Administrative System of the Marathas c19.s2.3

c19.s2.3

When such efforts for amicable settlement or settlement by arbitration failed, the parties had recourse to the regular instruments of justice. The judicial officer in the village was the Patil as usual, above him the Mamlatdar and the Sarsubhedar and above all the Peshwa or his minister as the representative of the theoretical head of the state, the Raja of Satara, who was like the King of England, the fountain of justice and honour. In towns, learned judges, well-versed in the Shastras, were appointed for judicial duties and were called Nyayadhish. Thus we see the Maratha statesmen were not acquainted with the theory of the separation of the Executive, the Legislative, and the Judiciary. The Peshwa and his minister, the Sarsubhedar the Mamlatdar and the Patil in the village exercised all these widely different functions. The Nyayadhish was a Judiciary pure and simple.