Pre-Buddhist India: A Political, Administrative, Economic, Social and Geographical Survey of Ancient India Based Mainly on the Jataka Stories c4.t6.57

c4.t6.57

The term used for a law suit is 'atto' and the suitors are called atta-kārakās. Ordinarily there was a great bustle (uparavo) among the waiting suitors in the precincts of the royal palace where, presumably, the Court of Law was situated. This is well inferred from the following description of the Court appearing in the Rājovāda Jātaka² which, presenting as it does an exceptional case, proves negatively the ordinary course of affairs: "And as he ruled thus justly, his ministers on their part were also just; thus while all things were justly done, there was none who brought a false suit into court. Presently all the bustle of suitors ceased within the precincts of the palace; all day long the ministers might sit on the bench, and go away without seeing a single suitor. The Courts were deserted."