Public Administration in Ancient India c14.1

c14.1

LAW in Ancient India was regarded as higher than society, and it was held the duty of society to conform to Law. Strictly speaking, therefore, there could be no such thing as legislation in the early ages. In fact, if the term ‘law’ be understood in the limited sense of a command of the sovereign authority, there was no law at all. And yet there were rules of conduct which were binding on all, and violations of which were visited with punishments of some kind or other. Law (Dharma), as understood in the early times, was the entire body of rules by which society was believed to be held together, and which was supposed to conduce to the well-being of the people. Such rules fell into two classes, namely, (1) moral and religious rules, and (2) positive laws. In Ancient India, as in other early societies, these two classes were dealt with together; but though no sharp line of division was drawn between the two, the distinction was more or less clearly understood. People were cognisant of the fact that the sanction for the first kind of rules was religious or social, and that for the second, political; and the recognition of this distinction became more and more clear as society advanced in civilisation. In the course of time a body of rules composing secular law (Vyavahāra) was evolved, which soon acquired as great an authority as the Sacred Law.¹