A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

That's French for "the ancient system," as in the ancient system of feudal privileges and the exercise of autocratic power over the peasants. The ancien regime never goes away, like vampires and dinosaur bones they are always hidden in the earth, exercising a mysterious influence. It is not paranoia to believe that the elites scheme against the common man. Inform yourself about their schemes here.

Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Sun Apr 18, 2021 7:26 am

Part 2 of 2

SECT. IX. Of the Modes of Examining Witnesses.

He who means to question a Witness, having bathed himself, shall put his Questions in the Tenth Ghurrie of the Day: The Witness also, having bathed himself, and turned his Face towards the Eastern or Northern Quarter, shall deliver his Evidence: The Examiner shall ask the Witness (if a Bramin) with Civility and Respect, saying, "Explain to me what Knowledge you have of this Affair;" and to a Chehteree he shall say, "What do you know of this Affair? speak the Truth;" and to a Bice he shall say, "What do you know of this Affair? if you give false Evidence, whatever Crime there is in dealing Kine, or Gold, or Paddee, or Wheat, or Gram, or Barley, or Milliard, and such Kind of Grain, shall be accounted to you;" and to a Sooder he shall say, "What do you know of this Affair? speak; if your Evidence is false, whatever Crime is the greatest in the World, that Crime shall be accounted to you."  

He who means to take an Evidence shall separately explain the religious Merit of faithful Testimony, and the horrid Nature of the Crime of false Witness; as that the Merit of a true Deposition is greater than the Merit of a Thousand Ashummeed Juggs: (An Ashummeed Jugg [Ashvamedha] is when a Person, having commenced a Jugg, writes various Articles upon a Scroll of Paper, on a Horse's Neck, and dismisses the Horse, sending along with the Horse a stout and valiant Person, equipped with the best Necessaries and Accoutrements to accompany the Horse Day and Night, whithersoever he shall choose to go; and if any Creature, cither Man, Genius, or Dragon, should seize the Horse, that Man opposes such Attempt, and, having gained the Victory upon a Battle, again gives the Horse his Freedom: If any One in this World, or in Heaven, or beneath the Earth, would seize this Horse, and the Horse of himself comes to the House of the Celebrator of the Jugg, upon killing that Horse, he must throw the Flesh of him upon the Fire of the Juk, and utter the Prayers of his Deity; such a Jugg is called a Jugg Ashummeed, and the Merit of it as a religious Work is infinite.) And the Crime of false Witness is the same as if a Man had murdered a Bramin, or had deprived a Woman of Life, or had assassinated his Friend; or of One, who, in return for Good, gives Evil; or who, having learned a Science or Profession, gives his Tutor no Reward; or of a Woman, who, having neither Son, nor Grandson, nor Grandson's Son, after her Husband's Death, celebrates not the Seradeh to his Memory; or of a Son, who celebrates not the Seradeh for his Father and Mother; or of him, who, having received a Kindness, is always mentioning the Faults of his Benefactor, and conceals the Benefit received; or of him, who forsakes any One of the Four Isrum, or Modes of Life: (The Four Isrum are a Berhemcharry, a Sinassee, a Ban Perust, and a Householder; of these the Berhemcharry, the Sinnassee, and the Ban Perust, have already been explained in the Chapter of Daye Bhag, and a Householder is he who hath a Wife, a Son, a Brother, and Grandson; or, if he hath not these, who nevertheless keeps a House.) Whatever Crime is incurred in such Actions as above-mentioned, the same Crime is incurred by giving false Witness.

In an Affair concerning Kine, if any Person gives false Evidence, whatever Guilt is incurred by the Murder of Ten Persons, he becomes obnoxious to the Punishment due to such a Crime, besides the Guilt already explained.

In an Affair concerning a Horse, if any Person gives false Evidence, Guilt is as great as the Guilt of murdering One Hundred Persons.

Besides Kine and Horses, in an Affair concerning any other Animal that hath Hair upon its Tail, if any Person gives false Evidence, whatever Guilt is incurred by the Murder of Five Persons, that Guilt shall be imputed to him.

In an Affair, concerning a Man, if any Person gives false Evidence, whatever Guilt is incurred by the Murder of One Thousand Persons, he becomes amenable to the Punishment of such Guilt.

In an Affair concerning Gold, if any Person gives false Evidence, whatever Guilt would be incurred in murdering all the Men who have been born, or who shall be born in the World, shall be imputed to him.

In an Affair concerning Land, if any Person gives false Evidence, whatever Guilt would be incurred by the Murder of all living Creatures in the World, he shall be liable to the Punishment due to such Guilt.


Wherever several Persons are Witnesses to One Point, the Arbitrators, at the Time of examining the Witnesses, shall question such Witnesses in a Body together, and shall not examine them separately, these Witnesses also shall all deliver in their Evidence, at once, jointly.  

Wherever several Persons are Witnesses separately, and to different Points, the Arbitrators, at the Time of examining the Evidences, shall not question any One of these Witnesses in the Presence of the rest; the Witnesses also shall each of them separately give their own Evidence, out of hearing of the rest.

When a Witness is to give his Evidence, he shall testify, without having any Scruple of Doubt remaining in his Mind.

When a Man is appointed a Witness, if he will not give his Evidence, whatever Guilt is incurred by false Evidence, the same Guilt shall be imputed to him; and the Magistrate shall exact from him the same Fine as from a Person guilty of false Witness.

If the Plaintiff or Defendant in a Cause have appointed any Person a Witness, and afterwards should say to him, "Whatever you know of our Case, tell it to another Person," and the Witness upon this relates the Affair to another, afterwards, when the Arbitrator, having summoned this Witness, proceeds to Examination, if that Witness should say, "I know not this Affair," in that Case, whatever is the Value of the Article in Dispute, he shall pay a Fine of Eight Times as much: If a Bramin, being appointed a Witness, should be guilty of this Practice, a Fine shall not be exacted from him, but he shall be banished [from] the Kingdom.

Wherever a true Evidence would deprive a Man of his Life, in that Case, if a false Testimony would be the Preservation of his Life, it is allowable to give such false Testimony; and for Ablution of the Guilt of false Witness, he shall perform the Poojeeh Sereshtee; but to him who has murdered a Bramin, or slain a Cow, or who, being of the Bramin Tribe, has drunken Wine, or has committed any of these particularly flagrant Offences, it is not allowed to give false Witness in Preservation of his Life.

If a Marriage for any Person may be obtained by false Witness, such Falsehood may be told
; as upon the Day of celebrating the Marriage, if on that Day the Marriage is liable to be incomplete, for want of giving certain Articles, at that Time, if Three or Four Falsehoods be asserted, it does not signify; or if, on the Day of Marriage, a Man promises to give his Daughter many Ornaments, and is not able to give them, such Falsehoods as these, if told to promote a Marriage, are allowable.

If a Man, by the Impulse of Lust, tells Lies to a Woman, or if his own Life would otherwise be lost, or all the Goods of his House spoiled, or if it is for the Benefit of a Bramin, in such Affairs, Falsehood is allowable.

In a Case where there are many Witnesses, if, at the Time of Examination, most of them give their Evidence for One Person, and One or Two of them depose in Favour of the other Party, the Evidence of the Majority is approved; if of the whole Number of Witnesses Half depose for One Side, and Half for the other, then the Evidence of any One of the Witnesses who is a Man of Science shall be credited; if they are all Men of Science, the Evidence of him among them who is the farthert advanced in Knowledge is approved; if the Knowledge of all of them is equal, the Testimony of him among them who regulates his whole Conduct by the Beids is approved; if they all regulate their Conduct by the Beids, and the Evidence of such Men is contradictory, then such a Suit as this cannot be decided by the Testimony of Witnesses; but the Purrikeh [Parikyah] must be performed.

THE OATH AND ITS ACCESSORIES...

So far, indeed, were the Barbarians from reposing implicit confidence in the integrity of their fellows that their earliest records show how fully they shared in the common desire of mankind to place the oath under the most efficient guarantees that ingenuity could devise. In its most simple form the oath is an invocation of some deity or supernatural power to grant or withhold his favor in accordance with the veracity of the swearer, but at all times men have sought to render this more impressive by interposing material objects dear to the individual, which were understood to be offered as pledges or victims for the divine wrath. Thus, among the Hindus, the ancient Manava Dharma Sastra prescribes the oath as satisfactory evidence in default of evidence, but requires it to be duly reinforced—

“In cases where there is no testimony, and the judge cannot decide upon which side lies the truth, he can determine it fully by administering the oath.

“Oaths were sworn by the seven Maharshis, and by the gods, to make doubtful things manifest, and even Vasishtha sware an oath before the king Sudama, son of Piyavana, when Viswamitra accused him of eating a hundred children.

“Let not the wise man take an oath in vain, even for things of little weight; for he who takes an oath in vain is lost in this world and the next.

“Let the judge swear the Brahman by his truth; the Kshatriya by his horses, his elephants, or his arms; the Vaisya by his cows, his corn, and his gold; the Sudra by all crimes.”


And in the more detailed code of Vishnu there is an exceedingly complicated system of objects to be sworn upon, varying with the amount at stake and the caste of the swearer...

