Mediaeval Sinhalese Art c7.7

c7.7

The law’s delays were as proverbial as in England. One who appealed to the great court or to the King might get immediate redress or might have to remain in Kandy for months or years. Recourse was often had to swearing by ordeal of hot oil or red-hot iron.* Litigation is now a much greater burden on the people than it was then, when touting proctors had not been invented. It must be taken into consideration that the people were naturally honest and law-abiding, and that even to-day the crime so prevalent in the low-country districts long subjected to European influence is much less in the interior; a more honest and trustworthy man than the unspoilt Kandyan villager it would be hard to find. In illustration of his character I quote from a Government Agent’s report of 1870, the following: