The difficulties which arise when terms such as colonialism and postcolonialism are used are well-known, and so too are the critical discourses they make possible and which partly account for their continued use. The author examines the way in which certain themes these terms point to are played out in Chha Mana Atha Guntha (literally Six Acres and Thirty-Two Decimals) and discusses three postcolonial translations (Six Acres and a Half 1967, The Stubble Under the Cloven Hoof 1967 and A Plot of Land 1969) which differ greatly in the choices made by the translators and in the way they situate themselves in relation to colonial rule. More specifically the article looks at the way in which two important and related instruments of British colonial rule - law and language - figure in the novel and how they are dealt with in the translations.