The black Australioid Khonds ... Not only do they constantly employ the ordeals of boiling water and oil and red-hot iron, which they may have borrowed from their Hindu neighbors, but they administer judicial oaths with imprecations that are decidedly of the character of ordeals. Thus an oath is taken on a tiger’s skin with an invocation of destruction from that animal upon the perjured; or upon a lizard’s skin whose scaliness is invited upon him who may forswear himself; or over an ant-hill with an imprecation that he who swears falsely may be reduced to powder....

The hill-tribes of Rajmahal, who represent another of the pre-Aryan Indian races, furnish us with further developments of the same principle, in details bearing a marked analogy to those practised by the most diverse families of mankind. Thus the process by which the guilt of Achan was discovered (Joshua vii. 16-18), and that by which, as we shall see hereafter, Master Anselm proposed to identify the thief of the sacred vessels of Laon, are not unlike the ceremony used when a district is ravaged by tigers or by pestilence, which is regarded as a retribution for sin committed by some inhabitant, whose identification thus becomes all-important for the salvation of the rest. In the process known as Satane a person sits on the ground with a branch of the bale tree planted opposite to him; rice is handed to him to eat in the name of each village of the district, and when the one is named in which the culprit lives, he is expected to throw up the rice. Having thus determined the village, the same plan is adopted with respect to each family in it, and when the family is identified, the individual is discovered in the same manner. Another form, named Cherreen, is not unlike the ordeal of the Bible and key, not as yet obsolete among Christians. A stone is suspended by a string, and the names of the villages, families, and individuals are repeated, when it indicates the guilty by its vibrations. Thieves are also discovered and convicted by these processes, and by another mode known as Gobereen, which is a modification of the hot-water ordeal. A mixture of cow-dung, oil, and water is made to boil briskly in a pot. A ring is thrown in, and each suspected person, after invoking the Supreme Deity, is required to find and bring out the ring with his hand—the belief being that the innocent will not be burned, while the guilty will not be able to put his hand into the pot, as the mixture will rise up to meet it....

It is among the Aryan races that we are to look for the fullest and most enduring evidences of the beliefs which developed into the ordeal, and gave it currency from the rudest stages of nomadic existence to periods of polished and enlightened civilization. In the perfect dualism of Mazdeism, the Yazatas, or angels of the good creation, were always prompt to help the pure and innocent against the machinations of Ahriman and his Daevas, their power to do so depending only upon the righteousness of him who needed assistance. The man unjustly accused, or seeking to obtain or defend his right, could therefore safely trust that any trial to which he might be subjected would be harmless, however much the ordinary course of nature would have to be turned aside in order to save him. Thus Zoroaster could readily explain and maintain the ancestral practices, the common use of which by both the Zend and the Hindu branches of the Aryan family points to their origin at a period anterior to the separation between the kindred tribes. In the fragments of the Avesta, which embody what remains to us of the prehistoric law of the ancient Persians, we find a reference to the ordeal of boiling water, showing it to be an accepted legal process, with a definite penalty affixed for him who failed to exculpate himself in it:—

“Creator! he who knowingly approaches the hot, golden, boiling water, as if speaking truth, but lying to Mithra;

“What is the punishment for it?


“Then answered Ahura-Mazda: Let them strike seven hundred blows with the horse-goad, seven hundred with the craosho-charana!"

The fire ordeal is also seen in the legend which relates how Sudabeh, the favorite wife of Kai Kaoos, became enamored of his son Siawush, and on his rejecting her advances accused him to his father of endeavoring to seduce her. Kai Kaoos sent out a hundred caravans of dromedaries to gather wood, of which two immense piles were built separated by a passage barely admitting a horseman. These were soaked with naphtha and fired in a hundred places, when Siawush mounted on a charger, after an invocation to God, rode through the flames and emerged without even a discoloration of his garments. Sudabeh was sentenced to death, but pardoned on the intercession of Siawush. Another reminiscence of the same ordeal may be traced among the crowd of fantastic legends with which the career of Zoroaster is embroidered. It is related that when an infant he was seized by the magicians, who foresaw their future destruction at his hands, and was thrown upon a huge pile composed of wood, naphtha, and sulphur, which was forthwith kindled; but, through the interposition of Hormazd, “the devouring flame became as water, in the midst of which slumbered the pearl of Zardusht.”

In Pehlvi the judicial ordeal was known as var nirang, and thirty-three doubtful conjunctures are enumerated as requiring its employment. The ordinary form was the pouring of molten metal on the body of the patient, though sometimes the heated substance was applied to the tongue or the feet. Of the former, a celebrated instance, curiously anticipating the story told, as we shall see hereafter, of Bishop Poppo when he converted the Danes, is related as a leading incident in the reformation of the Mazdiasni religion when the Persian monarchy was reconstructed by the Sassanids. Eighty thousand heretics remained obstinate until Sapor I. was so urgent with his Magi to procure their conversion that the Dustoor Adurabad offered to prove the truth of orthodoxy by suffering eighteen pounds of melted copper to be poured over his naked shoulders if the dissenters would agree to yield their convictions in case he escaped unhurt. The bargain was agreed to, and carried out with the happiest results. Not a hair of the Dustoor’s body was singed by the rivulets of fiery metal, and the recusants were gathered into the fold.

Among the Hindu Aryans so thoroughly was the divine interposition expected in the affairs of daily life that, according to the Manava Dharma Sastra, if a witness, within a week after giving testimony, should suffer from sickness, or undergo loss by fire, or the death of a relation, it was held to be a manifestation of the divine wrath, drawn down upon him in punishment for perjured testimony. There was, therefore, no inducement to abandon the resource of the ordeal, of which traces may be found as far back as the Vedic period, in the forms both of fire and red-hot iron. In the Ramayana, when Rama, the incarnate Vishnu, distrusts the purity of his beloved Sita, whom he has rescued from the Rakshasha Ravana, she vindicates herself by mounting a blazing pyre, from which she is rescued unhurt by the fire-god, Agni, himself. Manu declares, in the most absolute fashion—

“Let the judge cause him who is under trial to take fire in his hand, or to plunge in water, or to touch separately the heads of his children and of his wife.

“Whom the flame burneth not, whom the water rejects not from its depths, whom misfortune overtakes not speedily, his oath shall be received as undoubted.

“When the Rishi Vatsa was accused by his young half-brother, who stigmatized him as the son of a Sudra, he swore that it was false, and, passing through fire, proved the truth of his oath; the fire, which attests the guilt and the innocence of all men, harmed not a hair of his head, for he spake the truth.”


And the practical application of the rule is seen in the injunction on both plaintiff and defendant to undergo the ordeal, even in certain civil cases.

In the more developed code of Vishnu we find the ordeal system exceedingly complicated, pervading every branch of jurisprudence and only limited by the amount at stake or the character or caste of the defendant. Yet Hindu antiquity is so remote and there have been so many schools of teachers that the custom apparently did not prevail in all times and places. One of the most ancient books of law is the Dharmasastra of Gautama, who says nothing of ordeals and relies for proof wholly on the evidence of witnesses, adding the very relaxed rule that “No guilt is incurred in giving false evidence in case the life of a man depends thereon.”

This, however, is exceptional, and the ordeal maintained its existence from the most ancient periods to modern times. Under the name of purrikeh, or parikyah, it is prescribed in the native Hindu law in all cases, civil and criminal, which cannot be determined by written or oral evidence, or by oath, and is sometimes incumbent upon the plaintiff and sometimes upon the defendant. In its various forms it bears so marked a resemblance to the judgments of God current in mediæval Europe that the further consideration of its use in India may be more conveniently deferred till we come to discuss its varieties in detail, except to add that in Hindu, as in Christian courts, it has always been a religious as well as a judicial ceremony, conducted in the presence of Brahmans, and with the use of invocations to the higher powers....

THE ORDEAL OF BOILING WATER.

The ordeal of boiling water (æneum, judicium aquæ ferventis, cacabus, caldaria) is the one usually referred to in the most ancient texts of laws. It was a favorite both with the secular and ecclesiastical authorities, and the manner in which the pagan usages of the ancient Aryans were adopted and rendered orthodox by the Church is well illustrated by the commendation bestowed on it by Hincmar, Archbishop of Reims, in the ninth century. It combines, he says, the elements of water and of fire; the one representing the deluge—the judgment inflicted on the wicked of old; the other authorized by the fiery doom of the future—the day of judgment, in both of which we see the righteous escape and the wicked suffer. There were several minor variations in its administration, but none of them departed to any notable extent from the original form as invented in the East. A caldron of water was brought to the boiling-point, and the accused was obliged with his naked hand to find a small stone or ring thrown into it; sometimes the latter portion was omitted, and the hand was simply inserted, in trivial cases to the wrist, in crimes of magnitude to the elbow; the former being termed the single, the latter the triple ordeal; or, again, the stone was employed, suspended by a string, and the severity of the trial was regulated by the length of the line, a palm’s breadth being counted as single, and the distance to the elbow as triple...

