186 RELIEF OF INDEBTED AGRICULTURISTS. 



France, whence the institution is derived. He is simply a dis- 

 interested third party, who is charged to endeavour to bring disputants 

 to an amicable settlement. It so happens that in France the Con- 

 cilators are Juges de Paix, and so have a jurisdiction to try the more 

 petty of the cases (within, say, rupees 50) in which it is their duty 

 to conciliate. But they conciliate in all the superior cases which 

 they have no power to try. The functions of conciliating and try- 

 ing are distinct, and have no necessary connexion with each other. 

 Appoint our Village Munsifs or Subordinate Judges to be Conciliators 

 (there is nothing in the Bill to prevent this), and they will be the 

 exact counterparts of the Juges de Paix, except in one parti- 

 cular, to which I will presently allude. Some authorities, including 

 MR. JUSTICE GREEN of the Bombay High Court, think that 1hey ought 

 to be so appointed. But others, and especially the Local Government, 

 consider that judicial functions might impart to their recommenda- 

 tions a weight amounting to undue pressure, which parties, and 

 especially the ignorant T^ot } might be unable to resist. The one 

 particular of difference from Juges de Paix to which I referred is 

 the absence of power to compel attendance. Considering the doubt 

 whether competent Conciliators can even be found at all, the Bill 

 follows the opinion of the Bombay Government, thus expressed in 

 SIR RICHARD TEMPLE'S Minute of April 14th, 1879 : 



Though he (the Conciliator) would not have the power of deciding, or enforcing 

 his decision if he formed one, still he would, by compelling attendance, be able, if 

 so disposed, to put great pressure on the ryot to admit or to compromise the claim. 

 Such power of applying pressure by an educated man of position upon an uneducated 

 and humble man on a claim preferred by a man generally of some education and 

 wealth is a power that ought not to be conferred upon HONORARY CONCILIATION 

 JUDGES in the present state of society in the Deccan.' 



I myself doubt whether the want of this power will affect the 

 status of Conciliators, as some apprehend. If they can settle disputes 

 equitably, the people, debtors as well as creditors, will readily resort 

 to them. But here, as in the case of giving powers of conciliation to 

 Judges, the Bill presents no obstacle to a change hereafter. The Local 

 Government can, under section 37, give power to compel attendance 

 whenever they think fit. 



In connection with Chapter VII, some exception has been taken 

 to the cost of the extra Subordinate Judges' Courts to be constituted, 

 and of the supervising officers. The object of bringing the Cburts 

 nearer to the homes of the people might, it is said, be as well, or even 



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