Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/126

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112 LAWS.

  • • If a wife kills her husband, she must suffer

death.

    • If a wife by scmando wounds her husband, her

relations must pay what they would receive if he wounded her.** One of the most remarkable and instructive cha- racteristics in the laws of the islanders, is the allot- ment of punishment according to the rank of the offender. The three great classes of society which may be said generally to exist throughout the In-, dian islands, in a legal poir.t of view, are the nobles, freemen, {Mdrdika,') and slaves, (Hdmba.) In tlieir laws the rijxhts of these classes are con- stantly referred to. The authority of I'ank, it need hardly be insisted, is constantly dwelt upon, and its immunity from the severities of the law impudently proclaimed. " The Bangun, or compensation for the murder of a Pamharaby" (superior chief,) say the laws of the Rcjangs, " is five hundred dollars ; for that of a Proatlin, (inferior chief,) two hundred and fifty dollars ; for that of a common person, man or boy, eighty dollars ; for that of a common person, woman or girl, one hundred and fifty dol- lars ; for the legitimate child or wife of a Pam- larab, two hundred and fifty dollars.*' A law of the Balinese is to the i'ollowing effect: " If a man lay violent hands on the wife of another, let the custom of former princes be followed, and let such