176 Appendix to Account of Hindu Courts of Justice. 



of place. One held at an appointed spot is graced by the signet ; for it is attended by 

 the superintendent or other officer holding the seal. But at the king's residence the 

 court is one governed by the law ; for it is precisely guided by the sacred institutes. 

 This distribution of courts is shewn by the same author. The superintendent is the 

 chief judge; for he is appointed by the king to try causes, and the royal seal is entrusted 

 to him, that he may be enabled to summon defendants. This is implied in the text. 

 The stationary and the moveable assemblies are specially constituted at the request of 

 parties soliciting the meeting, with presents and other means of inducing consent; for 

 such tribunals are not established by the mere operation of law, nor by the spontaneous 

 act of the king. But a court graced by the signet, and one governed by the law, are 

 established by the king of his own authority; therefore, to obtain a decision the court 

 is resorted to, not constituted for the special purpose. The king's court, governed by law, 

 is superior to all the rest.* 



§ 2. Jurisdiction original and appellate. 



" Judges appointed by the king, assemblies [of townsmen], companies [of artisans], 

 and meetings [of kindred], must be understood to be superior, the one to the other, in 

 order as here enumerated, for the decision of law-suits among men.f 



" Meetings [of kindred], companies [of artisans], assemblies [of co-habitants], an 

 appointed judge, and the king himself, are resorts for the trial of law-suits; and, among 

 these, the last in order is superior to the preceding.^ 



" Persons who have been fully appointed by the king, the kindred of the parties, 

 fellow-artisans, co-habitants, and others, may decide law-suits among men, excepting 

 causes concerning violent crimes. Meetings of kinsmen, companies of artisans, assem- 

 blies of co-habitants, and courts of justice, are declared to be judicatories, to which he, 

 against whom judgment is given, may successively resort. A cause, which has not been 

 thoroughly investigated by the kinsmen, must be tried by persons of the same profession 

 with the parties; one, which has not been well adjudged by fellow- artisans, should be 

 revised by the townsmen; and what exceeds the compass of their understandings, must 

 be heard by appointed judges. The members of a court of judicature are superior in 

 jurisdiction to the kindred and the rest; the chief judge is superior to them; and the 

 king is above all, since causes are always justly decided by him : for the intellect of the 

 sovereign surpasses the understandings of others, in the trial of the highest, lowest, and 

 mean controversies.§ 



" The spiritual parent, the master, the family, the father, the eldest brother, and the 

 grandsire, should try controversies among men, in matters to which they are competent. || 



" Litigants who have been before a previous tribunal, resorting, whether justly or 

 unjustly, to the king, become plaintiffs [in appeal. ]f 



" One, who had been heard before the village, may appeal to the town ; he, who has 



* Dev. Bh.m Sm.Ch, \ ydjuj/awaln/a^ \. SO. j; i\^arfrfa, 1. 8. 



§ Fr^heispati, cited in Firamitr., and partiall}" in Vi/av. Chint. and Dipacalica. 

 11 Vyasa, cited in Madli. H PUimaha, cited in Sm. Ch. 



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