Appendix to Account of Hindu Courts of Justice. 181 



be its true interpretation,' the king, desirous of effecting his own good, should not with 

 violence pronounce positively what the construction of the law is. Having shewn them 

 that honour which is their due respectively, he should with aid of othev lin'i/iman'as, 

 after previously extenuating the presumption by his kindness, apprise them of that 

 which is their duty.* 



" Concerning affairs relative to the several orders, as that of student in theology, and 

 so forth, let not the prince pronounce the law ; let him not specifically declare it ; let 

 him not adjudge victory and defeat. By mildness or conciliatory discourse, soothing 

 them, or appeasing their wrath and other passions, [let him apprise them of their 

 duty."]t 



§ 3. Members of a Court of Judicature. 



" The king and his officers, the judges, the sacred code of law, the accountant and 

 the scribe, gold, fire, and water, are the eight members of the judicature.^ 



" A court consists of eight members, the scribe, the accountant, the sacred code, the 

 sequestrator of the goods claimed, the judges, gold, fire, and water,§ 



" The king, the appointed [superintendent of his courts], the judges, the law, the 

 accountant, and the scribe, gold, fire, and water, and the king's own officer, are ten mem- 

 bers of legal redress. A court of judicature is a body composed of these ten members ; 

 and such a court, wherein the king presides and attentively inspects the trial of causes, 

 is a meeting sanctified by solemn acts of religion. 



" The office of those several members is separately propounded : the chief judge is 

 the organ of the court; the king is the dispenser of justice; the assessors investigate 

 the merits of the cause; the law dictates the decision of the case, namely, judgment [in 

 favour of the one party], and a fine imposed on the other; gold and fire serve for admi- 

 nistering oaths ; water for relieving thirst or appeasing hunger; the accountant should 

 compute the sums; the scribe should record the pleadings; the king's officer should 

 compel the attendance of the defendant and of the witnesses, and he should detain both 

 the plaintiff and the defendant if they have given no sureties. 



" Among these members of the judicature the king is the crown of the head; the 

 chief judge is the mouth; the assessors are the arms; the law is both hands; the 

 accountant and the scribe are the legs; gold, fire, and water, are the eyes; and the 

 king's officer is the feet. || 



" The court of judicature is a body in shape of an assembly, and composed of ten 

 members ; in which assemblage, likened to a body, the king presides as its soul. It is 

 thus intimated, that as the soul animates the corporeal frame, so the king, presiding 



• Culluca Bh. on Menu, 8. 390. .391. t Lacshm. in Ca/p. 



X A'ar<?(4i, 1. 16. § Prajapati, cited in the S7n. Ch. 



II VrXhaipali, citeJ in Calpalaru and Viraviitrodaya. Some stapzas are transposed in tlie lirst-mentioneil 

 compilation. 



