime Code already published by van Ronkel and de Hollander (p. 3). He notes the existence of parallel manuscripts at Leiden and in the Batavian Society collection, and identifies a superior version of the maritime laws in an unpublished manuscript written for E.A.G. Stuart. The Siamese terms in the ceremonial sections were interpreted with the assistance of C.O. Blagden and B. Cartwright at the School of Oriental Studies (p. 3).
Key Findings
- The port code of 1650 A.D. prescribes a customary tribute of 400 mas Patani from Kalinga ships and 600 mas from Gujarati ships, with the amount adjusted according to vessel size and cargo (pp. 3, 16).
- Export taxes are specified as 6 kupang gold per buffalo, 1 paha gold per elephant, and 1 emas per slave; the recovery fee for runaway slaves within the royal domain is 1 paha gold, and ½ tahil outside it (p. 3).
- The 1667 code establishes that a person who enters a village at night without a torch and resists arrest may be killed without legal consequence to the killer; the same provision applies to a person who climbs into a house (p. 30).
- The bunga mas tribute to Siam is described in precise physical detail: the golden flower stood one hasta (forearm’s length) tall, with a base four fingers in circumference, three tiers of branches bearing 128 leaves and 116 flower buds in total, and a weight of seven ringgit of gold for the flower and two spear-shafts combined (p. 38).
- The Qanun Law of Dato’ Kota Star codifies the principle that certain officers become “raja” (sovereign) in specific functional contexts: the Laksamana at sea, the Temenggong during a night patrol, the Bentara in the audience hall, and the Kathi when pronouncing Islamic law—even the Raja himself must submit to the Kathi’s judgment on that day (pp. 35–36, 44).
- The manuscript’s colophon for the maritime section claims completion in 1222 A.H. (1703–1726 A.D.) under Sultan Jamal al-‘Alam Badr al-Munir of Aceh, and an identical Achinese copy of the same year is held by the Batavian Society (p. 3).
Conclusion
Winstedt’s definitive contribution is the reattribution of the manuscript from Kelantan to Kedah, which repositions the text as evidence of a mature, self-conscious legal tradition in the northern Malay peninsula during the mid-seventeenth century. The codes collectively reveal a state that regulated international commerce with considerable sophistication, enforced Islamic criminal law through a layered hierarchy of local and central officials, and maintained an elaborate ceremonial apparatus for managing its vassal relationship with Siam. The work remains the standard edition of these texts.
Context
- Winstedt held the rank of C.M.G. and was a senior figure in the Malayan Civil Service; his editorial framing reflects the administrative interest of the colonial state in documenting pre-colonial legal institutions for reference in contemporary governance.
- The manuscript was deposited by Winstedt with the School for Oriental Studies, Finsbury Circus, London, where it remains the primary source for this edition.