As a means of judicial investigation, the Church, in adopting it with the other ordeals, followed the policy of surrounding it with all the solemnity which her most venerated rites could impart, thus imitating, no doubt unconsciously, the customs of the Hindus, who, from the earliest times, have made the ordeal a religious ceremony, to be conducted by Brahmans, with invocations to the divine powers, and to be performed by the patient at sunrise, immediately after the prescribed ablutions, and while yet fasting....

The modern Hindoo variety of this ordeal consists in casting a piece of gold or a metal ring into a vessel of boiling ghee, or sesame oil, of a specified size and depth. Sacrifices are offered to the gods, a mantra, or Vedic prayer, is uttered over the oil, which is heated until it burns a fresh peepul leaf, and if the person on trial can extract the ring between his finger and thumb, without scalding himself, he is pronounced victorious. In 1783 a case is recorded as occurring at Benares, in which a Brahman accused a linen-painter of theft, and as there was no other way of settling the dispute, both parties agreed to abide by the result of the ordeal... So lately as 1867 the Bombay Gazette records a case occurring at Jamnuggur, when a camel-driver named Chakee Soomar, under whose charge a considerable sum of money was lost, was exposed by a local official to the ordeal of boiling oil... it was performed by placing a small silver ball in a brazen vessel eight inches deep, filled with boiling ghee. After various religious ceremonies, the accused plunged in his hand, and sometimes was obliged to repeat the attempt several times before he could bring out the ball. The hand was then wrapped up in tender palm leaves and examined after an interval of three days...

In almost all ages there has existed the belief that under the divine influence the human frame was able to resist the action of fire. Even the sceptic Pliny seems to share the superstition as to the families of the Hirpi, who at the annual sacrifice made to Apollo, on Mount Soracte, walked without injury over piles of burning coals, in recognition of which, by a perpetual senatus consultum, they were relieved from all public burdens. That fire applied either directly or indirectly should be used in the appeal to God was therefore natural, and the convenience with which it could be employed by means of iron rendered that the most usual form of the ordeal. As employed in Europe, under the name of judicium ferri or juise it was administered in two essentially different forms. The one (vomeres igniti, examen pedale) consisted in laying on the ground at certain distances six, nine, or in some cases twelve, red-hot ploughshares, among which the accused walked barefooted, sometimes blindfolded, when it became an ordeal of pure chance, and sometimes compelled to press each iron with his naked feet. The other and more usual form obliged the patient to carry in his hand for a certain distance, usually nine feet, a piece of red-hot iron, the weight of which was determined by law and varied with the importance of the question at issue or the magnitude of the alleged crime. Thus, among the Anglo-Saxons, in the “simple ordeal” the iron weighed one pound, in the “triple ordeal” three pounds. The latter is prescribed for incendiaries and “morth-slayers” (secret murderers), for false coining, and for plotting against the king’s life; while at a later period, in the collection known as the Laws of Henry I., we find it extended to cases of theft, robbery, arson, and felonies in general. In Sweden, for theft, the form known as trux iarn was employed, in which the accused had to carry the red-hot iron and deposit it in a hole twelve paces from the starting-point; in other cases the ordeal was called scuz iarn, when he carried it nine paces and then cast it from him. These ordeals were held on Wednesday, after fasting on bread and water on Monday and Tuesday; the hand or foot was washed, after which it was allowed to touch nothing till it came in contact with the iron; it was then wrapped up and sealed until Saturday, when it was opened in presence of the accuser and the judges. In Spain, the iron had no definite weight, but was a palm and two fingers in length, with four feet, high enough to enable the criminal to lift it conveniently. The episcopal benediction was necessary to consecrate the iron to its judicial use. A charter of 1082 shows that the Abbey of Fontanelle in Normandy had one of approved sanctity, which, through the ignorance of a monk, was applied to other purposes. The Abbot thereupon asked the Archbishop of Rouen to consecrate another, and before the latter would consent the institution had to prove its right to administer the ordeal. The wrapping up and sealing of the hand was a general custom, derived from the East, and usually after three days it was uncovered and the decision was rendered in accordance with its condition. These proceedings were accompanied by the same solemn observances which have been already described, the iron itself was duly exorcised, and the intervention of God was invoked in the name of all the manifestations of Divine clemency or wrath by the agency of fire—Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the burning bush of Horeb, the destruction of Sodom, and the day of judgment. Occasionally, when several criminals were examined together, the same piece of heated iron was borne by them successively, giving a manifest advantage to the last one, who had to endure a temperature considerably less than his companions.

In India this was one of the earliest forms of the ordeal, in use even in the Vedic period, as it is referred to in the Khandogya Upanishad of the Sama Veda, where the head of a hatchet is alluded to as the implement employed for the trial—subsequently replaced by a ploughshare. In the seventh century, A. D., Hiouen Thsang reports that the red-hot iron was applied to the tongue of the accused as well as to the palms of his hands and the soles of his feet, his innocence being designated by the amount of resultant injury. This may have been a local custom, for, according to Institutes of Vishnu, closely followed by Yajnavalkya, the patient bathes and performs certain religious ceremonies; then after rubbing his hands with rice bran, seven green asvattha leaves are placed on the extended palms and bound with a thread. A red-hot iron ball or spear-head, weighing about two pounds and three-quarters, is then brought, and the judge adjures it—

“Thou, O fire, dwellest in the interior of all things like a witness. O fire, thou knowest what mortals do not comprehend.

“This man being arraigned in a cause desires to be cleared from guilt. Therefore mayest thou deliver him lawfully from this perplexity.”


The glowing ball is then placed on the hands of the accused, and with it he has to walk across seven concentric circles of cow-dung, each with a radius sixteen fingers’ breadth larger than the preceding, and throw the ball into a ninth circle, where it must burn some grass placed there for the purpose. If this be accomplished without burning the hands, he gains his cause, but the slightest injury convicts him. A minimum limit of a thousand pieces of silver was established at an early period as requisite to justify the administration of this form of ordeal in a suit. But the robust faith in the power of innocence characteristic of the earlier Hindus seems to have diminished, for subsequent recensions of the code and later lawgivers increase the protection afforded to the hand by adding to the asvattha leaves additional strata of dharba grass and barley moistened with curds, the whole bound around with seven turns of raw silk. Ali Ibrahim Khan relates a case which he witnessed at Benares in 1783 in which a man named Sancar, accused of larceny, offered to be tried in this manner.... The ordeal took place in presence of a large assemblage, when, to the surprise of every one, Sancar carried the red-hot ball through the seven circles, threw it duly into the ninth where it burnt the grass, and exhibited his hands uninjured.... Even in 1873, the Bombay Gazette states that this ordeal is still practised in Oodeypur, where a case had shortly before occurred wherein a husbandman had been obliged to prove his innocence by holding a red-hot ploughshare in his hands, duly guarded with peepul leaves, turning his face towards the sun and invoking it: “Thou Sun-God, if I am actually guilty of the crime, punish me; if not, let me escape unscathed from the ordeal!”—and in this instance, also, the accused was uninjured.

A peculiar modification of the hot-iron ordeal is employed by the aboriginal hill-tribes of Rajmahal, in the north of Bengal, when a person believes himself to be suffering from witchcraft. The Satane and the Cherreen are used to find out the witch, and then the decision is confirmed by a person representing the sufferer, who, with certain religious ceremonies, applies his tongue to a red-hot iron nine times, unless sooner burnt. A burn is considered to render the guilt of the accused indubitable, and his only appeal is to have the trial repeated in public, when, if the same result follows, he is bound either to cure the bewitched person or to suffer death if the latter dies....

THE ORDEAL OF FIRE.

The ordeal of fire, administered directly, without the intervention either of water or of iron, is one of the most ancient forms, as is shown by the allusions to it in both the Hindu Vedic writings, the adventure of Siawush, and the passage in the Antigone of Sophocles (pp. 266, 267, 270). In this, its simplest form, it may be considered the origin of the proverbial expression, “J’en mettrois la main au feu,” [Google translate: I put my hand in the fire] as an affirmation of positive belief, showing how thoroughly the whole system engrained itself in the popular mind. In India, as practised in modern times, its form approaches somewhat the ordeal of the burning ploughshares. A trench is dug nine hands in length, two spans in breadth, and one span in depth. This is filled with peepul wood, which is then set on fire, and the accused walks into it with bare feet. A more humane modification is described in the seventh century by Hiouen-Thsang as in use when the accused was too tender to undergo the trial by red-hot iron. He simply cast into the flames certain flower-buds, when, if they opened their leaves, he was acquitted; if they were burnt up, he was condemned....

THE ORDEAL OF COLD WATER...

In India the ordeal of cold water became simply one of endurance. The stream or pond was exorcised with the customary Mantras:—

“Thou O water dwellest in the interior of all things like a witness. O water thou knowest what mortals do not comprehend.

“This man being arraigned in a cause desires to be cleared from guilt. Therefore mayest thou deliver him lawfully from this perplexity.”


