Kanam:
The next important land tenure is Kanam. Mr. Warden observed: ” The common tenure upon which the ryot holds his ground of the Janmakar is called what Originally this was a military tenure granted to the protecting classes. As supervisors of Kanakkar they collected the share of produce due to Janmi. When hard pressed the Janmis used to borrow from the Kanakkar.
In proportion to the sum borrowed the Kanakkaran deducted from the Pattam collected by him for the Janmi, a quantity of produce sufficient to meet the interest on the sum lent. The rates and the balance of produce alone went to the Janmi.
In course of time, this tenure imperceptibly altered its complexion. Service tenures were not at all a necessity then. The old Kanakkar were not subject to redemption or ejectoin. But later on Janmi began to exercise the ouster right against them, indiscriminately whether old or new.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Kanam in the new sense partakes the character of both a lease and a mortgage. It is described in the Sudder Court Proceedings as a mortgage with possession; the mortgagee recovers interest on the money he had advanced from the produce of the land, and the balance is paid over to the Janmi as net rent, or ‘Michavaram’.
In most cases provision is made for the rent also, thus making it a lease. The peculiarity of Kanam is that it is never foreclosed an is redeemable after the lapse of 12 years on payment of the amount advanced and the value of the improvements, if any. In a Kaman lease, the lease is the substantial tan thing, the security being a minor matter.
In the case of Kanam mortgage, the amount advanced is substantial, the Michavaram being but a trifle. The British Courts have regarded Kanam transactions as anomalous mortgages except when no amount is advanced in which case the transaction is regarded as a lease.
Kanam is better described in one of the letters written by the Dutch Travellers, Jacob Canter Visscher in 1743. He observes: “Kanam is a mode of loan which is very common and can only be explained by example. Thus supposing a man has a garden worth 10000 panams, he demises it for 8000 or 9000 panams, retaining for the remainder of the value the right to the proprietorship of the estate. For these 1000 panamas or 2000 panams the purchaser must pay an interest.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
If the seller wishes at the end of some years to buy back his estate he must restore 8000 or 9000 panams and pay in addition the sum of money that shall have been fixed by men commissioned to value the improvements made upon the property in the interim by fresh plantations of cocoa palms or other fruit trees.”
From this statement it is evident that the Janmi, as he stood at that time, had the right of redemption and the Kanakkar possessed the right to the value of improvements effected by him. If the Kanakkar refused to pay the rent, or michavaram, the Janmi had the right to evict him.
The renewal of Kanam was supposed to be a prerogative inherent in Janman right. It will be specified in the Kanam deed (Kanadharam) that after the lapse of a certain number of years (commonly 12 years) it should be renewed. This was known as Melcharth.
In this report on the land tenures Gream described the system of renewal and its incidence thus: “The ‘Policheluthu’ (renewal fee) payable under this deed seems intended as an equivalent for the tenant’s profit named ‘chirlabham’ which he has derived from the land. On the demise of the tenant, it is a fine of entry to his succession; the amount of it and the frequency of its renewal seem to depend upon the quality of the soil and the chirlabham which has been enjoyed by the tenant.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
The latter is generally ascertained by the competition of neighbours who offer better terms to the proprietors.’ The renewal entitled the Janmakkar to a remission of fixed percentage on his original debt. By such periodical renewals and concomitant deductions the land in process of time becomes disencumbered of its Kanam and the lease naturally fell, in unless the heirs in succession may have been satisfied.