Tésawalamai is a customary law and its principles are embodied in Jaffna Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance. Due to the conflict, certain situations have arisen where the husband is displaced and his whereabouts are not known, or he is missing. In some other cases the husband is abroad as a refugee and is not in communication with his wife, thus preventing her from obtaining the consent of the husband to deal with her own property. Section 8 of the Jaffna Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance provides that the wife could obtain consent in certain circumstances from court to dispose of her property in the absence of a written consent of her husband. One such circumstance is when the whereabouts of the husband is not known. Permission is obtained by way of a summary procedure and will not take long to comply with. An amendment to this provision allowing the wife the authority to deal with her property without her husband’s consent needs serious discussions with the community of persons governed by Tésawalamai. It is a customary law and has other rights and obligations that follow. We are of the view that the provisions of Section 8 of the Jaffna Matrimonial Rights and Inheritance Ordinance are adequate to meet the difficulties of obtaining the consent of the husband in the present situation. 15) The lands given under Crown Grants and Permits occupied by unauthorised persons From time to time, the State has alienated land by way of crown grants and permits under the provisions laid down in the Land Development Ordinance. When the grantees and the permit holders who were displaced return to their lands they may not, however, to be reoccupied. The applicable laws are: Land Development OrdinanceNo.19 of 1935; and Land Settlement Ordinance No.20 of 1931. The Land Development Ordinance (LDO) was enacted in 1935. The intention of the law was to encourage the development and cultivation of land in unpopulated areas. Grants and annual permits were issued under the LDO attaching certain conditions to the permit holder such as the development and/or occupation of the land. The permit was renewed annually and, if the conditions were met, the GA could decide to extend the operation of the permit and, in some cases, to transfer the permit into a grant. Between 1950 and 1960 grants were given in an extent of 5 acres per person under the Middle Class Scheme. Between 1960 and 1980 under “Swarna Boomi” Scheme lands that had been encroached onto were given to the encroachers. State lands were given at different periods depending on the necessity and availability of lands on outright purchase or on long-term lease for periods of 30 years, 60 years or 99 years. A crown grant confers good title to the grant holder subject to the conditions laid down in the grant. Crown land is governed by the LDO, which is administered by the Land Commissioner subject to the direction of the Land Minister. The Land Commissioner delegates his powers to the Government Agent/District Secretary. A large number of Crown grants and permits are concentrated in Vavuniya, Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Killinochchi and Mannar. The lands alienated by grants are described with reference to a plan and are registered in the relevant Divisional Secretariat. The permit issued in relation to a land is in a prescribed form and the amount to be paid annually will be determined in accordance with the regulations made in that behalf. The permit holders may not execute or effect any disposition of land alienated to them. If the holder of a permit or grant had sold his land to 25