Chap. III.J HINDOO GOVERNMENT. 93
litigant parties," and decide causes, "by arguments and rules drawn from local a.d. —
usages and from written codes." Where he could not preside himself^ he was
to appoint a Brahmin of eminent learning, who, sitting as "chief judge, accom- Administra- tion of jus- panied by three assessors," should fully consider and dispose of all causes brought tice.
into the royal court. The mode of administering justice in places at a distance from the capital is not explained ; but it appears from other sources, that in dif- ferent parts of the country there were local judges who decided in the first instance, but whose decisions might be brought under review by appeal to the court of the capital. The defendant who, after allowing the action to be brought into court, admitted the debt, paid a fine of five per cent. ; if he continued to deny it, and it was proved against him, the fine was doubled. These fines being payable to the king, probably went to the judges, and formed part, if not the whole of their official income.
On the subject of judicial procedm-e, much sound advice is given. The Judicial
■,. ,.., ,,, , ,. , . ,. , ,. „. procedure.
king or his j udge, while " understanding what is expedient or inexpedient, is to consider " only what is law or not law," and decide accordingly. He is at the same time to have an equitable jmisdiction, and consider himself as the guardian of those who, from nonage or their unprotected situation, labour totally or partially under legal incapacity. The persons thus entitled to his special protection are infants and students ; women whose husbands have married other wives because they have proved ban-en, or had no sons ; women without kindred, or whose hus- bands are in distant places ; widows true to their lords ; and women afflicted with illness. In examining witnesses and weighing evidence, he is to endeavour, "by external signs," to " see through the thoughts of men, by their voice, colour, countenance, limbs, eyes, and action." Neither "himself nor his officers must ever promote litigation, nor ever neglect a lawsuit instituted by others ; " but " as a hunter traces the lair of a beast by the drops of blood, thus let a king investigate the true point of justice by deliberate argument; let him fully con- sider the nature of truth, the state of the case, and his own person; and next, the witnesses, the place, the mode, and the time ; firmly adhering to all the rules of practice."
The plaintiff being bound, especially in a question of debt, to prove his case, cases of may act in such a way as to justify a nonsuit, and thus render further proceed- ings unnecessary. He may, for instance, after having raised his action, delay to proceed with it, and thereby deserve to be fined or corporally punished. Or he may assert "confused and contradictory facts," change his ground after " having stated what he designs to prove," or when " questioned on a fact which he had before admitted, refuse to acknowledge that very fact." He may, more- over, have tampered with the witnesses, by conversing with them "in a place unfit for such conversation," or after alleging that he had witnesses, fail, when called upon, to produce them, or stand mute on being " ordered to speak," or
dechne "answering a question properly put." A plantifF thus behaving, the
