Hereditary-tenancy land and lapse of time in a debt

Question

Question: (1) Government land — when someone cultivates a landlord’s land, that land simply becomes the cultivator’s, and the landlord cannot recover it. If some cultivator has himself removed from that land, i.e. leaves it of his own consent, is there reward (thawab) or not? And will the cultivator incur sin by not leaving it? (2)

Answer

Land which the cultivator took from the original owner for a wage purely for cultivation has not, through cultivation, left the ownership of the original owner nor entered the ownership of the cultivator; returning it is necessary. Those who do not return it, and hold it in their possession and dispose of it without the owner’s consent, are sinners.

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

Preview. The full text opens with JavaScript enabled.