A man wishing to escape the consequences of marriage, and thinking he was unrecognised in the darkness by others during his intercourse with the girl, will nearly always be identified by some of the women present. If he refuses to carry out his share of the contract, a council is called of the principal men of his village, and they fine him so many pigs, which form the material for a general feast.
In the northern islands, the "Town Halls" in the Elpanams are the property of the community in general, for they are the work of the whole village. The products of the forest are common to all, but it is now necessary to obtain the headman's permission before occupying a piece of land near the village, to build a house or make a garden on.
Everything which the village as a whole makes or purchases, as the Elpanam houses or Chaura canoes, is common property, but the result of individual work belongs to the individual. Plantations, coconuts,[169] canoes, and houses, are private possessions, liable, however, to family claims founded on common family work.
Both sexes inherit, and property is generally divided equally among the heirs.
There is in Kar Nicobar a method of guarding property termed takoia, which at first is liable to be taken for a case of tabu or pomali. Posts and sticks, decorated with coloured rags and coconut husks, are erected near gardens, plantations, etc. They have no superstitious significance whatever, and only act as a kind of notice of title, warning all and sundry that the surroundings are private property. Anyone discovered stealing the same is fined, i.e., the usual pigs are confiscated to feast the community.[170]
The village headman and his deputy are a recent institution of the authorities to simplify the procedure of controlling the natives. The opinion of the village is generally taken on the question, and, if approved of, their nominees are invested with a certificate, a flag, and a suit of clothes, presented yearly.
The headmen can command no obedience, and enforce no laws; they work only by persuasion; and, with the more influential men, deliberate on vexed questions, and impose fines, which seem always paid. Such fines do not accrue to the benefit of the injured party, but of the community, who enjoy a feast as the result, in which the culprit himself takes part.
As the headman now stands, he is the successor of the village "captain" or presiding elder, who had no other functions but to represent the community on the arrival of ships, and to regulate barter. His office and title were instituted by the natives when relations with European vessels became frequent, in order that they might have some representative to correspond to the commanding officer.
Before this epoch, everybody seems to have been on a footing of complete social equality, as, with the exceptions above-noted, is the case to-day.