27
The Customary Law of the Sea-dwellers, the Tanka and Hoklo 154
There has been even less chance of the customary law of the sea-dwellers receiving mention either in law reports or elsewhere for now as was the case fifty years ago they comprise only a little more than a tenth of the total population of the New Territories. 155 These sea-dwellers are, moreover, accustomed to a way of life free from bickering and litigation. The arduous demands made by the fishing activities on all members of the family result in a close-knit unit with the men in the dominant and the women in subordinate status. Even in a big family one person, usually the eldest male, is regarded as the house-holder and he manages the family assets which belong to all the members of that family. For example, the proceeds of each catch are made known to the whole family; part of those proceeds are allocated to daily expenses, purchase of equipment, debts and such like expenditure, part is placed on deposit to meet future contingencies and part is shared out to each family member to meet individual expenses. The latter sharing may be in equal parts or alternatively it may be on the basis of 1/200th or 3/100ths to each member of the family, man, woman or child, according to individual ability in the fishing operation.
Property
The sea-dwellers seldom possess land but if they do then by special privilege the eldest son assumes control of any house on land. Their property, of course, mostly consists of their boats and their fishing gear. If a family has among its number grown-up sons, then, providing the family business prospers or the initial capital can be borrowed, as many boats are built by fishermen of small fishing vessels, operating handlines and gill nets, as will enable each grown-up son to operate his own fishing boat independently. In the case of the bigger vessels, that is the mechanized trawlers and the tsam junk trawlers, if the family has crew in excess of its vessel or if excess funds are available then they build another new vessel adding it to the family's fleet. In such a large vessel several of the grown-up sons would live aboard and one of them would be appointed master by the householder. The income from the fishing operation of such vessel would be divided into equal shares and an extra half share allocated to the son acting as master of the vessel
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27
The Customary Law of the Sea-dwellers, the Tanka and Hoklo 154
There has been even less chance of the customary law of the sea- dwellers receiving mention either in law reports or elsewhere for now as was the case fifty years ago they comprise only a little more than a tenth of the total population of the New Territories. 155 These sea-dwellers are, moreover, accustomed to a way of life free from bickering and litigation. The arduous demands made by the fishing activities on all members of the family jesult in a closeknit unit with the men in the dominant and the women in subordinate status. Even in a big family one person, usually the eldest male, is regarded as the house-holder and he manages the family assets which belong to all the members of that family. For example, the proceeds of each catch are made known to the whole family; part of those proceeds are allocated to daily expenses, purchase of equipment, debts and such like expenditure, part is placed on deposit to meet future contingencies and part is shared out to each family member to meet individual expenses The latter sharing may be in equal parts or alternatively it may be on the basis of 1/200th or 3/100ths to each member of the family, man, woman or child, according to individual ability in the fishing operation.
Property
The sea-dwellers seldom possess land but if they do then by special privilege the eldest son assumes control of any house on land. Their property, of course, mostly consists of their boats and their fishing gear. If a family has among its number grown-up sons, then, providing the family business prospers or the initial capital can be borrowed, as many boats are built by fishermen of small fishing vessels, operating handlines and gill nets, as will enable each grown-up son to operate his own fishing boat independently. In the case of the bigger vessels, that is the mechanized trawlers and the tsam junk trawlers, if the family has crew in excess of its vessel or if excess funds are available then they build another new vessel adding it to the family's fleet. In such a large vessel several of the grown-up sons would live aboard and one of them would be appointed master by the householder. The income from the fishing operation of such vessel would be divided into equal shares and an extra half share allocated to the son acting as master of the vessel
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