Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c45.15

c45.15

In the court-scene of the Mṛichchhakaṭika, which I regard as the product of the 3rd century A.C., the jury is mentioned.² The function of the jury we find defined in the Śukra-Nīti as well as in Bṛihaspati and Nārada³; it deserves notice. There the jury is to be composed of 7, 5, or 3⁴, and they are defined as "the examiners of the cause," while the judge, their president, is the "speaker" and the king as carrying out the punishment. In the Mṛichchhakaṭika the judge says, 'We are authority in deciding the guilt or otherwise. The