When the British took the Panjab in the 1840s their first act was to establish landholding registers in every village, through a system of village records and district reports. Rule by Records examines the formation of this dual system in a particular locality and reconstructs the nature of agrarian relations for the period immediately before British rule, demonstrating the way in which registration transformed what it was intended to preserve. The result challenges established concepts and procedures in both history and sociology.