Administration and Social Life under Vijayanagar c8.62

c8.62

In the outlying parts of the empire, besides these regular courts of justice there were certain popular courts which were empowered to dispense justice in the cases that arose within their jurisdiction. For instance the village assemblies, the temple trustees and the caste elders had courts of their own. The differences in the local customs of the people which only the local people could understand seem to have necessitated the existence of such courts. It is only the local courts that can decide cases of a local character with a good knowledge of the customs of the litigants and the circumstances under which the cause of action for a suit could have arisen. Thus it is that in the Viijayanagar period there were village courts, presided over by the village Mahājanas, caste courts presided over by the caste elders, courts presided over by the temple trustees and courts of the guilds presided over by their leading men. These courts had all the judicial and magisterial authority of the judge of a regular court.