The patient stood in water up to his middle, facing the East, caught hold of the thighs of a man “free from friendship or hatred” and dived under, while simultaneously an arrow of reed without a head was shot from a bow, 106 fingers’ breadth in length, and if he could remain under water until the arrow was picked up and brought back, he gained his cause, but if any portion of him could be seen above the surface he was condemned. Yajnavalkya says this form of ordeal was only used on the Sudras, or lowest caste, while the Ayeen Akbery speaks of it as confined to the Vaisyas, or caste of husbandmen and merchants. According to the Institutes of Vishnu, it was not to be administered to the timid or those affected with lung diseases, nor to those who gained their living by the water, such as fishermen or boatmen, nor was it allowed during the winter.

Although, as we have seen, the original cold-water ordeal in India, as described by Manu, was precisely similar to the European form, inasmuch as the guilty were expected to float and the innocent to sink, and although in this shape it prevailed everywhere throughout Europe, and its tenacity of existence rendered it the last to disappear in the progress of civilization, yet it does not make its appearance in any of the earlier codes of the Barbarians. The first allusions to it occur in the ninth century, and it was then so generally regarded as a novelty that documents almost contemporaneous ascribe its invention to the popes of that period...

THE ORDEAL OF THE BALANCE.

We have seen above that a belief existed that persons guilty of sorcery lost their specific gravity, and this superstition naturally led to the use of the balance in the effort to discover and punish the crime of witchcraft, which all experts assure us was the most difficult of all offences on which to obtain evidence. The trial by balance, however, was not a European invention. Like nearly all the other ordeals, it can be traced back to India, where, at least as early as the time of the Institutes of Vishnu, it was in common use. It is described there as reserved for women, children, old men, invalids, the blind, the lame, and the privileged Brahman caste, and not to be undertaken when a wind was blowing. After proper ceremonies the patient was placed in one scale, with an equivalent weight to counterbalance him in the other, and the nicety of the operation is shown by the prescription that the beam must have a groove with water in it, evidently for the purpose of detecting the slightest deflection either way. The accused then descended and the judge addressed the customary adjuration to the balance:—

“Thou, O balance, art called by the same name as holy law (dharma); thou, O balance, knowest what mortals do not comprehend.

“This man, arraigned in a cause, is weighed upon thee. Therefore mayest thou deliver him lawfully from this perplexity.”


Then the accused was replaced in the scale, and if he were found to be lighter than before he was acquitted. If the scale broke, the trial was to be repeated...

THE ORDEAL OF THE CROSS.

The ordeal of the cross (judicium crucis, stare ad crucem) was one of simple endurance and differed from all its congeners, except the duel, in being bilateral. The plaintiff and defendant, after appropriate religious ceremonies and preparation, stood with uplifted arms before a cross, while divine service was performed, victory being adjudged to the one who was able longest to maintain his position. An ancient formula for judgments obtained in this manner in cases of disputed titles to land prescribes the term of forty-two nights for the trial. It doubtless originated in the use of this exercise by the Church both as a punishment and as a penance...

In India a cognate mode is adopted by the people of Ramgur to settle questions of disputed boundaries between villages. When agreement by argument or referees is found impossible, each community chooses a champion, and the two stand with one leg buried in the earth until weariness or the bites of insects cause one of them to yield, when the territory in litigation is adjudged to the village of the victor...

THE CORSNÆD.

The ordeal of consecrated bread or cheese (judicium offæ, panis conjuratio, pabulum probationis, the corsnæd of the Anglo-Saxons) was administered by presenting to the accused a piece of bread (generally of barley) or of cheese, about an ounce in weight,1079 over which prayers and adjurations had been pronounced. After appropriate religious ceremonies, including the communion, the morsel was eaten, the event being determined by the ability of the accused to swallow it...

In India, this ordeal is performed with a kind of rice called sathee, prepared with various incantations. The person on trial eats it, with his face to the East, and then spits upon a peepul leaf. “If the saliva is mixed with blood, or the corners of his mouth swell, or he trembles, he is declared to be a liar.” A slightly different form is described for cases in which several persons are suspected of theft. The consecrated rice is administered to them all, is chewed lightly, and then spit out upon a peepul leaf. If any one ejects it either dry or tinged with blood, he is adjudged guilty.

Based on the same theory is a ceremony performed by the pre-Aryan hill-tribes of Rajmahal, when swearing judges into office preparatory to the trial of a case. In this a pinch of salt is placed upon a tulwar or scimitar, and held over the mouth of the judge, to whom is addressed the adjuration, “If thou decidest contrary to thy judgment and falsely, may this salt be thy death!” The judge repeats the formula, and the salt is washed with water into his mouth...

THE EUCHARIST AS AN ORDEAL.

From ancient times in India there has been in common use an ordeal known as cosha, consisting of water in which an idol has been washed. The priest celebrates solemn rites “to some tremendous deity,” such as Durga or the Adityas, whose image is then bathed in water. Three handfuls of this water are then drunk by the accused, and if within fourteen days he is not visited with some dreadful calamity from the act of the deity or of the king, “he must indubitably be acquitted.”...

THE ORDEAL OF THE LOT.

The appeal to chance, as practised in India, bears several forms, substantially identical in principle. One mode consists in writing the words dherem (consciousness of innocence) and adherem (its opposite) on plates of silver and lead respectively, or on pieces of white and black linen, which are placed in a vessel that has never held water. The person whose cause is at stake inserts his hand and draws forth one of the pieces, when if it happens to be dherem it proves his truth. Another method is to place in a vessel a silver image of Dharma, the genius of justice, and one in iron or clay of Adharma; or else a figure of Dharma is painted on white cloth and another on black cloth, and the two are rolled together in cow-dung and thrown into a jar, when the accused is acquitted or convicted according to his fortune in drawing Dharma....

CONDITIONS OF THE ORDEAL....

In India, the accused was required to undergo the risk of a fine if he desired to force his adversary to the ordeal; but either party could voluntarily undertake it, in which case the other was subject to a mulct if defeated.1214 The character of the defendant, however, had an important bearing upon its employment. If he had already been convicted of a crime or of perjury he was subject to it in all cases, however trifling; if, on the other hand, he was a man of unblemished reputation, he was not to be exposed to it, however important was the385 case.1215 In civil cases, however, it apparently was only employed to supplement deficient evidence.—“Evidence consists of writings, possession, and witnesses. If one of these is wanting, then one of the ordeals is valid.”...

The absence of satisfactory testimony, rendering the case one not to be solved by human means alone is frequently, as in India, alluded to as a necessary element; and indeed we may almost assert that this was so, even when not specifically mentioned, as far as regards the discretion of the tribunal to order an appeal to the judgment of God...

These regulations give to the ordeal decidedly the aspect of punishment, as it was thus inflicted on those whose guilt was so generally credited that they could not find comrades to stand up with them at the altar as partakers in their oath of denial; and this is not the only circumstance which leads us to believe that it was frequently so regarded. This notion is visible in the ancient Indian law, where, as we have seen, certain of the ordeals—those of red-hot iron, poison, and the balance—could not be employed unless the matter at stake were equivalent to the value of a thousand pieces of silver, or involved an offence against the king...

In fact, the ordeal was practically looked upon as a torture by those whose enlightenment led them to regard as a superstition the faith popularly reposed in it. An epistle which is attributed both to Stephen V. and Sylvester II. condemns the whole system on the ground that the canons forbid the extortion of confessions by heated irons and boiling water; and that a credulous belief could not be allowed to sanction that which was not permitted by the fathers....

TORTURE...

In the Institutes of Manu there are very minute directions as to evidence, the testimony preferred being that of witnesses, whose comparative credibility is very carefully discussed, and when such evidence is not attainable, the parties, as we have seen above, are ordered to be sworn or tried by the ordeal. These principles have been transmitted unchanged to the present day.

-- Superstition and Force, by Henry Charles Lea


In every Suit where there is a Witness and a Writing, or a Proof of Usufruct, there shall be no Obligation to perform the Purrikeh.

If either the Plaintiff or Defendant defame the Character of a Witness, whose Conduct is unblemished, for such Defamation of a spotless Character, the Magistrate shall exact a Fine from that Person.

SECT. X. Of Appointing Arbitrators more than once; and of the Mode of drawing up the Statement of a Cause.

The Arbitrators, at the Time of having made an Examination, shall write a Jee Potr (i.e.) a Statement and Decree, and they shall draw it up in this Manner:

First. They shall write whatever the Plaintiff urged as the Matter of his Claim.

Second. After that, they shall write whatever Answer the Defendant gave to that Plea; then they shall state whatever Evidence was delivered in by the Witnesses; or, if a Writing was given in, they shall express the Contents of it; or otherwise they shall write the Circumstances of Usufruct, or of Opinion, or of the Purrikeh, or of the Oath; afterwards they shall write the Names of all the Arbitrators who were present: In this Manner, upon whatever Principle the Examination proceeded, shall a Statement be drawn up, viz. We, being such and so many Persons, have made this Examination to the best of our Knowledge.

Every Cause that comes to a Proof from the Face of a Writing, or from Witnesses, and the Plaintiff and Defendant are wearied out with Vexation of the Dispute, the Arbitrators, at the Option of the Plaintiff and Defendant, shall adjust and determine it.

