Hindu Polity: A Constitutional History of India in Hindu Times c45.30

c45.30

§ 329. In theory the king always presided over the court, whether he was present there or not.¹ The decree given under the seal of the court was called a document given by the king. When a man was summoned to attend the court it was supposed that the king called him. The language of the law-books invariably employs the word ‘king’ as doing all matters of legal execution, and the commentators explain that the ‘king’ there means only the officer.