'IRAQ AND THE PERSIAN GULF' [‎287r] (576/862)

IRRIGATION, AGRICULTURE, AND MINOR INDUSTRY 443
were in as uncertain a condition as the rest of the territory which had
not been touched by the Tapu system. Much piecemeal reform was
carried through in the Mandatory period by the restoration of the
registers and the commencement of a regular survey, and in 1929
Sir E. Dowson, a former official of the Egyptian Government, was
invited to study the situation in Iraq and make proposals for the
reform of land tenure. Between 1932 and 1934 legislation was passed
to implement most of his proposals, and the present system of land
tenure in Iraq is based mainly on the Law for the Assessment of
Land Rights (1932) and the Law of Luzma (1932), which have
improved and codified native systems. These have been made
effective by a cadastral survey and a series of Settlement Commissions
which by 1943 had covered the central part of the country. The Land
Register, kept by the Tapu Department, now contains the records
of all land transactions which have been verified by the Commis
sions, and of all new transactions, which must be based on a survey
and map.
Ownership
The forms of land ownership are Mulk, Miri or Amiri, Matrukhi,
and Waqf. Mulk is land owned in full property by private persons
or institutions. There is very little Mulk land in Iraq except for the
sites of buildings within towns and villages. Miri is land of which
the ultimate ownership belongs to the State. Practically all agricul
tural land is held by one of the three varieties of Miri tenure: Tapu,
Luzma, and ‘simple’ Miri.
Tapu tenure, or ‘land commissioned as fief’, gives all the rights of
full property, such as disposal, mortgage, and inheritance, except that
the nominal ‘possession of its substance’ is reserved by the State and
that Tapu land cannot be transformed into Waqf land without the
permission of the Government. Tapu lands originated in the land
reforms of 1868 by which large areas of Miri were first sold to private
individuals in this form. About one-fifth of the cultivable area of
Iraq was thus disposed of, and it is still the general policy of Iraqi
governments to encourage the extension of Tapu land on terms
favourable to the buyers.
Luzma rights, which are a combination of tenancy and possession
resembling a perpetual leasehold, originated in the tribal occupation
of simple Miri lands, and are confirmed where such occupation has
been effectively exercised for a certain period, usually 15 years.
They are also granted in special riverain areas to persons who erect