When the Arbitrators have made a thorough Examination, if he who is proved culpable goes afterwards with Complaint to a Magistrate, the Magistrate shall not give him another Arbitrator; but should that Man assert, that, "The Arbitrators have committed Injustice; if they have not committed Injustice, I will forfeit a Fine of double the Sum now in Dispute;" upon a Proposition of this Nature, the Magistrate may appoint other Arbitrators.

If the Arbitrators have committed Injustice, and the Plaintiff can bring this Matter to a Proof, then the Magistrate shall appoint other Arbitrators, and shall hold the former Arbitrators amenable.

If a Man is convicted by his own Words, and afterwards petitions the Magistrate for other Arbitrators, in that Case, the Magistrate shall not give him other Arbitrators.

If an Arbitrator hath made his Examination under the Impulse of Lust; or Enmity, or in Sickness, or through Fear, or Positiveness, or Anger, it is not approved.

SECT. XI. Of Giving Preference to a Claim.

If the same Article be sold, or pledged, or given away, at twice, to Two different Persons, the first Transaction is approved; in all other Cases the latter.

If any Person, having sold any Article to One Person, sells the same Thing afterwards to another; or, having pledged it once any where, pledges it a Second Time at another Place; or, having once given it to One, afterwards presents it to another; then he who first bought it, or who first received it in Pledge, or to whom it was first given, is to be believed; and the last Purchaser, Pledgee, or Accepter, is not approved.

If a Man hath borrowed Money from another upon Agreement for a small Interest, and afterwards, at his own Option, Consents to an increased Rate of Interest, the former Agreement is to be believed.

If a Man, having deposited any Article with One Person, should afterwards give the same Thing as a Pledge, or should sell it, or present it to another, then it shall belong to him who bought it, or to whom it was pledged or presented.

If a Man, having pledged any Article with One Person, should afterwards sell or give it away to another, in that Case, the Article above-mentioned shall go to him who bought it, or to whom it was given; but he, in whose Hands it was detained as a Pledge, shall receive the Money due to him from his Debtor; if the Debtor is dead, or hath absconded, he shall receive the Sum of his Debt from him who hath bought the Article, or to whom it was given.
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed Apr 21, 2021 3:54 am

CHAP. IV. Of Trust or Deposite.

Trust or Deposite is of Three Sorts,


First, When a Man intrusts his Property to another, upon this Consideration, viz. That, if I deposite any Thing with this Man, I shall most certainly recover it again: -- Such Trust is called Neekheep.

Second. When a Person from Suspicion of the Magistrate, or of Thieves, or from a Desire that his Heirs should not get Possession, intrusts his Property to another: — This is called Neeash.

Third. When a Man intrusts his Property to another, and that Person makes over the same Property in Trust to a Second, informing him, at the same Time, that such Property belongs to such a Person, and must be returned to him: — Such Trust is called Enahut.

In the Place where a Man resides, it must be inquired, whether he be of a good Family, of approved Conduct, of religious Principles, and a Speaker of Truth, whether he be very rich, and hath many Friends and Relations; when these Circumstances are favourable, Property shall be trusted to such a Person.

If a Man, having sealed and marked his Property, hath delivered it in Trust to any Person, the Trustee, upon redelivering such Goods, shall return them with the same Seal and Mark; if there be not the same Seal and Mark, he shall undergo the Purrikeh, or take his Oath concerning the Alteration of the Property in Trust.

If a Person should make Use of any Property intrusted to him, or it be spoiled for want of his Care and Attention, then, whatever Crime it is for a Woman to abuse her Husband, or for a Man to murder his Friend, the same Degree of Guilt shall be imputed to him, and the Value of the Trust must be made good.

A Man ought not to take upon himself the Trust of another's Property; if he accepts such Trust, he must preserve it with Care, and return it upon the First Demand.

If a Person hath intrusted any of his Property to another, and the Son of that Person should demand the Property so intrusted, the Trustee shall not deliver the Deposite without Order of the Father.

If a Man who hath intrusted any Property to another should die, and the Son of the Deceased does not demand his Father's Property, yet the Trustee shall of himself deliver up the Trust to that Son.

If a Man hath received in Trust the Property of another Person, and that Property, together with his own Effects, should be spoiled, in that Case, he shall not make good the Penalty upon the Property in Question; and if it be spoiled by any unforeseen Accident, or by the Innovation of the Magistrate, in that Case also, he shall not make good the Value.

If, at any Time, in any Manner, the Property in Deposite be spoiled by the Fault of the Trustee, he shall make it good.

If Property in Deposite should fall into the Water, or be burnt, or stolen, and the Trustee conceals any Part of it that may happen to have been saved, and this Circumstance can be proved, in that Case, he shall make good the whole Property.

If a Person hath intrusted his Property to another for a settled Time, or hath deposited it with this Agreement, "That whensoever the Necessities of my own Affairs shall cause me to remand my Property, it shall be returned to me," then, if according to such Promise, or the Appearance of the Depositor's Affairs, Application be made, and the Trustee refuses to deliver the Property, and after such Refusal it be spoiled, the Trustee shall make good all such Property, with Interest upon it; also, if, within the Time settled, it be spoiled by the Negligence of the Trustee, in that Case also, he shall make it good with Interest.

If a Person hath associated to himself other bad Men, in the fraudulent and deceitful Concealment of Property intrusted to him, the Magistrate shall punish and fine the Trustee, and cause the Property deposited to be restored to the Owner.

If a Trustee does not return to the Owner, upon Demand, the Property deposited in his Hands, the Magistrate shall fine him.

If a Person hath borrowed any Thing from another, promising to return it whenever the Business for which it was borrowed is completed, and then fraudulently and deceitfully detains it, the Magistrate shall cause the borrowed Property to be returned to the Owner, and shall fine the Borrower; also, if the Thing borrowed be not returned, after the Conclusion of the Business, and it should be afterwards spoiled by any Accident of the Season, or any Innovation of the Magistrate, the Borrower shall make it good; and if, during the Time the Business is in Hand, it should be spoiled by any unforeseen Accident, or Innovation of the Magistrate, it shall not be made good.

If any Person hath given to a Workman, under a Stipulation, for the Purpose of making Pots or Ornaments, or any Kind of wrought Work, Gold, Silver, Tutenague, Copper, Brass, or such Kind of Metals, and the Workman fraudulently and deceitfully conceals it, in that Case, the Magistrate shall cause the Article to be returned to its Owner, and shall exact a Fine from the Workman; or upon the Workman's not having given the Thing within the Time stipulated, if, after the Expiration of the Term of the Agreement, the Thing specified be spoiled by any Accident of the Season, or the Injustice of the Magistrate, the Workman must make it good; but if, within the Time stipulated, the Commodity should be spoiled by any Accident of the Season, or Innovation of the Magistrate, it shall not be made good.

If a Person employs in Trade the Property intruded to him, without Orders from the Owner to that Purpose, the Magistrate shall take a Fine from the Trustee, and cause the Property in Trust to be returned with Interest; and if, without employing such Property in Trade, the Trustee should expend it, to furnish himself with Victuals or Cloaths, in that Case, he shall repay the deposited Property with Interest, but he shall not be fined.

If a Man is desirous to intrust his Property to another, and that Person says, "I am not able to take charge of such Property," and, after a long Conversation and Debate, the First Person doth intrust his Property to the other, and the Trustee employs that Property to find himself in Food and Cloaths, he shall, in that Case, return whatever Property was intrusted to him, but he shall not pay any Interest upon it.

If a Person, who hath not intrusted his Property to another, should say to him, "I have deposited certain Things to your Charge, return them to me," in that Case, if the Demandant be poor, and hath always preserved the Tenets of his Cast, he shall pay to the Magistrate a Fine equal to the Sum falsely claimed; if he is rich, and an Apostate from the Principles of his Tribe, a double Fine shall be taken from him.

If any Person hath out of Ignorance spoiled any intrusted Property, then he who spoiled that Property shall not be obliged to make it good; also, if he should die, his Wife and Son shall not be held to pay.
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed Apr 21, 2021 4:10 am

CHAP. V. Of Selling a Stranger's * [A Stranger here means a Person in no Degree related to the Seller.] Property.

Whoever sells to any Man another's Property, or Goods in Trust, or Property mortgaged, or Things borrowed, or lost Goods that he hath found, or Things stolen, or any Things of this Kind, being the Property of a Stranger, without Consent or Command of the Owner, is called Ashwamee Peikeree (i.e.) a Seller of a Stranger's Property.

If a Person, not being Owner of certain Property, sells that Property to another, or gives it away, or mortgages it, without Consent of the Owner, it is, not approved.

If a Person, Descended from the same Grandfather with the Owner of certain Property, should sell or give away such Property, without Consent of the Owner, the Magistrate shall fine him Six Hundred Puns of Cowries, and cause the Property to be restored to the Owner: — According to the Ordinations of Chendeesur.

If a Person, descended from the same Grandfather with the Owner of certain Property, causes that Property to be brought by the Hands of a Stranger, and sells it without the Consent and Command of the Owner, then the Magistrate shall fine him in a larger Mulct than Six Hundred Puns of Cowries;— According to the Ordinations of Chendeesur.

