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Chapter V. 
INHERITANCE OF PROPERTY AS REGARDS THE 
PRIESTHOOD. 
The order of the P,heek,ho or Priests of Siam is composed of in¬ 
dividuals taken from the mass of the people; and each member of it 
may return to a secular employment, either when the zeal of the peo¬ 
ple fails to provide for his subsistence, or when his own is insuffici¬ 
ent to arm him with moral weapons to combat the temptations to 
which he is exposed; for, however abstracted he ought to be in mind 
from all which can distract its attention to heavenly objects, yet the 
necessity he Is under of daily mixing in the throng to receive the 
contributions of the pious votaries of his religion, must afford oppor¬ 
tunities of proving his good resolves. 
It is natural to suppose that the Boodd,hist Priests should have 
i 
aimed at exception from laws which could but rarely be applicable 
to their situation; and which must have interrupted the contempla¬ 
tive duties enjoined by their religion. 
Were the ordinances of Boodd,ha strictly enforced, a P,heek,ho could 
not inherit property unless it happened to be solely of that descrip¬ 
tion which might serve to supply his very limited wants and restrict¬ 
ed indulgences. 
A Priest can only be brought into a Court of law as a witness. 
If he should commit a crime, he is conveyed, or goes before an eccle¬ 
siastical Court, where the consistorial chief, Praya P,hrasadet judges 
him consonantly with the laws contained in the Sacred Bali Code, 
P,hra Pattimok weenai. If he should be proved to have been guilty 
of a very serious offence, he is shipped of the yellow Chewdn or Sa¬ 
cerdotal mantle, and delivered over for punishment to the secular 
arm. A Nen or unordained Priest may inherit property of any sort, 
and an ordained one may take real or personal property which may 
have been bequeathed to him, but he will not be entitled to take the 
same as inheritance, where no bequest has been made. The con¬ 
verse likewise holds good, since a Priest may bequeath property to 
