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" was at all events a Hindu, living amongst Hindus and 

 " advising upon a law whioli actually governed the every day 

 " lives of himself and his family and his friends. He would 

 " torture a sacred text into an authority for his opinion, 

 " but his opinion would probably be right though unsustained 

 " by, or even opposed to, his text. With the English judge 

 " there was no such restraining influence. He was sworn to 

 " administer Hindu law to the Hindus and he was determined 

 " to do so however strange or unreasonable it might appear." 

 As regards the arrested development of the Hindu law as 

 administered in South India, Mr. Mayne goes on to remark : 

 " The fact really was that the law had outgrown the authori- 

 " ties. Native judges would have recognised the fact ; English 

 " judges were unable to do so, or else remarked ("to use a 

 " phrase I have often heard from the Bench) ' that they were 

 " ' bound to maintain the integrity of the law.' This was a 

 " matter of less importance in Bengal, where Jimuta Valiana 

 " had already burst the fetters. But in Southern India, 

 " it came to be accepted, that the Mitakshara was the last 

 " word that could be listened to on Hindu law. The conse- 

 *' quence was a state of arrested progress in which no voices 

 " were heard except those which came from the tomb. It 

 " was as if a German was to administer English law from the 

 " resources of a library furnished with Fleta, Glanville and 

 " Bracton and terminating with Lord Coke." Judicial legis- 

 lation to adapt the law to changing circumstances being then 

 not possible, the only alternative is positive legislation. But 

 how is the Government to know when legislation can be 

 safely undertaken and when it ought to be avoided on 

 the ground that it will run counter to the sentiments of the 

 people afiected by it ? On the one hand, if the Government 

 were to refuse altogether to legislate in matters affecting 

 social usages, domestic life and laws of inheritance, it would 

 injure the community in two ways, viz., first by setting 

 in motion strong forces which have the effect of unsettling 

 the old state of society and disturbing the relations which 

 subsisted ; and secondly, by depriving the society of its capa- 

 city for adjusting its institutions to its requirements and 

 refusing to do wha-t is necessary by positive legislation. 

 This state of things must seriously arrest the progress of the 

 community. " Social necessities and social opinion," observes 

 Sir H. Maine, *' are more or less in advance of law. We may 

 " go indefinitely near to the closing of the gap between them, 

 " but it has a perpetual tendency to re-open. Law is stable ; 

 " the societies we are speaking of, progressive. The greater 

 *' or less happiness of a people depends on the degree of 



