History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.631.4

v4.c63.631.4

131 lay down that if a debtor is unable to pay a debt then he should be made to do work suitable to his caste in the house of his creditor of the same or higher caste in order to gradually liquidate the debt (but without detriment to his own family) and a brāhmaṇa debtor should be made to pay by easy instalments⁷³⁷. Kauṭ. III. 11 provides⁷³⁸ that agriculturists and king's servants should not be seized (for debts) at the time when it is the season for them to work, nor a woman for her husband's debt unless she has promised to repay her husband's debt, but wives of cowherds and those who take a lease of lands for half produce may be arrested for non-payment by the husband. As compared with the harsh legislation against debtors in most ancient and medieval systems of jurisprudence the rules laid down by the smṛtis are very mild and humane⁷³⁹. If there were several creditors there was priority among them i. e. the earlier debt prevailed over the later one; a brāhmaṇa creditor however (whatever the date of his advance) was preferred to a kṣatriya or other creditor (Yāj. II. 41, Kāt. 514). Kauṭ.⁷⁴⁰ states that the debts owed to the Crown and a śrotriya take precedence over other debts and that unless the debtor is going to abscond several creditors should not simultaneously proceed against one debtor. Section 56 of the Bombay Land Revenue Code makes Government assessment a paramount charge on the land. But acc. to Kāt.