Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.57

c7.57

*Village court* The village court, or *gansabhava*, consisted of the principal and experienced men of the village who met at an *ambalam* or shady tree or other central place and gave doom on civil and criminal disputes relating to boundaries, debts, thefts, and quarrels; they were wont to aim at an amicable settlement, and directed their endeavours rather to compromising a case than to the infliction of punishment. It will be seen that, as in India, beneath the outward form of a despotic rule lay the democratic and communistic organization of the villages.