Foras - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition foras

Definition :

Foras, is derived from the Portuguese word 'fora', (Latine 'foras', 'foris' a door), signifying outside. It indicates the rent or revenue derived from outlying lands. The whole island of Bombay fell under that denomination when under Portuguese rule, being then a mere outlying dependency of Bassein. Subsequently the term 'foras' was, for the most part, though perhaps not quite exclusively, limited to the new salt batty ground reclaimed from the sea, or other waste ground lying outside the Fort, Native Town, and other the more ancient settled and cultivated grounds in the island, or to the quit-rent arising from that new salt batty ground and outlying ground. Thus, the salt batty lands reclaimed from the sea came to be known as Foras lands by association with the assessments payable thereon called 'Foras', Collector of Bombay v. Nusserwanji Rattanji Mistri, (1955) 1 SCR 1311: AIR 1955 SC 298 (302).