[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924) › c45.2 # Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c45.2 Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c45.2 - **Language:** English ### [c45.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c45.2) § 325. Apart from the operation of the Coronation-Oath, the checks and limitations imposed by the Paura-Jānapada and the Council, there was the all-powerful Law, (the Common Law of the Hindus, which is declared again and again to be above the king and as the king of kings.¹ In Manu the king is made liable to be fined.² His powers and obligations are defined in the law-sūtras and law-books as part and parcel of the law) (in chapters on Constitutional Law, the \*Rājadharma\* or 'Laws for Kings'). Even in the palmiest days of Hindu Monarchy, neither in the Mānava-Dharmaśāstra nor in the Artha-śāstra, was the king placed above the law. He could make new laws according to the Artha-Sāstra, according to Manu he could not do so; but when he could make laws he passed only regulatory laws³ and not laws substantive or laws making him arbitrary. - [Previous: c44.93](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c44.93) - [Next: c45.3](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c45.3) - [Up: c45](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c45) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c45.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.jayaswal-1924.c45.2) · Pramāṇa