THE PRINTED WORD/Frederick Noronha ---------------------------------- Understanding the old laws
Ave Cleto Afonso, who lectured in Philosophy at the Dhempe College till not long ago, came out last month with a book on the family and succession laws of Goa. The former journalist and scholar talks to FREDERICK NORONHA about his work and plans. Last year, he translated 'The Hindus of Goa'. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: Prof Afonso, your's is a thick and impressive tome. What's it about? Why is it relevant today. ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: Basically, it's centered around one part of the so-called Portuguese law that is still in force here. It connects with issues such as inheritance, alienation of inheritance, and property. It is important in a commercial sense. It's also important because it can help us understand the dynamics of a family, and to what extent those dynamics shaped the outlook of the Goans, about their ancestral property and other things. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: So your book deals with the law of succession and... ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: Yes, and inventory proceedings. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: What prompted you into doing this book? ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: I was once trying to produce a book on law, and tried translating the law concerning marriages, guardianship of children, adoption, etc. But I soon found it was a maze of confusion, and I didn't want to touch too many holy cows. I make it a point to emphasise that this book is not a book on law, but on the history of law, if at all. It's a book that can help us understand one part of Goanity, the materialistic aspect. But the motivation was to do the book was, earlier on, the lack of a reasonable translation of the Portuguese law. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: This book not only has a translation, but it has footnotes... ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: Yeah. It has a translation of the law -- a verbatim translation if I may say so. It has also translation of notations. Instead of just giving the text of the law, many of the articles also carry an explanation, which also helps to interpret the thrust of the article. This is something that has not been done so far here. In Goa, there is one which offers a translation, and another from the law faculty of the New University of Lisbon. But they give just the text of the articles. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: How would you explain the difference of Goa's laws from those in the rest of India? ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: Goa's laws have set a provision which guarantee the inalienable rights of the spouse. There is a provision for "Communiao de Bens" (in which everything owned by the couple before and after is shared) in most of the marriages. In some cases, of course, these things can be changed by a pre-marriage, or ante-nuptial, agreement. So, the spouse -- and usually the weaker spouse is the wife -- gets a good deal of protection. Secondly, from the point of view of the children, the totality of the property cannot be alienated if there are offspring. Children have a mandatory inheritance; of course, there are provisions to disinherit in a narrow range of circumstances. In that sense, the laws here are better than in the rest of country. This is true from the point of view of gender equality, protection for children, and some other such humanitarian concerns. But more important is that this law applies almost indiscriminately to members of the Goan community irrespective of the religion they profess. For example, monogamy is binding on almost all. Whether they are Muslims, Christians, Hindus. Of course, in the case of Hindus, there is a far-fetched provision, that a Hindu under certain circumstances, and with the consent of the wife, can enter into a second marriage, in order to get a male heir. That was connected to some religious beliefs and requirements of the Hindus. The Portuguese acknowledged that under the 'usos e costumes' regime. In that sense, this is a more or less uniform personal law. I would say that despite the fact that there are some provisions, which are obnoxious in some sense -- for instance the Canonical marriage and the various consequences of that form of marriage in terms of rights for divorce -- it is more or less uniform for all Goans, all citizens, irrespective of their religious faith. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: Who do you see reading this? ---------------------------------------------------------- The lawyers, in case they want to have access to the text of the law. Others interested in law -- for examples those involved in the transfers of properties -- to see if there are any impediments, encumbrances and hidden complications. But, more importantly, you can see what Goans have been for so very long in these matters. By reading the personal law provision, you can almost judge the character of the social grouping. Q: And what is the character one can see emerging? Is it litigation consciousness? Yes, that is one offshoot of the whole thing. So, if you're made aware of rights, and so many rights are stated in black and white, then you tend to resort to defence and the enjoyment of those rights through legal mechanisms. That's how Goans are known so many times as 'demandistas', resorting to 'demandas' -- court cases. Besides this not-so-flattering aspect of course, you can also see how Goans are accustomed to accepting the daughters are more or less equal partners, or equal heirs, in the matters of property. Although in a huge number of cases, the daughters are cheated ... there is an acceptance that the girl is on par with the boy in matters of inheritance. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: Social equality and legal equality are moving hand in hand? ---------------------------------------------------------- In a sense, this is a notable trait. More so, in the context of the situation we find around us, in the rest of the country ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: After this book, what next? ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: I would prefer to practically run away from the Goan reality as much as possible. Including the reality of the Konkani language, which would be a very difficult task for me, because Konkani is part of my blood. But I want to move away from what is recognised as typically Goan culture -- Portuguese, English now and Konkani. I want to move away and shift to some other language. In the field of Konkani-Italian, I could try something. But more importantly I want to see if I could come out with a work I have more or less completed -- a dictionary of "bad-words" in Konkani. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: This is quite an unusual idea. How far has it reached? ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: It is more or less done. It comes in two parts -- the testing of certain hypothesis about the anthropology and sociology of the Konkani language. That is a theory part of academic interest. For instance, it looks at the endurance and longevity of a language, vis a vis the onslaught of alien languages in globalisation. How long will Konkani last? Secondly, the ability of a language to absorb. I believe, this segment of a language -- the so-called "bad" language -- absorbs better, has greater creativity, and in my view, will last longer. If you go around, you'll see the new-comers to Goa have mastered Konkani, better than the locals, often through these entry-points. In places like the tavernas, in the fish-market, in brawls. That is the first part. There should be no trouble with this part. The second is the more curious one, because there lies the meat of the book. It covers the colourful expressions which many Goans, including Goans in power and glory, use day in and day out. But they're not supposed to be acknowledged, or written about. Or glorified in print. I have the clearance from my family, my children essentially. Now that they're out of Goa -- they're not involved in language, but in the world of technology -- there should be no trouble to them. But yet, there is some reluctance. Our society is becoming closed, more and more, day by day. Even in so-called broad-minded society, like Portugal, the latest work of José Saramago ,"Cain", for the little bit of parody he resorts to, there's hell of a reaction taking place in Portugal itself. If it is that much there, I wonder what would be the reaction here, for a comparable book! ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: Do you think Konkani is particularly rich in 'bad words'? ---------------------------------------------------------- ACA: I don't know, and can't say anything. All languages seem to be very rich as far as that segment goes; but nobody ever brings them to the fore. ---------------------------------------------------------- FN: You've been quite prolific with books, coming out with one book a year. After 'The Hindus of Goa', a translation, it's now this... ---------------------------------------------------------- Oh no. Much of this work was in the pipeline. That two books came out one after the other is a coincidence. I'm not that prolific anyway... and not at this age. Contact the author: 2409490 or 9822122436 or [email protected] Books for review are welcome in this column, if related to Goa. Contact Ave Cleto Afonso: [email protected] The book is available from Broadway Book Centre, 18th June Road for Rs 995. First published in Gomantak Times, Dec 14, 2009
