A History of Hindu Political Theories from the Earliest Times to the End of the First Quarter of the Seventeenth Century A.D. c7.44

c7.44

then, succeeds the *wer* or money payment as compensation for the injury inflicted. .... But two points in connection with the system of pecuniary compositions require careful attention. To begin with, it seems to have been a purely voluntary system. .... In the second place, it was always admitted that there were some offences for which the money payment could not atone. ........ These are our two starting points for the history of State justice. The king comes to the help of the Clan by compelling the avenger to accept the *wer*, and by compelling the offender to pay it. He likewise takes upon himself the punishment of bootless crimes."¹