[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Polity, law and society](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity) › [Administrative System of the Marathas](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923) › c19.s4.1 # Administrative System of the Marathas c19.s4.1 Administrative System of the Marathas c19.s4.1 - **Language:** English ### [c19.s4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c19.s4.1) Let us now enquire what fees the Peshwa's government usually demanded from suitors in civil cases. In suits relating to money bonds, the usual fee was twenty-five per cent. of the money realised, sometimes a lower fee, that of twenty per cent. was charged. The creditors however had very seldom to go to the law courts of the land for realisation of the money lent. The custom of the country allowed them to practise dunning, the most extreme form of which was \*dharna\*, which debarred the debtor from taking any food or drink before satisfying his creditor. Dharna could be practised against men of the highest rank in the country, the Peshwa not excepted. Daulat Rao Sindhia was subjected to it by some Muhammadan soldiers, as Broughton tells us.²¹ Government interference for realisation of loan could therefore be necessary only in exceptional cases, and a fee of twenty-five or twenty per cent. cannot be regarded as too high. These cases were sometimes referred to a Panchayet. "Fair bankrupts," says Elphinstone, "seem to have been let off pretty nearly as with us. Fraudulent ones were made to pay when discovered, notwithstanding previous release."²² In partition suits however, property up to the value of Rs. 300 was exempt from any charge, property above that value was charged at the rate of ten per cent. Some estimates may also be formed of the customary laws from the summaries of the civil suits preserved in the Peshwa's Daftar. In inheritance cases we find the eldest son could not be altogether disinherited. So far as watans were concerned, the right of seniority belonged to a son of a lagna marriage, although younger than a son of pat (widow remarriage). A mother could claim maintenance from her son and also money for religious performances as well as for going on a pilgrimage. Although the property of a man without any issue belonged by law to the government, still consideration was made for his widows. Brothers were sometimes allowed to inherit the property of a childless brother on the payment of an inheritance tax, and adoption of a child always required a formal sanction of the government, which ordinarily could be secured without any difficulty. The property of a foreigner dying within the Peshwa's territory was carefully preserved, and investigation was made about the legal heirs of the dead. When they could not be found, the property of the dead man was spent in charity for the welfare of his soul in the other world. In disputes about watans, the disputed property was placed under attachment to force quick settlement. - [Previous: c19.s3.t6.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c19.s3.t6.22) - [Next: c19.s4.2](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c19.s4.2) - [Up: c19.s4](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c19.s4) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c19.s4.1](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.polity.sen-1923.c19.s4.1) · Pramāṇa