History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.131

v4.c63.131

The foregoing gradations of tribunals did not all exist at all times in ancient and medieval India. One thing is, however, quite clear. There was always a court of the Chief Justice appointed by the ruling power and final appeal lay to the ruler himself. But as regards inferior tribunals usage varied. For example, it appears from a decision of 1742 in which a ruling of king Shivaji about a Kulkarni *vatan* is set out that in Shivaji's time disputes could be taken before three different but inferior tribunals, viz. the *got* (i. e. the assembly of castemen) which is somewhat like the *kula* tribunal of the smṛtis, or before arbitrators hailing from a place other than where the dispute took place or before the officers, *balutedars* and chief men of several villages round about.³⁸⁵