l68 Mr. CoLEBROOKE on Hindu Courts of Justice, 



That enumeration concerns the sovereign court, wherein the king per- 

 sonally presides. The composition of subordinate tribunals, with respect to 

 its members and attendants and officers, has not been particularized ; nor 

 are there any directions found concerning the manner in which the business 

 of inferior courts is to he conducted, or the sittings of arbitrators. No 

 doubt the analogy of the sovereign court would be followed, so far as 

 applicable ; and the composition of the highest tribunal would be the type 

 or model for the construction of a subordinate one. 



A court of judicature is, in the passages which have been adverted to, 

 likened to a body furnished with limbs ; and the similitude of the members 

 of the one and limbs of the other is followed out to a puerile minuteness. 

 Without regard, however, to this solemn trifling, it may be observed, that 

 the members enumerated are : first, the king or sovereign prince ; next, 

 tlie chief judge, or superintendent appointed by him ; afterwards the 

 assessors or puisne judges, considered in the aggregate as one member, 

 though their number ought to be three, five, or seven. The written law is 

 to be had for reference or consultation, and is mentioned as one member ; 

 gold and fire are also to be in readiness, for use in tlie administration of 

 oaths, and are in like manner noticed as members ; as is also water, pro- 

 vided for refreshment. Tiie principal officers of the court, namely, the 

 accountant, the scribe, and the sequestrator, complete the formal enume- 

 ration. But to these must be added, other officers and attendants of the 

 court, as the summoner and the moderator ; likewise the king's domestic 

 priest or spiritual counsellor, and his ministers of state or temporal advisers ; 

 and also the audience or by-standers, comprehending qualified persons, any 

 one of whom may intei-pose in the capacity of an amicus curiw ; and persons 

 in attendance to keep order and prevent the intrusion of the populace. 



By the Hindu institutes, the administration of justice, civil and criminal, 

 is among the chief functions of the Rcyd or sovereign ; not arbitrarily, 

 according to his mere will and pleasure ; but conformably with fixed laws 

 recorded by ancient sages, and agreeable to the established custom of the 

 country. 



He will naturally need the assistance of learned persons conversant with 

 those laws and usages, and competent to the application of them in par- 

 ticular and individual cases. There is need likewise of attendants and 

 officers to conduct the process and execute the adjudications of the tribunal. 

 The number, functions, and powers of those advisers and attendants, as 



