156 JOURNAL OF AN EMBASSY 
The ordinary retaining fee of a Shene, or pleader, 
is five ticals ; but he receives also special fees at 
each stage of a legal process.* 
The Barmans have written laws, and from the 
few specimens I have seen of them, they appear in 
some respects not to be without merit. Their au¬ 
thority, however, is not appealed to in the courts; 
and if they are read, it is only through curiosity. 
The following names of law-books were mentioned 
to me by Burmese of reputed learning :—the Shwe- 
men, or golden prince; the Menu, the Wandana, 
and the Damawilatha. From the name of Menu, 
here mentioned, it might be supposed that these 
codes were Hindu ; but judging from the speci¬ 
mens which I perused, I do not believe this is the 
case. If they were originally so, they have at all 
events been altered to such a degree, as to bear 
little resemblance to their alleged prototype. They 
are therefore either indigenous—borrowed from 
some country differently circumstanced from Hin- 
dostan ; or if borrowed from the latter, so altered, 
to suit a very different state of society from that 
of the Hindus, that there is at present very little 
resemblance. One of the best of the works now 
mentioned was under translation when I quitted 
India ; and might have been printed and publish¬ 
ed, did the Government promote the undertaking. 
Although a rude code of laws of this description 
be wholly inapplicable to the practical administra- 
* Captain Alves’ Report. 
