TO THE COURT OF AVA. 
149 
would procure him a mitigation or commutation 
of punishment. In ordinary cases, such as whip¬ 
ping and fetters, the degree of punishment de¬ 
pended much more upon the amount paid to the 
executioner than upon the sentence of the court. 
Except in very extraordinary cases, therefore, the 
poor alone were sacrificed. 
From the constitution of the Burmese courts, as 
I have described them, the administration of jus¬ 
tice must necessarily be both corrupt and vexa¬ 
tious. The judges take bribes from both sides, 
and the decree, unless in very palpable cases in¬ 
deed, will be in favour of him who pays the high¬ 
est. Both the judges and ministerial officers either 
subsist altogether, or gain a principal part of their 
emolument, from litigation, and therefore do all 
in their power to promote it. No prudent person, 
therefore, enters into a lawsuit; and “ putting a 
man into justice,” as the phrase is, is considered 
to be equivalent to inflicting upon him the most 
serious calamity. I may mention one or two au¬ 
thentic cases in illustration. In 1817, an old Bur¬ 
mese woman, in the service of an European gen¬ 
tleman, was cited before the Rung-d’hau, or court 
of justice of Rangoon. Her master appeared on 
her behalf, and was informed that her offence con¬ 
sisted in having neglected to report a theft com¬ 
mitted upon herself three years before, by which 
the government officers were defrauded of the fees 
and profits which ought to have accrued from the 
