English
LAWS, HE Institutes of Manu are divided into twelve books, comprising 2685 couplets. The two longest books (V<II and IX) comprising 756 couplets are devoted to civil and criminal law. Much that we find in these ¥ laws is a repetition or a modification of the laws taid down by the ancient Satrakdras, : The king was the fountain of justice in ancient India,! and Manu directs that the king should with learned: Brahmans and experienced councillors enter the! Court of Justice and perform judicial work. Should however the king not do the work himself, he should . appoint learned Brahmans to perform it with the help of three assessors. “Where three Brahmans versed in the Vedas and the learned judge appointed by the king sit down, they call that the Court of Brahman” (VII, 1, 2, 9, 10, 11). The injunctions to speak the truth are as eae and ; strict as those provided in any age or country. “ Either the court must not be entered, or the truth must be spoken ;. a man who either says nothing (4. ¢., conceals facts) or speaks falsely becomes sinful.” (VIII, 13). 132 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. “ The witnesses being assembled in the court in the presence of the plaintiff and of the defendant, let the _ judge examine them, kindly exhorting them in the following manner :° “What ye know to have been mutually transacted in this matter between the two men before us, declare all that in accordance with the truth; for ye are wit- nesses in this cause. . “* A witness who speaks the truth in his evidence "gains after death. the most excellent regions of bliss and here below unsurpassable fame; such testimony is revered by Brahman himself. “He who gives false evidence is firmly bound by Varuna’s fetters, helpless, during one hundred exist- ences. Let men give true evidence. “*By truthfulness a witness is purified, through truthfulness his merit grows; truth must therefore be spoken. by witnesses of all castes. ¢The soul itself is the witness of the soul ; the soul ' ig the refuge of the soul; despise not thy own soul, the supreme witness of men. “The wicked indeed say in their hearts, Nobody sees us. But the gods distinctly see them,.and the male within their own breasts. “* The sky, the earth, the waters, the heart, the moon, the sun, the fire, Yama and the wind, the night, the two twilights and justice, know the conduct of all cor- poral beings.’” (VIII, 79 to 86.) CHAP. XII] . LAWS. 183 Still more solemn are the injunctions given further on i ; “Naked and shorn, tormented with hunger and thirst and deprived of sight, shall the man who gives false evidence, go with a potsherd to beg food at the door of his enemy.* “Headiong, in utter darkness shall the sinful man tumble into hell, who, being interrogated in a judicial enquiry, answers one question falsely.” (VIIT, 93, 94.) And it is provided in VIII, 123, that the king should banish all witnesses who give false evidence. A somewhat long list is given of persons who were not competent witnesses, and persons who were ex- empted from being witnesses, Interested persons, friends and enemies of parties, persons previously con- victed of perjury, and men tainted. with sin were not competent as witnesses ; while a king, a Srotriya and a student of the Veda, as well as mechanics and actors were exempted. But it is quite clear that these rules were not meant to be strictly applied, and we are told: further on that in cases of violence, theft, adultery, defamation, and assault, ze., in criminal cases, the rule about the competency of witnesses should not be Strictly applied. (VIII, 64, 65, 72.) Manu divides the whole body of substantive law un- der 18 heads, viz. (1) Debts, (2) Deposits, (3) Sale Sasi o8 gloat ko Se oe ee * See Vol. II, p- 45. ‘4 184 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK IV. without ownership, (4) Partnership, (5) Resumption of gifts, (6) Non-payment of wages, (7) Non-per- formance of agreements, (8) Rescission of sale and purchase, (9) Disputes between masters and servants,” (10) Disputes. about boundaries, (11) Assault, (12) Defamation, (13) Theft, (14) Robbery and violence, (15) Adultery, (16) Duties of husband and wife, (17) Inheritence, and (18) Gambling and betting. It will be seen that heads (11) to (15) and the last head relate. to criminal law, and the other heads relate to civil cases. .We will however follow the order in which Manu has arranged the subjects, and our remarks un- der each head will be necessarily exceedingly brief. '(1) Dents. Under this head Manu gives us a list _of the weights in use in his time. It begins of course with the theoretically smallest weight Trasarenu, the _mote which can be seen when the sun shines through a lattice. “$+ Trasareng ee £ Liksha (egg of a louse). 3 LikshA ee & Black mustard grain, 3 .Black mustard grain ©... 