Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c10.16

c10.16

The law-courts may again be of two kinds : standing (pratiṣṭhita) courts which sit in a city or in a village and ambulant (apratiṣṭhita) courts which have no fixed seat (Bṛh. 1, 2 f.) ; they can however signify mere private arbitration courts. The headman of the village (grāmaṇi, grāmādhipa, grāmapati), whose post was hereditary, acts as the village judge. According to Vyāsa the competence of the lower courts is restricted merely to administering reproofs, for the infliction of punishments involving confiscation of property and corporeal punishments is a privilege reserved for the king. According to Bṛh. 1, 6, generally the king alone shall dictate the punishments. Yet the pursuit of the culprit in the villages which was a principal duty of the village headman (Vi. 3,11, etc.) contained in any case in itself a great measure of the power of punishment. The unjust judge shall pay a fine of double the amount of the disputed sum (Y. 2, 4, 305 ; Nār. I, 1, 66) ; they can however be punished still more severely, particularly by the confiscation of property and banishment (Vi. 5, 180 ; M. 9, 231, 234 ; Bṛh. 22, 10 etc.).