JUSTICE IN NEPAL. 



127 



List of the chief offences above adverted to. 



1 Kalyan Dhan, or treasure-trove, i. e. appropriating it. 2, Patricide. 

 3, Matricide. 4, Killing a Cow. 5, Killing a Brahman. 6, Killing a Woman. 

 7, Procuring Abortion. 8, Killing a Guru. 9, Incendiarism. 10, Poisoning. 

 11, Theft and Robbery. 12, Taking another's land by violence. 13, Seducing 

 another's wife. 14, Murder. 15, Destroying Houses, &c. devoted to charita- 

 ble and religious purposes. 16, Agamya-gavan or Incest. 



1 St. — Kalydn Dhan is treasure-trove of all sorts whatever ; including 

 new mines. Secretly appropriating any such (which all belongs to the 

 crown) is equivalent to theft, and is punished with death or confiscation in 

 the chief adalat. If death be awarded, the Bichdri delivers the offender 

 to the MaMniah and he to the Poryas, who execute the delinquent ; if 

 confiscation be the sentence, then the MahdmaJis, and the Mahan NaiJdahs 

 and the BaMddrs, and others, going to the delinquent's house take the delin- 

 quent's own share of the whole family property (lands as well as moveables), 

 but spare the shares of the other members of the family. 



To procure conviction in these cases, as in others, an informant 

 ( PuldJia ) is necessary, and then there are two parties to the cause, the 

 informer (Puldha) and the accused (Sandhuah) whichever of them esta- 

 blishes his case, gets a khilaat from the sirk^r, paying pagii and 

 jttauri. If the informer loses, he is obliged to " touch the stone," and 

 is fined with reference to the offence, and his means, more or less : (it is 

 the custom to demand publicly twice as heavy a fine as is really taken) 

 and the victorious accused, pays to the sirkar as^z^menhalfthe sum paid by 

 the loser as ddnd or fine. In the Panch khat, the Kalydn Dhan above de- 

 scribed is held the greatest, and the ultimate decision of cases is peculiar 

 to the Maharaja. 



2nd. Patricide. — If any one, from the wantonness of youth, or selfish- 

 ness, or avarice, or the instigation of his father's women, should put his 

 aged father under restraint or imprison him, or starve him to death, such a 

 wretch (Sandhuah) must have his property confiscated, and be put to death 



