Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

goes out in a carriage or on horseback, when he CHAP. lies down to rest, when he sits, when he takes food,

' when he bathes, anoints his body with odorous

sences, and puts on all his habiliments.

221. After eating, let him divert himself with his women in the recesses of his palace; and, having ‹ idled a reasonable time, let him again think of publick affairs:

222. When he has dressed himself completely, let him once more review his armed men, with all their elephants, horses, and cars, their accoutrements, and 6 weapons.

[ocr errors]

223. At sunset, having performed his religious duty, let him privately, but well armed, in his interior apartment, hear what has been done by his reporters ' and emissaries :

6

[ocr errors]

224. Then, having dismissed those informers, and returning to another secret chamber, let him go, attended by women, to the inmost recess of his mansion for the sake of his evening meal;

[ocr errors]

225. There, having a second time eaten a little, and having been recreated with musical strains, let ' him take rest early, and rise refreshed from his labour.

226. THIS perfect system of rules let a king, free 'from illness, observe; but, when really afflicted with 'disease, he may intrust all these affairs to his of'ficers.'

VII.

CHAP. VIII.

On Judicature; and on Law, Private and Criminal.

CHAP.

VIII.

[ocr errors]

1. A KING, desirous of inspecting judicial proceedings, must enter his court of justice, composed and 'sedate in his demeanour, together with Bráhmens ' and counsellors, who know how to give him advice:

2. There, either sitting or standing, holding forth his right arm, without ostentation in his dress and ornaments, let him examine the affairs of litigant < parties.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

3. Each day let him decide causes, one after another, under the eighteen principal titles of law, by arguments and rules drawn from local usages, and 'from written codes:

6

4. Of those titles, the first is debt, on loans for consumption; the second, deposits, and loans for use; the third, sale without ownership; the fourth, concerns among partners; the fifth, subtraction of what has • been given;

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

5. The sixth, non-payment of wages or hire; the seventh, non-performance of agreements; the eighth, rescission of sale and purchase; the ninth, disputes • between master and servant;

[ocr errors]

6. The tenth, contests on boundaries; the eleventh

· and

6

6

[ocr errors]

VIII.

and twelfth, assault and slander; the thirteenth, lar- CHAP. the fourteenth, robbery and other violence; the fifteenth, adultery;

ceny ;

[ocr errors]

7. The sixteenth, altercation between man and wife, and their several duties; the seventeenth, the ' law of inheritance; the eighteenth, gaming with dice

[ocr errors]

and with living creatures: these eighteen titles of law

are settled as the ground-work of all judicial procedure in this world.

[ocr errors]

8. Among men, who contend for the most part on 'the titles just mentioned, and on a few miscellaneous heads not comprised under them, let the king decide causes justly, observing primeval law;

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

9. But, when he cannot inspect such affairs in per

son, let him appoint, for the inspection of them, a • Bráhmen of eminent learning :

[ocr errors]

10. Let that chief judge, accompanied by three assessors, fully consider all causes brought before 'the king; and, having entered the court-room, let him sit or stand, but not move backwards and forwards.

11. In whatever country three Bráhmens, particularly skilled in the three several Vedas, sit together with 'the very learned Bráhmen appointed by the king, the 'wise call that assembly the court of BRAHMA' wit four faces.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

12. WHEN justice, having been wounded by iniquity, approaches the court, and the judges extract not the dart, they also shall be wounded by it.

[ocr errors][merged small]
[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]

13. Either the court must not be entered by judges, parties, and witnesses, or law and truth must be openly declared that man is criminal, who either says nothing, or says what is false or unjust.

[ocr errors]

14. Where justice is destroyed by iniquity, and 'truth by false evidence, the judges, who basely look on without giving redress, shall also be destroyed.

15. Justice being destroyed, will destroy; being preserved, will preserve: it must never, therefore, 'be violated. "Beware, O judge, lest justice, being ' overturned, overturn both us and thyself."

16. The divine form of justice is represented as Vrisha, or a bull, and the gods consider him, who 'violates justice, as a Vrishala, or one who slays a bull: let the king, therefore, and his judges beware of violating justice.

17. The only firm friend, who follows men even 'after death, is justice: all others are extinct with 'the body.

[ocr errors]

18. Of injustice in decisions, one quarter falls on the party in the cause; one quarter, on his witnesses; one quarter, on all the judges; and one quarter on the king;

[ocr errors]

19. But where he, who deserves condemnation, shall be condemned, the king is guiltless, and the judges free from blaine: an evil deed shall recoil on him, 'who committed it.

20. A Bráh

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

20. A Bráhmen supported only by his class, and CHAP. one barely reputed a Bráhmen, but without per- VIII. forming any sacerdotal acts, may, at the king's plea

sure, interpret the law to him: so may the two mid'dle classes; but a Súdra, in no case whatever.

21. Of that king, who stupidly looks on, while a 'Súdra decides causes, the kingdom itself shall be embarrassed, like a cow in deep mire.

[ocr errors]

22. The whole territory, which is inhabited by a number of Súdras, overwhelmed with atheists, and deprived of Bráhmens, must speedily perish afflicted 'with dearth and disease.

6

23. LET the king or his judge, having seated himself on the bench, his body properly clothed and 'his mind attentively fixed, begin with doing reverence to the deities, who guard the world; and then 'let him enter on the trial of causes :

6

[ocr errors]

24. Understanding what is expedient or inexpedient, but considering only what is law or not law, 'let him examine all disputes between parties, in the order of their several classes.

25. By external signs let him see through the thoughts of men; by their voice, colour, countenance, 'limbs, eyes, and action:

6

26. From the limbs, the look, the motion of the

body, the gesticulation, the speech, the changes of the eye and the face, are discovered the internal workings of the mind.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]
« AnteriorContinuar »