If a Person, Descended from the same Grandfather with the Owner of certain Property, should himself produce that Property, or cause it to be produced by the Hands of another, and sell it, or give it away, then the Magistrate shall fine him Six Hundred Puns of Cowries: — This Ordination is approved, according to the Ordinations of Phakooree, Meidhab-teetee, and Kulp-teroo, and Pacheshputtee Misr.

If a Person, not Descended from the same Grandfather with the Owner of certain Property, should of himself take any Thing out of the Owner's House, and sell it, or give it away, without Consent or Command of such Owner, he shall receive the same Punishment as a Thief: -- According to the Ordinations of Chendeesur.

If a Person, not Descended from the same Grandfather with the Owner of certain Property, should either of himself, or by the Hands of another, procure such Property, and sell or give it away, without the Consent or Command of the Owner, the Magistrate shall take from him the same Fine as from a Thief: According to the Ordinations of Phakooree, Meidhab-teetee, Kulp-teroo, and Pacheshputtee Misr: — Approved.

If a Person hath openly purchased any Commodity from another, who was not the Owner of it, and afterwards the Owner should come and say to the Purchaser, "This Property belongs to me," and should produce Proof of this, and if also he hath not given away, nor sold that Property to another, and likewise can prove this, and it should happen, that, because the Seller of that Property lives in another Kingdom, the Purchaser cannot cause him to appear, yet knows where the Seller lives, in that Case, the Purchaser shall not be amenable; but the Magistrate shall give the Property to the Owner, and cause the Value thereof to be given to the Purchaser.

If a Person hath openly purchased any Commodity from another, who was not the Owner of it, and at the same Time does not know where the Seller resides, so as to cause him to appear, and afterwards the real Owner should come and prove his Property, and hath not given or sold it to any Person, and proves this also, then the Purchaser, taking Half the Value of the Property from the Owner, shall restore to him his own Property.

If a Person out of Ignorance hath sold the Property of another, the Magistrate shall fine him Six Hundred Puns of Cowries; if he sold it knowingly, he shall be punished as a Thief.

If a Person hath openly sold any Commodity, and afterwards another Person should come and say, "This is my Property," but at the same Time cannot prove himself Owner thereof, the Magistrate shall punish the false Pretender as a Thief, and the Purchaser of the Commodity shall retain it in Possession.  

If a Man clandestinely in his own House, or without the Village, or in the Night-Time, or from a Man of general bad Character, should purchase any Commodity, at a Rate inferior to the real Value, the Magistrate shall punish the Purchaser as a Thief.

If an indigent Man sells to another Person any Commodity that is not suitable to the Seller's Condition in Life, in that Case, the Purchaser shall be punished as a Thief.

If a Person buys any Commodity from a Man who is not the Owner, and afterwards the real Owner should come and say, "This Commodity belongs to me, neither have I given or sold it to any Person," and this is also proved, and the Purchaser knows not where the Seller resides, and there also should happen to have been no Person present at the Time the Purchase was made, upon a Dispute of this Nature, the Magistrate shall cause the purchased Commodity to be returned to the Owner, and shall take a Fine from the Purchaser.

If a Person buys any Commodity from a Man who is not the Owner, and afterwards the real Owner should come and prove himself the Owner, and the Purchaser should have it in his Power to produce the Vender, then there is no farther Connexion between the Purchaser and Vender; if the Vender is not upon the Spot, the Purchaser shall settle a stipulated Time for causing the Vender to appear; then, upon the Vender's Appearance, the Magistrate shall order him to pay to the Purchaser the Price of the Commodity, and cause the Property to revert to the right Owner, and punish the Vender as a Thief.

If a Man, whose Property hath been lost, or squandered away, should find such Property in any Stranger's Hand, and seize upon it, without acquainting the Magistrate, he shall be fined Ninety-fix Puns of Cowries.
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed May 19, 2021 4:28 am

CHAP. VI. Of Shares.

SECT. I. Of Shares of Trade in Partnership.


A Man of a reputable Cast, experienced in Business, industrious, intelligent, and understanding his Income and Expences, a Man of Virtue, and of a clean Character, and of Perseverance in his Affairs, such a Man is to be chosen as a Partner in Trade.

If Persons have commenced a Partnership in Trade, without a settled Agreement concerning their respective Shares in the Profit and Loss, in that Case, they shall understand their Profit and Loss to be in Proportion to the Stock; if they have commenced the Partnership upon a settled Agreement concerning the Shares of Profit and Loss, they shall understand their Profit and Loss to be according to the Agreement.

Trade shall be carried on with such Persons as have never been convicted of any fraudulent Practices; if, after the Commencement of the Partnership, the Appearance of any Fraud in either of the Partners should arise, the Party suspected shall clear himself by taking an Oath, or undergoing the Purrikeh.  

If Stock of a Partnership in Trade be spoiled by any unforeseen Accident, or by any Innovation of the Magistrate, the Loss shall fall upon the Shares of all the Partners.

If a Person, without Consent of his Partners, nolens volens, in Opposition to them, should undertake any Business, and the Stock is thereby injured, he shall make good that Stock to the Partners.

If an unexpected Calamity, or any Innovation of the Magistrate should take place, during that Calamity, if any One of the Partners can preserve any Part of the Stock, he shall receive to himself One Tenth of the Property so preserved.

To a Man who hath been guilty of Frauds, no Part of the Profit shall be given;, but his original Share of the Stock shall be returned to him, and he shall be excluded from the Partnership.

If either of the Partners excuses himself from the Business, or the Preservation of the Stock, he shall appoint some able Person, upon his own Account, in his room; and if either of them, who is capable of transacting every Part of the Business, and who has engaged in some of the Trade, should die, in that Case, whoever is his Heir shall receive One Tenth of the Profit, and also his original Share: If he has no Heir, the Person who had the Care of the Stock shall receive the Tenth Part of the Profit; if the Care of the Stock was intrusted to no One in particular, all the Partners shall receive equal Shares; if all the Partners are dead, the Magistrate's Officers shall carry all the Goods to the Magistrate for his Inspection, and the Magistrate shall detain the Goods, until the Heirs bring in their Claim; if the Heirs come in, and prove their Right of Inheritance, the Magistrate shall give up all Pretensions to the Goods; if there is no Heir, and the House of the deceased Merchants be at a great Distance, the Magistrate shall keep the Property in his Custody for Ten Years; if the House be not at so very great a Distance, he shall keep it in Custody for Three Years; if their House is very near, he shall keep in Custody that Property for One Year; if, within that Space of Time, any Heir comes in, and can prove himself the Heir, in that Case, the Magistrate shall take for himself One Part in Twenty of the Property of a Bramin, One Twelfth of the Property of a Chehteree, One Ninth of that of a Bice, and One Sixth from that of a Sooder; if, within that Time, no Heir should appear, the Magistrate shall appropriate to himself the Property of a Chehteree, Bice, and Sooder, and give a Bramin's Property to other Bramins; and if there are no Bramins, he shall cause it to be thrown into the Water.

SECT. II. Of the Shares of Artificers.

If several Persons labour jointly in Gold and Silver, or such Species, or in Silk, or in Wood for Fuel, or in Stone, or Leather, or such Kind of Things, the Person who is but a young Practitioner in the Art shall receive a single Share, and he who is more experienced shall receive Two Shares, and he who is a complete Artificer at the Business shall receive Three Shares, and he who is Instructor to them all shall receive Four Shares.

If a Person jointly with others builds a House, or makes a Pool, he who is Chief among them all shall be entitled to a double Share thereof; the others shall each receive a single Share.

Among Singers, Musicians, and others exercising such Kinds of Professions, whoever of them understands the Regulation of Time shall receive One Share and a Half; the others shall receive each One Share, and the Chief shall receive Two Shares.

The Mode of Shares among Robbers is this: If any Thieves, by the Command of the Magistrate, and with his Assistance, have committed Depredations upon, and brought any Booty from another Province, the Magistrate shall receive a Share of One Sixth of the whole; if they received no Command or Assistance from the Magistrate, they shall give the Magistrate, in that Case, One Tenth for his Share; and of the Remainder their Chief shall receive Four Shares; and whosoever among them is perfect Master of his Occupation shall receive Three Shares; also whichever of them is remarkable strong and stout shall receive Two Shares, and the rest shall receive each One Share; if any One of the Community of the Thieves happens to be taken, and should be released from the Cutcherry, upon Payment of a Sum of Money, all the Thieves shall make good that Sum by equal Shares.

All these Shares of Painters, Singers, Thieves, &c. that have been above explained, are to be understood in Cases where no Agreement of Shares hath been originally settled; if any Agreement among them, in regard to Shares, hath taken place, they shall receive their Proportions by the Tenour of such Agreement.  
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed May 19, 2021 5:02 am

CHAP. VII. Of Gift (or Alienation by Gift.) This has Four Distinctions:

First, Of what is not liable to be given away (i.e.) Adew.

One Partner cannot give away Goods belonging to the Partnership, without  Consent of the Partners; but according to the Ordination of Pacheshputtee Misr, Sewarteh Behtacharige, Jeimoot Bahun, and Sirree Kishen Terkalungkar, it is thus explained, That, from the Goods in Partnerships, if any Person gives away any Thing of that Part to which he has a Right, as his own Share, the Gift is approved, but the Donor is blamable: — Approved.

