Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c10.23

c10.23

According to Vi. 3,12 ff., the village headman, if he cannot get the better of the criminals in his village, should apply to the chief of the district and the governor, and it may be thus assumed that this took place quite frequently. The oppression of the people by the Kāyasthas, the rivals of the Brahmans, is referred to, for instance, in Y. 1,335 and Rājatar. 4, 351 f., 621 ff., 5,439 etc. The particular jurisdiction of corporations of every kind is recognised in the fullest measure even in the Smṛtis, cf. § 1. The right of making laws for their corporations and composing disputes has been given to farmers, craftsmen, cowherds, money-lenders, members of a sect, robbers, actors, artisans etc. It is particularly recommended to the king to recognise and support the arrangements of and punishments inflicted by the chiefs of a family, of a guild or of a corporation; only when a dispute breaks out between the chiefs and their subordinates the king shall interfere; cases of grave crimes (*sāhasa*) are however exclusively reserved for the king. For forest-dwellers the court shall be held in the forest, for warriors in the camp and for merchants in the caravan (Gaut. 11, 20—22 ; Bṛh. 1, 25—28 ; 17, 17—20 etc.). Successive appeals are also preferred by the clans or families (*kula*) to the guilds or corporations (*śreṇi*), e. g. of horse-dealers, betel-sellers, weavers, shoemakers (Mit. on Y. 2, 30) and by these to the local committees or courts (*gaṇa, pūga*); then appeal may be made to king's judge and also to the king in person (Bṛh. 1, 29—32). The whole title of law named "violation of agreements" (M. 8, 218—221 ; Nār. 10 ; Bṛh. 17), which has been often misunderstood, intends only to place the rights of corporations, particularly of religious ones, under a very great measure of state protection.