History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.455

v4.c63.455

Though there is hardly any express smṛti text for the transfer of cases from one court or judge to another court or judge, in practice this must have been done, though rarely. In "Selections from Peshwa's Daftar" vol. 43 p. 108 there is a letter (of 12-8-1764 A. D.) written by the renowned minister Nana Phadnis to the Peshwa Madhavrao in which the former endeavours to persuade the latter to cancel his order for transfer of a case from the court of Rāmśāstri, famed for his impartiality and strict life, to another judge on the ground that one of the litigants was afraid that Rāmśāstri showed some partiality to the other litigant. Manu (VIII. 174-175) states that the king who decides the causes of people unjustly through greed is soon subjugated by his enemies, while the king who curbing his own temper and desires impartially decides causes according to the dictates of śāstra becomes of one mind with his subjects as rivers merge in the ocean. Bṛ. and Nār. I. 74 (S. B. E. vol. 33 p. 24) lay emphasis on both the secular and spiritual effects of doing even justice, saying that when the king gives decisions according to śāstra he spreads his fame in this world and secures Heaven⁶¹¹.