If a Calamity should happen to any Person, he may not give away his Wife to another Man, without that Wife's Consent; if she is willing, he has Power to give her away.

If a Man, during a Calamity, gives away or sells his Son to any Person, without the Consent of that Son, it is not approved; if the Son is willing, the Father has Power to sell or give him away.

If a Man hath only One Son, and that Son is willing to be sold or given away, in that Case, even in Time of Calamity, the Father hath not Power to sell or give away his Son.

The Wife may not give away or sell her Son, without the Consent of her Husband; if she so gives away or sells her Son, it is not approved; if she hath her Husband's Order to give away or sell her Son, it is approved.

A Person cannot give away or sell to any One the whole of his Property, without the Consent of his Heirs; if he so sells it, or gives it away, it is not approved; according to the Ordinations of Pacheshputtee Misr.

If a Person who hath an Heir alive, sells or gives away the whole of his Property, the Sale or Gift is approved; but it is to be imputed a Crime in the Vender or Giver; according to the Ordinations of Shertee Shar: — Approved.

During the Life-Time of an Heir, even if that Heir be willing, yet then a Person may not give away or sell the whole of his Property; according to the Ordinations of some Pundits, whose Names are not expressed in the Compilation.

A Person shall not give to another any Thing pledged to himself; if he gives it away, or sells it, it is not approved.

A Person shall not give to another any Thing committed in Trust to himself; if he gives it away, or sells it, it is not approved.

A Person, who hath borrowed any Thing from One Man, shall not give away the Thing so borrowed to another; if he so gives it away, or sells it, it is not approved.

If a Man shall have told another, "I will give you this Thing as a Present," that Man shall not afterwards give away the same Thing to a Second; if he so gives it away, or sells it, it is not approved.

Second, Of what is liable to be given (i, e.) Deu:

If a Man's Property and Possessions are more than will suffice to feed and clothe his Dependants, such Overplus of Property and Possessions is liable to be given away; if there is not more than is necessary for such uses, it is not liable to be given; if he gives it away, the Gift is not approved, and the Giver incurs a Blame.

If a Man hath told another, "I will give you such a Thing," and afterwards doth not give it, he is in Danger of Gebennum: Also, if, after having given it, he takes back his Gift, in that Case, he goes to Hell.

If a Man, not knowing the Objection of Want of Cast in another, hath promised to give him any Thing, and afterwards, upon discovering his Disgrace, doth not give it, he is not in fault.

If a Man, having desired of his own Free-Will to give any Thing to a Bramin, doth not give it, the Magistrate shall cause him to give the Thing specified, with Interest, and shall also take from him a Fine.

Third, Of what hath been once given cannot be taken back (i.e.) Dutta.

If a Person pays Wages for Work which he hath caused to be done, he cannot take such Wages back again.

If a Person, by a Display of his Abilities, gives another great Satisfaction, who, in consequence, makes him a Present, that Gift may not be taken back.

When a Man hath purchased any Article, he must, at all Events, pay the Price of if, and, after payment, he shall not have Power to take it back.

If a Person, upon the Marriage of his Son or Daughter, hath given any Thing, by way of Gratification, to the Son's Wife's Father's Family, or to the Daughter's Husband's Father's Family, he shall not have Power to take it back.

If a Man gives any Thing to another who hath conferred an Obligation upon him, he shall not have Power to take back his Gift.

If a Man, to his own Satisfaction, hath given any Thing to another who deserved Favour, there is no Redemption.

If a Man, in the way of Amity, gives any Thing to his Friend, he hath not the Power of taking it back.

If a Man, out of Kindness, hath given ought to his Son, to his Grandson, or to his Grandson's Son, or any such Heir, he may not take it back again.

Fourth, Of Gift unapproved (i.e.) Dutt.

If a Man, from a violent Impulse of Fear, gives any Thing to another, it is not approved.

If a Man, from a violent Impulse of Anger, gives any Thing to another, it is not approved.

If a Man, from a violent Impulse of Lust, gives any Thing to another, it is not approved.

If a Man, from violent Impulse of Grief, gives any Thing to another Person, it is not approved.

If a Man, having determined in his own Mind to give One particular Thing to any Person, by Mistake gives another Thing instead, it is not approved (or valid.)

If a Man jestingly gives any Thing to another, it is not approved.

If a Man hath determined in his own Mind to give any Thing to One Person, and by Mistake gives it to another, it is not approved.

If a Man, without knowing it, gives any Thing to another, it is not approved.

If a Child, who cannot distinguish between Good and Evil, gives a Person any Thing, it is not approved.

If a Person, who cannot distinguish his own Good and Evil, gives a Person any Thing, it is not approved.

If a Son or Grandson, during the Life of the Father or Grandfather, or a Servant, while he hath a Master, gives away any Thing, it is not approved.

If a Man, who hath drunk Wine until he is intoxicated, should, during that Intoxication, give any Thing to another, it is not approved.

If an Idiot gives a Person any Thing, it is not approved.

If a Person, whose Relations are in absolute Want of Food and Cloaths, gives any Thing to another, it is not approved.

If a Man says to another, "Do you perform my Business for me, and I will reward you for it," if that Person cannot do the Business, the other shall not give him any Thing; if he hath given him any Thing as Earned, he may take it back; if the Person will not return it, the Magistrate shall oblige him to Restoration, and shall fine him also Eleven Times as much.

If a Person, having declared, that he would give Something to another for a religious Account, should die, his Sons shall give it; if it be not for a religious Account, they shall not give it.

If a Man says to another, "I will give you Something, if you can procure me a Witness on a false Testimony, in a certain Affair," then, even if the other produces a Witness on the false Testimony, the promised Gift shall not be made good; if it was given before the Execution of the Business, it may be taken back.

If a Man says to another, "I will give you Something, if you are able to apprehend a Thief, or a Murderer, or such Kind of Criminals," then, even if the other should apprehend and bring such a Person, Nothing shall be bestowed on that Account; if any Thing had been given before the Business, it may be taken back.

If any Person hath requested and received any Thing from another upon a religious Account, and doth not then fulfil that Act of Religion, that Person may take back the Thing given; if by Force, or out of Avarice, it be not returned, the Magistrate shall cause it to be given backm and shall take a Fine from the Detainer.

If a Person receives from another any of those Things which are not liable to be given away, the Magistrate shall fine him.
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed May 19, 2021 5:23 am

CHAP. VIII. Of Servitude.

SECT. I. Of appellations of Apprentices, Servants, Slaves, &c.


Service is of Five Sorts, viz.

1. Shish.

2. Antee Bashee.

3. Bhertuk.

4. Adhegeerun Gerrut.

5. Doss.

The First is when a Person is learning the Science of the Beids, or any other Shaster, he is called Shish; and, until he hath learned the Science, he shall perform Service for his Tutor; and, during the Time he remains in his Tutor's House to learn that Science, whatever Gain he may happen to acquire by such Science, his Tutor shall receive.

The Second is when a Person is learning Painting, or Designing, or Needle-Work, or any other such Employment from an Instructor, he is called Antee Bashee; and while he is learning that Art, he shall perform Service for his Master; and while he remains in his Master's House, until he shall have learnt that Art, during that Time, whatever Gain he may happen to acquire by such Art, his Master shall receive; and if an Apprentice should forsake his Master, who is without Fault, and should go elsewhere to learn his Art, the Magistrate shall banish such Apprentice from the Kingdom.

The Third is Bhertuk, which is Twofold; the First Arteh Bherut, the Second Bhook Bherut.

1. When a Person, on receiving Wages, performs Service for it, that is called Arteh Bherut.

2. When a Person, peopling and cultivating the Lands of any other Man, takes a Part of the Crop, by way of Wages, or who, upon breeding-up, for another Person, Kine, Buffaloes, and such Kind of Cattle, takes for his Wages the Milk, or some of the Kine and Buffaloes aforesaid, that is called Bhook Bherut.

The Fourth is when a Man takes care of his Relations and Family, that is called Adhegeerun Gerrut: From Servants of these Four Kinds no undue Service shall be required; they shall be caused to perform only such Duty as is suitable to their Cast: Undue Service shall be performed by the Doss. Undue Service is as follows: To sweep and cleanse the House, the Court of the House, the Doorway or Entrance, the Necessary, and other impure Places; and in Times of Sickness to attend upon and cleanse the Patient, after the natural Evacuations; and to take away the Excrements, and to rub the Feet: Except these Kinds of Service, all other Duty is suitable and due.

The Fifth is Doss, or Slaves; and the Doss is of Fifteen Species-:

1. Whoever is born of a Female Slave, and is called Gerhejat.

2. Whoever is purchased for a Price, and is called Keereeut.

3. Whoever is found anywhere by Chance, and is called Lubdehee.

4. Whoever is a Slave by Descent from his Ancestors, and is called Dayavaupakut.

5. Whoever hath been fed, and hath had his Life preserved by another during a Famine, and is called Eenakal Behrut.

6. Whoever hath been delivered up as a Pledge for Money borrowed, and is called Ahut.

7. Whoever, to free himself from the Debt of One Creditor, hath borrowed Money from another Person, and, having discharged the old Debt, gives himself up as a Servant to the Person with whom the present Debt is contracted; or whoever, by way of terminating the Importunities of a Creditor, delivers himself up for a Servant to that Creditor; and is called Mookhud.