4 White mustard seed. 6 White mustard seed =... Barleycorn. ‘ 3 Barleycorn , ss &£ Krishnala or Raktika. 5 Krishnala’ es & Masha (bean). , 16 Masha . e © Suvarna. .4 . Suvarna - we FE Pala. to Pala es. 1 Dharana. 2 Krishnala of silver ese 1 M§shaka (silver), — 16 Mashaka ue 0) Dharana (silver). CHAP. XII] LAWS. 185 1 Karsha of copper e+ i Ka&arshapana or Pana. 10 Dharana (silver) vee 61 Satamana, 4 Suvarna ~ 1 Nishka (VIII, 132, to 137). With regard to interest on loans Manu quotes from Vasishtha’s Dharma-Sftra and says that “a money- lender may stipulate, as an increase of his capital, for the interest allowed by Vasishtha, and take morthly the eightieth part of a hundred.” This comes to 15 per cent. per annum, and was the interest on security ; but for unsecured loans the interest was 24 per cent, 36 per cent., 48, or 60 per cent. according as the borrower was a Brahman, a Kshatriya, a Vaisya or a Sidra. (VIU, 140 to 142). It is needless to say that this graduated seale is only theoretical,—a money-lender looked more to the competence of the borrower than to his caste. It appears that female slaves could be pledged like other property by persons borrowing money (VIII, 149). When the property pledged was one from which profit accrued (like land), no interest could be charged (VIII, 143). 60 per cent, was the very highest rate of interest which could be recovered (VIII, 152); but special rates were allowed in the case of merchants going on sea voyages, probably to cover the insurance on risks (VIII, 157). And lastly, we are told that contracts made under intoxication, or contrary to law and usage, or fraudulently, or by force, were void (VIII, 163 to 168). 186 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. (2) Deposirs. A person with whom an open or sealed deposit was made was compelled under the law to restore it, except when the deposit was stolen by thieves, washed away by water, or burnt down by fire. It would appear that fraudulent demands of things never deposited, and fraudulent refusal to return de- posits were by no means unknown, and in both cases the guilty persons were punished as thieves. (VIII, 191). (3) SALE WITHOUT OWNERSHIP. Such sales were to be considered null and void, and the seller, if a kins- man of the real owner, to be fined 600 panas,—and if not a kinsman, he was to be treated as a thief (VIII, _198, 199). . _.(4) PARTNERSHIP. It appears that disputes often arose among priests who performed a religious rite in common, and could not agree in sharing the fee or re- ward. Manu decides that the Adhvaryu should take a chariot, the Brahman a horse, the Hotri also a horse, and the Udgatri a cart. Andon this principle, says the legislator, should shares be allotted among all men working conjointly. The principle, which is some- what obscure, is the natural one that each man is to be paid according to the amount and nature of his work. (VIII, 209 to 211,) (5) RESUMPTION OF GIFTS. A gift made for a pious purpose could be revoked if the money was not ‘used for the purpose for which it was given. (VIII, 212.) CHAP. XILJ LAWS, = 4 187 (6) NON-PAYMENT OF WAGES. The law is very simple, vzz., that a workman was not to be paid unless he did his work completely according to agreement. (VIII, 217.) (7) NON-PERFORMANCE OF AGREEMENTS. The breaking of an agreement after swearing to it was very severely punished; the offender was to be banished, imprisoned and fined six nishkas of four suvarnas each, and one satamdana of silver. (VITI, 219, 220.): (8) RESCISSION OF SALE AND PuRCHASE. There is a most remarkable rule that a purchaser or a seller if he repented of his bargain might return or take back the chatel within ten days. Commentators udd that this rule applied only to things not easily Spent Ml like land, copper, &c. (VIII, 222). (9) DispUTES BETWEEN OWNERS OF CATTLE AND SERVANTS. Frequent cases probably arose between owners and keepers of cattle, and the law on the subject has been somewhat minutely laid down. The responsi- bility for the safety of the cattle was with the herdsman during the day, and with the owner during the night, 2.é., if the cattle were in his house by night; and the hired herdsman could in the absence of other wages take the milk of one cow inten. He was res- ponsible for all animals lost by his negligence. Thus, ifsheep and goats were attacked by a wolf, and the herdsman did not try to save them, he was responsible 188 BUDDHIST PERIOD. [BOOK Iv. for the loss. There was a healthy rule of keeping pas- ture lands round every village and every town, which has, unfortunately, disappeared in these days. On all sides of a village, lands to the width of 100 dhanus was to be kept for pasture, and thrice that space was to be reserved round towns, If cattle did any damage to any unfenced crops on that common, the herdsman was not responsible.