the public examinations which they never obtained."7%
The Tanka have always been despised by the land-dwellers and intermarriage between land and sea-dwellers is probably non-existent.” Nevertheless the Tanka "are the principal sea-faring people of South China, owning large sea-going junks and engaging in deep-sea fishing.
The Hoklo* speak “a Min dialect similar to those spoken in the Province of Fukien and in the Chruchow, Hoilukfung and Kiungchow areas of Kwangtung Province "They have frequented the territories since some unknown era." The Hoklo are few in numbers and are mostly to be found in the eastern waters of the area. Balfour has an interesting observation to make on all four communities:-
“Our analysis of the existing population has revealed that the order of migration into the region corresponds roughly with the height above sea level of each part of the community. The Tanka and Hoklo, who were the earliest people, live on the seacoast, the Punti, who came next, occupy the fertile plains and valleys, and the latest comers the Hakka, are to be found mostly in the uplands
A Restatement of the Customary Law,
1983
Two general types of omission have been made on principle in this restatement: firstly, all doubtful points of customary law, for the courts may in due course be called upon to decide them; secondly, mere social customs without legal force, for they are the concern rather of the sociologist.*
The Customary Law of the Land-dwellers, the Cantonese and Hakka Land
The most important part of the customary law obtaining in the New Territories undoubtedly concerns its land if for no other reason than that all questions affecting such land, in view of the preservation of Chinese custom by statute, should prima facie be governed by such custom.** Such is not the position in regard to proceedings which do not involve land, then by virtue of section 5 of the Supreme Court Ordinance, English law as existing in 1843 as modified by subsequent