Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c10.28

c10.28

Hereditary or elected chiefs (mahattama, mukhya) represented the official organs of the corporations and they were thus entrusted with the whole jurisdiction and they are said to have been assisted by committees of three or five persons (Bṛh. 17, 9 f.); mentions are made also of arbitrators about the election of whom both the parties had to be unanimous (*ubhayasammata*) particularly on the occasion of the frequent boundary disputes (Bṛh. 19, 11). Also the penances of the spiritual law are dictated by such permanent or specially elected judges. In later works on Prāyaścitta the Pariṣad, composed of three to ten learned Brahmans, eventually only of one Brahman, which is to affirm what is right in doubtful cases (Gaut. 28, 48 ff. etc.) is called the proper court for fixing due penances in every case.