MADRAS JOURNAL 



OF 



LITERATURE AND SCIENCE. 



N°- I.-THIRD SERIES. 

 July 1 8 6 4. 



Native Law as administered in the Courts of the Madras 

 Presidency. By John Dawson Mayne, Esq., Barrister 

 at Law. 



One of the most difficult and at the same time important 

 questions which arise after a conquest, is to decide upon the 

 law by which the conquered race shall be governed. At a 

 first glance there seems to be merely a choice between two 

 alternatives, the law of the conquered, or the law of the con- 

 querors. Indolence and liberality both seem to be in favour 

 of the former alternative, and probably the majority of men 

 would unhesitatingly pronounce for it, without a suspicion 

 that their decision could be either impolitic or unjust. Yet 

 it may possibly be both one and the other. 



The law of a nation is merely an authoritative expression 

 of its social condition, at the time the law came into force, so 

 far as that social condition is recognised by the State. But 

 that social condition may have passed away, or be passing 

 aw r ay, or may be so radically unsound, that it ought to be 

 altered. In the two former cases the law is no longer suited 

 to the requirements of the conquered, and it would be un- 

 just to enforce it. In the latter case, the law is an actual 



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