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Agnipurana 252

English (machine translation) 252

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English

Contents

252.1

Agni said:
I shall proclaim judicial procedure, which grants discrimination between policy and impolicy.
It is spoken of as having four feet, four locations, and four means,

252.2

as having four benefits, fourfold pervasive, producing four fruits,
having eight limbs, eighteen titles, and likewise a hundred branches,

252.3

having three origins, two plaints, two entrances, and two outcomes:
moral duty, judicial procedure, custom, and royal decree.

252.4

Of the four feet of legal procedures, the latter overrides the former.
Among them, moral duty rests on truth, but judicial procedure rests on witnesses;

252.4.p1

[Footnote]

252.4.p2

1. "varmiṇaṃ tu" thus in manuscripts gha and ña. / [Page 407]

252.5

custom rests on the usage of men, while the decree rests on the king’s order.
Because it is to be effected by the [four] expedients such as conciliation, it is called fourfold in means.

252.6

Because it protects the four stages of life, it has four benefits.
[Because] it reaches each of its feet—the perpetrator, the witness,

252.7

the judges of truth, and the king—it is considered fourfold pervasive.
Because it brings about the four—

252.8

moral duty, wealth, fame, and social respectability—it is celebrated as producing four fruits.
The king, his officer, the assessors, the legal treatise, the accountant, the scribe,

252.9

gold, fire, and water—it is declared to have eight limbs.
Because it arises from three—from desire, from anger, and from greed—

252.10

it is celebrated as having three origins; this triad generates disputes.
Plaints are to be known as twofold: based on suspicion and based on facts.

252.11

Suspicion arises from association with six [types], and fact from viewing the sixfold [evidence] and the like.
Because it is connected with two sides, it is declared to have two entrances.

252.12

Of these two, the first statement is the claim, and immediately next is the reply.
Because it follows reality or pretext, it is declared to have two outcomes.

252.13

A debt to be paid or not to be paid, by whom, where, how, and what,
along with the law of giving and taking—this is known as non-repayment of debt.

252.14

Where one unhesitatingly deposits one’s property out of trust,
that is called “deposit” by the wise, a title of judicial procedure.

252.15

Where merchants and others conduct business in partnership,
that they know as “undertaking of joint venture,” a title of judicial procedure.

252.16

When someone, having given away property properly, wishes to take it back,

252.16.p1

[Page 408]

252.16_2

that is called “resumption of gift,” considered a title of dispute.

252.17

And whoever, having promised service, does not undertake it,
this is called “breach of contract of service,” a title of dispute.

252.18

The rules and actions regarding the payment and non-payment of servants’ wages:
that is considered the title of dispute named “non-payment of wages.”

252.19

When another's property, deposited, found after being lost, or stolen,
is sold in secret, that is to be known as “sale without ownership.”

252.20

When merchandise, having been sold for a price, is not handed over to the buyer,
that is called “non-delivery of sold goods,” a title of dispute.

252.21

When a buyer, having purchased merchandise for a price, does not think highly of it,
[or when] the purchaser, having bought goods for a price, considers it a bad purchase—

252.22

The established custom of heretics, merchants, and others is called agreement; / non-observance of agreement is remembered as that title of dispute.

252.23

Determinations regarding embankments, field boundaries, and tilled and untilled [lands], / wherever they occur regarding title to a field, that dispute arises from land.

252.24

Where the marital rule of women and men is declared, / that title of dispute is remembered as the union of woman and man.

252.25

The division of paternal property that is arranged by sons, / is declared by the wise as inheritance and acquisition, that title of dispute.

252.26

Whatever deed is done rashly by those arrogant with power, / that is declared violence, a title of dispute.

252.27

Speech that reviles country, caste, lineage, and so forth, or concerns physical defects, / having an offensive meaning, that is called verbal assault.

252.27.p1

[Page 409]

252.28

Hostility toward the limbs of another by means of hands, feet, weapons, and the like, / and by injuries through fire and so forth, is called physical assault.

252.29

With dice, leather straps, sticks, and so forth, gaming without animate beings is called [gambling]; / and with betting on five types of play and birds, it is designated betting on live animals.

252.30

Miscellaneous legal proceedings are moreover to be known as having no single ground; / [such as] defying the command of kings, as well as failing to perform their work.

252.31

Judicial procedure has eighteen titles, and their subdivisions number one hundred; / owing to the variety of human transactions, it is said to have a hundred branches.

252.32

The king, free from anger, should look into legal proceedings alongside learned Brāhmaṇas; / the jurors should treat enemy and friend alike, be free from greed, and know the Vedas.

