History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.696

v4.c63.696

Kāt. (506) provides that when a deposit, a balance of interest, purchase price (not paid though the article be delivered to vendee), or sale price (article sold being retained by vendor though price is paid) is not returned or paid when demand is made, it carries interest at 5 per cent (from the date of demand).⁷⁸⁰ Manu VIII. 191 (which is almost the same as Nār. V. 13) provides that where a bailee does not return the deposit though demanded or where a person without making a deposit claims it from a person, both are to be punished as a thief by the king and to be made to pay a fine equal in amount to the price of the bailed article (claimed). The deposit has to be taken back at the proper time by the depositor and the bailee has to avoid returning it at an improper time; if the latter returns at an improper time he should be made to pay a fine double of the value of the thing⁷⁸¹ (Kāt. 601).