106 JOURNAL, R.A.S. (CEYLON). [VoL. XXlt. 
difficulty to ascertain within what territorial limits "the so- 
called Kandyan Law is to be considered prevailing." In a 
recent case {Kapuruhami v. 3Iedapola Appuhami, 1910, G. R. 
Kurunegala, 17,990, Wood-Renton, J. , referred to Wijesinha 
V. Wijesinha as a binding authority. 
The Supreme Court was mistaken in supposing that the 
only official document dealing with the subject was the 
Proclamation of February, 1815, or that it set forth the 
whole of the Kandyan Provinces. That Proclamation, after 
describing the armies of His Majesty the King of Great 
Britain as having occupied and entered into complete pos- 
session of "the Kandyan Provinces, denominated the Four 
Korles, the Suffragam Korle, and the Three Korles," and that 
the Chiefs and people of those Provinces liad fully and 
freely surrendered themselves to His Majesty the King of 
Great Britain, declares the same to be integral parts of the 
British Possessions of the Island of Ceylon, and adds that 
" many other provinces of the Kandyan Kingdom have been 
entered and are partially occupied by the British forces." 
(Legislative Acts of the Ceylon Government, 1853, vol. I., 
p. 177.) 
According to Sir John D'Oyly (" A Sketch of the Constitu- 
tion of the Kandyan Kingdom," 1818*), the Kandyan 
Kingdom consisted of twenty-one grand divisions, of which 
the twelve principal were called dissdvani (counties) and the 
majority of the rest rata (districts). 
The dissdvanis were each placed under the order of a Chief 
or Governor called Dissdwa. They were the Four Korales, 
* Prepared by him when administering that Territory/ (1815-1824), 
and published (in part) in the " Transactions of the Royal Asiatic 
Society of Great Britain and Ireland " (1833), vol. 3, pp. 191 et seq., at 
the instance of the Vice-President Sir Alexander Johnstone, who was 
Chief Justice of Ceylon, 1811-1820 ; reprinted in the Sessional Papers, 
1891, pp. 107 et seq. Complete copies exist only in manuscript. There 
is one in the Colombo Museum. The whole of this interesting work 
deserves publication after collation of all existing manuscripts by a 
competent editor. Sir John D'Oyly was a very distinguished member 
of the Ceylon Civil Service. After a creditable career at Cambridge, 
where he was 2nd Chancellor's Medallist in Classics and a Senior Optime, 
he entered the Ceylon service in 1802, rose to be Resident and First 
Commissioner of the Government in the Kandyan Provinces, and was 
created a Baronet in 1821 for his services in conducting the negotiations in 
connection with the Kandyan Convention. He died at Kandy in 1824. 
