98 



ON THE ADMINISTRATION OF 



L The Nepal Courts again are always sitting. They have neither 

 vacations nor terms. This, too, and the extreme simplicity of the forms 

 of procedure, which are full of reason and of efficacy, are principal causes 

 of the quick dispatch of business. 



The peculiar constitution of the Nepalese panchayet might furnish use- 

 ful hints for its introduction under our Government, where hitherto it has 

 not been found to work well ; nor does the extension of the jury system to 

 the Mofussil Courts promise to meet so clearly the habits and ideas of the 

 people, as this simple and primitive organ of the administration of justice.* 



ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE IN NEPAL. 



I. Courts at the Capital. 



There are four courts of justice (Nydija Sabhd) at Kathmandu. The 

 first and chief is called Kot Singh ; the 2d Inta Chapli ; the 3d Tdksdr ; and 

 the 4th Dhansdr : 



§ 2. Jurisdiction. 



" t There are no regular limits placed to the jurisdiction, personal or 

 local, of these courts, nor indeed of any court in Nepal. Offences, how- 

 ever, involving the loss of life or limb, or confiscation of a man's whole 

 substance, can be decided only in the Inta Chapli, whereto they must 

 be at once transferred, for trial as well as sentence, if they originate in any 



* The above remarks were for the most part penned by the late Captain Herbert, into 

 whose hands the voluminous MS S. were placed by Mr. Secretary Sw^inton, in order to be 

 condensed and prepared for publication. They were afterwards arranged, and the interrogatory 

 style broken down in order to save space, by the late Mr. G. M. Batten, Deputy Secretary 

 to Government in the Political Department, and were finally submitted to the author for his 

 approval and correction before publication. Mr. Colebrooke's account of Hindu Courts of 

 Justice, in the Trans. Roy. As. Soc. II., had not then appeared. J. P. Sec. As. Soc. 



t Inverted commas denote where the author's manuscript is directly followed. 



