Caste and Race in India c10.96

c10.96

By the thirteenth century the law of status had become relatively insignificant, and the law of tenure had risen into prominence. Accordingly the lawbooks have very little to say about the ranks of men and a great deal about tenures. "In the main all free men are equal before the law. Just because this is so, the line between the free and the unfree seems very sharp." And even this distinction is very apt to appear in practice as a difference in tenures. The clergy was gaining in importance. Every ordained clerk was subject to special rules of ecclesiastical and secular law. If he committed any of the crimes known as felonies, he could be tried only by an ecclesiastical court. A layman assaulting a clerk had to submit to a trial by the ecclesiastical as well as by the temporal tribunals.³