Mr. CoLEBROOKE 0)1 Hindu Courts of Justice. I67 



Places of resort for redress are : 



1st. The court of the sovereign, who is assisted by learned Brahmans as 

 assessors. It is ambulatory, being held where the king abides or sojourns. 



2d. The tribunal of the chief judge (" Prdd vivdca," or " Dhannddhy- 

 " acsha") appointed by the sovereign, and sitting with three or more assessors, 

 not exceeding seven. This is a stationary court, being held at an appointed 

 place. 



3d. Inferior judges, appointed by the sovereign's authority, for local 

 jurisdictions. From their decisions an appeal lies to the court of the chief 

 judge, and thence to the raja or king in person. 



The gradations in arbitration are also three : 



1st. Assemblies of townsmen, or meetings of persons belonging to various 

 tribes, and following different professions, but inhabiting the same place. 



2d. Companies of traders or artisans ; conventions of persons belonging 

 to different tribes, but subsisting by the practice of the same profession. 



3d. Meetings of kinsmen, or assemblages of relations connected by 

 consanguinity. 



The technical terms in the Hindu for these three gradations of assem- 

 blies are, 1st. Puga ; 2d. Srmi ; 3d. Cula. 



Their decisions or awards are subject to revision ; an unsatisfactory 

 determination of the " Cula " or family, is revised by the " Sreni," or 

 company, as less liable to suspicion of partiality than the kindred ; and an 

 unsatisfactory decision of fellow-artisans is revised by the " Pitga," or 

 assembly of cohabitants, who are still less to be suspected of partiality. 

 From the award of the " Puga," or assembly, an appeal lies, according to 

 the statutes of Hindu law, to the tribunal of the " Prdd-vivdca," or judge; 

 and, finally, to the court of the Rdjd, or sovereign prince. 



The " Puga," " Sreni," and " Cula," are different degrees of arbitration, 

 which, as is apparent, is not in the nature either of a jury or of a rustic 

 tribunal, with which they have been assimilated ; but merely a system of 

 arbitration, subordinate to regularly constituted tribunals or courts of justice. 



I now proceed to the more detailed consideration of the composition of 

 such courts. 



In several passages of Hindu law books the members of the judicature 

 are enumerated, but not without some discrepancy : one authority specifying 

 so many as ten ; others eight, but in some instances, nevertheless, noticing 

 a greater number. The difference, however, is not material. 