252.33

If unable to examine due to urgent affairs, he should appoint a Brāhmaṇa alongside the jurors; / but those acting contrary to the Smṛtis out of passion, greed, or fear,

252.34

such jurors are each to be punished individually with twice the fine of the dispute. / One who is injured by others in a manner contrary to Smṛti and custom,

252.35

and informs the king—that indeed is a title of judicial procedure. / It should be written down before the defendant just as stated by the plaintiff,

252.36

marked with year, month, fortnight, day, name, caste, and so forth. / The answer to what was heard should be written down in the presence of the original complainant.

252.37

The eager plaintiff should immediately record the means of proving the matter asserted; / if that is proven, he obtains success; otherwise, the reverse [occurs].

252.38

This judicial procedure is shown as having four feet in legal disputes:

252.38.p1

[Footnote]

252.38.p2

1 The reading apaśyatā is not correct.
[Page 410]

252.38_2

Without answering the complaint, he must not file a counter-suit against him;

252.39

and he should not alter an accused person who has been released by another; / but he may make a counter-accusation in cases of affray and violent crimes.

252.40

A surety competent in determining the desired result should be taken from both sides; / if a denial is proven [false], he should pay that sum, and the same amount to the king.

252.41

Because of a false complaint, one should take twice the sum from the complaint. / In violent crimes, theft, assault, capital accusations, and regarding women,

252.42

he should deliberate immediately; elsewhere the time is remembered according to desire. / He who shifts from place to place and licks the corners of his mouth,

252.43

whose forehead sweats, and whose face changes color; / he who alters from his natural state in mind, speech, body, and actions,

252.44

in accusation or in testimony, is proclaimed as corrupt in speech. / He who independently establishes a doubtful claim, or who flees,

252.45

and who, when summoned, says nothing—he is considered liable to punishment. / When there are witnesses on both sides, the witnesses of the plaintiff [are heard];

252.46

if the plaintiff's claim is refuted, those of the defendant become [heard]. / If the dispute involves a corporate body, he should make the defeated party pay there.

252.47

Setting aside deceit by means of an envoy, the king should conduct legal proceedings / regarding the stake, the residence, and the wealth of the creditor.

252.48

Even a real claim that is abandoned is lost through judicial procedure. / If one denies the entirety, but one part is proven,

252.49

the king must make him pay all claims, but a claim not declared should not be accepted. / When two Smṛtis conflict, reasoned equity is stronger according to legal practice.

252.49.p1

[Page 411]

252.50

For Dharmaśāstra is stronger than Arthaśāstra; such is the rule. / Means of proof are declared to be documents, possession, and witnesses.

252.51

In the absence of any of these, one of the divine ordeals is prescribed. / In all disputes, the later transaction is stronger;

252.52

but in pledges, gifts, and purchases, the earlier is stronger. / To one who sees and does not speak, the loss of land takes twenty years,

252.53

when it is enjoyed by another, but ten years for movable property; / except for pledges, boundary disputes, open deposits, and property of idiots and minors,

252.54

and likewise sealed deposits, and property of the king, women, and learned Vedic scholars. / The king should cause the appropriator of pledges and the like to pay the property to the creditor,

252.55

and a fine equal to it to the king, or according to his capacity. / Even a title of acquisition is superior, except without possession descended through previous succession.

252.56

Even a title of acquisition has no force where there is not even a slight possession; / enjoyment attains validity through a purified title.

252.57

Enjoyment whose title is unpurified does not attain validity. / He by whom a title was made, when accused, must vindicate it;

252.58

not his son, nor his grandson; there possession is weightier. / If he who was accused should die, [his heir] should clear it from his estate;

252.59

possession separated from title is not proof there. / He should annul legal transactions brought about by force or fraudulent conditions,

252.60

and also those executed by women, at night, inside a house, outside, by enemies, / or undertaken by the intoxicated, insane, distressed, addicted, minors, or frightened.

252.60.p1

[Footnote]

252.60.p2

1 For sthitiḥ, manuscripts gha and ña read smṛtiḥ.
[Page 412]

252.61

And a legal transaction made by an unauthorized person does not succeed. / The king should return lost property to the owner after showing it for a hundred days;

252.62

if he does not prove it by marks, he should pay an amount equal to it. / But stolen goods should be returned by the king to the district.

252.63

The interest with a pledge should be an eightieth part month by month; / otherwise, according to caste order, two, three, four, or five percent.

252.64

The increase for livestock and females is an offspring; for liquids it is eightfold at most; / and for textiles, grain, and gold, it is fourfold, threefold, and twofold respectively.

252.65

From another village, it is ten percent; and from sea-voyages, twenty; / or all castes may pay the interest agreed upon by themselves in all transactions.

252.66

One who recovers an agreed debt without coercion is not to be reprimanded by the king; / if he who is being pursued goes to the king, he is to be fined and made to pay that wealth.

252.66.p1

Thus ends the two hundred and fifty-second chapter, titled Judicial Procedure, in the Great Agni Purāṇa.

252.66.p3

Now begins the two hundred and fifty-third chapter:

252.66.p4

The exposition of judicial procedure.

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