Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c7.441

c7.441

It is well-known that the island of Java once received along with Indian culture also Indian law and that from that time onwards up to this day it is maintained as the prevailing system of law in the neighbouring island of Bali⁴ The laws of ancient Java and Bali, about which already in 1849 Friederich gave interesting informations⁵, may best be judged from the ancient Javanese law-book edited, translated and compared with Indian sources by Jonker¹. Here too we meet with the tradition of Prabu Manu the originator of the system of law², and of a Mānava-dharmaśāstra³, and here too there are in fact parallel passages not only to M. but also to Y., Nār., Bṛh. and other later authors⁴. Agreement with Indian sources is to some extent less accurate than in the case of Burmese law-books, so that in the doctrine of the 12 sons here we find besides the Indian element also a powerful and independently developed native element. "It is clear" says Kern "that in Java the redaction was made by experts in law, in Burma it was done by the monks"⁵. That the reception of Indian law in Java must have been accomplished already in the 10. century A. D., is proved by a copper-plate discovered there bearing the date Śakavarṣātita 849 which contains a verdict of the court (jayapattra) composed quite in agreement with the rules laid down by later Indian jurists such as Bṛh.⁶.