8. Whoever hath been enslaved by the Fortune of Battle, and is called Joodeh Perraput.

9. Whoever becomes a Slave by a Loss on the Chances of Dice, or other Games, and is called Punjeet; according to the Ordinations of Perkashkar and Parreejaut; and according to the Ordination of Chendeesur; it is thus: That by whatever Chance he is conquered, and becomes a Slave, he is called Punjeet: — Approved.

10. Whoever, of his own Desire, says to another, "I am become your Slave," and is called Opookut.

11. When a Chehteree, or Bice, having become Sinassee, apostates from that Way of Life, the Magistrate shall make him a Slave, and is called Perberjabesheet.

12. Whoever voluntarily gives himself as a Slave to another for a stipulated Time, and is called Gheerut.

13. Whoever performs Servitude for his Subsistence, and is called Bhekut.

14. Whoever, from the Desire of possessing a Slave Girl, becomes a Slave, and is called Berbakrut.

15. Whoever, of his own Accord, sells his Liberty, and becomes a Slave, and is called Beekreet.  

SECT. II. Of the Modes of Enfranchising Slaves.

Whoever is born from the Body of a Female Slave, and whoever hath been purchased for a Price, and whoever hath been found by Chance anywhere, and whoever is a Slave by Descent from his Ancestors, these Four Species of Slaves, until they are freed by the voluntary Consent of their Masters, cannot have their Liberty; if their Master, from a Principle of Beneficence, gives them their Liberty, they become free.

Whoever, having received his Victuals from a Person during the Time of a Famine, hath become his Slave, upon giving to his Provider whatever he received from him during the Time of the Famine, and also Two Head of Cattle, may become free from his Servitude; according to the Ordinations of Pacheshputtee Misr: — Approved. Chendeesur, upon this Head, speaks thus; That he who has received Victuals during a Famine, and hath, by those Means, become a Slave, on giving Two Head of Cattle to his Provider, may become free.

Whoever, having been given up as a Pledge for Money lent, performs Service to the Creditor, recovers his Liberty whenever the Debtor discharges the Debt; if the Debtor neglects to pay the Creditor his Money, and takes no thought of the Person whom he left as a Pledge, that Person becomes the purchased Slave of the Creditor.

Whoever, being unable to pay his Creditor a Debt, hath borrowed a Sum of Money from another Person, and paid his former Creditor therewith, and hath thus become a Slave to the Second Creditor, or who, to silence the Importunities of his Creditor's Demands, hath yielded himself a Slave to that Creditor, such Kind of Slaves shall not be released from Servitude, until Payment of the Debts.

Whoever, by the Loss of the Chance in any Game, and whoever, by the Fortune of War, is enslaved, these Two Persons, upon giving Two others equal to themselves in Exchange, are released from their Servitude.

If the Slave of One Person goes to another, and of his own Desire Consents to be the Slave of that Person, in this Case, he must still be the Property of the Person to whom he was first a Slave: — The Mode of Release for every Kind of Slave shall take place, according to the Ordination laid down for each.

A Chehteree and Bice, who, after having been Sinassees, apostate from that Way of Life, and are become the Slaves of the Magistrate, can never be released.

If a Bramin hath committed this Crime, the Magistrate shall not make him a Slave, but, having branded him in the Forehead, with the Print of a Dog's Foot, shall banish him the Kingdom.

Whoever hath yielded himself a Slave for a stipulated Time, upon the Completion of that Term, shall recover his Freedom.

Whoever performs a Servitude for his Subsistence shall recover his Freedom, upon renouncing that Subsistence.

Whoever, for the Sake of enjoying a Slave Girl, becomes a Slave to any Person, he shall recover his Freedom, upon renouncing the Slave Girl.

Whoever hath become a Slave, by selling himself to any Person, he shall not be free, until the Master of his own Accord gives him his Freedom.

If the Master, from a Principle of Beneficence, gives him his Liberty, he becomes free.

If a Thief, having stolen the Child of any Person, sells it to another, or a Man, by absolute Violence, forces another to be his Slave, the Magistrate shall restore such Person to his Freedom.

If the Master of a Slave should be in imminent Danger of his Life, and at that Time this Slave, by his own Efforts and Presence of Mind, is able to save the Life of his Master, the Slave aforesaid shall be freed from his Servitude, and be held as a Son; if he chooses it, he may stay with his former Master; if he chooses it, he shall quit that Place, and go where he will at Liberty.

Whoever is without a legitimate Child, and from the Seed of his own Body hath a Child from the Womb of a Slave Girl, that Girl, together with her Son, becomes free.

When any Person, from a Principle of Beneficence, would release his Slave, the Mode of it is this; The aforesaid Slave shall fill a Pitcher with Water, and put therein Berenge-arook (Rice that has been cleansed without boiling) and Flowers, and Doob (a Kind of small Salad) and, taking the Pitcher upon his Shoulder, shall stand near his Master; and the Master, putting the Pitcher upon the Slave's Head, shall then break the Pitcher, so that the Water, Rice, Flowers, and Dooby that were in the Pitcher, may fall upon the Slave's Body; after that, the Master shall Three Times pronounce the Words, "I have made you free;" upon this Speech, the Slave aforesaid shall take some Steps towards the East, whereupon he shall be free.  

Whoever hath become a Slave to any Person, that Master is Proprietor of any Property that Slave may acquire, exclusive of the Price of his own Slavery, and exclusive also of any Thing which may be given to him as a Present.

SECT. III. Of such as are Slaves; and of such as are not Slaves.

If the Slave of any Person marries a Woman, that Woman becomes the Slave of the same Master, unless she be the Slave of any other Person.

If that Woman be the Slave of any Person, and her Master gives Consent to the Marriage, in that Case also, she becomes the Slave of her Husband's Master.

A Man of a superior Cast, if he is upright and steady in the Principles of that Cast, can never be the Slave to a Man of an inferior Cast.

Slaves are made of the Three Casts of Chehteree, Bice, and Sooder; a Bramin can never be a Slave.

If a Chehteree, a Bice, or a Sooder, cause a Bramin to become a Slave, the Magistrate shall exact a Fine from them of One Thousand One Hundred Puns of Cowries.

A Bramin cannot cause another Bramin to become a Slave; but the Bramin, who is learned in his Science, may cause an unlearned Bramin to perform all proper Service for him, exclusive of those undue Services above described; and he who is well grounded in Science may also cause such due Services to be performed, by those who are unprincipled in Science; according to the Ordinations of Parreejaut and Helayoodeh: — Approved.

Lukkee Deher, upon this Head, speaks thus, That whoever, being a Bramin, acts like a Chehteree, a Bice, or a Sooder, such Kind of Bramin must never cause other Bramins to perform Duty or Service for him.

If any Person obliges a learned Bramin, against his own Consent, to perform Labour and Service, the Magistrate shall fine him Six Hundred Puns of Cowries.

If a Bramin hath purchased a Sooder, or even if he hath not purchased him, he may cause him to perform Service.

The Chehteree, Bice, and Sooder, may each cause their respective Casts to perform Service; as a Chehteree may employ another Chehteree, a Bice may employ another Bice, and a Sooder may employ another Sooder: As also a superior Cast may employ the inferior Cast; as a Bramin may employ a Chehteree, a Chehteree may employ a Bice, and a Bice may employ a Sooder.

If a Man sells the Wife of a Bramin to any Person, or keeps her to himself, it is not approved; the Magistrate shall release the Woman, censure the Vender, and hold him amenable.

If a Person, in Time of Calamity, sells his Slave Girl to another Person, without her Consent, the Magistrate shall fine the Vender Two Hundred Puns of Cowries.  

A Woman, who is of good Character and Behaviour, and who, coming to a Person’s House, fixes her Abode there, shall not be obliged to perform any Labour or Service, nor shall she be delivered over to any Person; if she be obliged to perform Service, or be delivered over to any other Person, the Magistrate shall exact a Fine from the offending Party, and release the Woman.

If a Man commits Fornication with the Nurse who brought him up, the Magistrate shall fine him Two Hundred and Fifty Puns of Cowries.

If a Woman, impelled by any Calamity, should come to any Person, and remain with him, if he commits Fornication with that Woman, the Magistrate shall fine him Two Hundred and Fifty Puns of Cowries.  
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed May 19, 2021 5:37 am

CHAP. IX. Of Wages.  

SECT. I. Of the Wages of Servants.


Whatever Wages were promised to a Servant, at the Time of his being hired, according to that Promise, Wages shall be paid.

If a Man hath hired any Person to conduct a Trade for him, and no Agreement is made in regard to Wages, in that Case, the Person hired shall receive One Tenth of such Profit.

Ira Man hath hired any Person to attend his Cattle, and no Agreement is made in regard to Wages, in that Case, the Person hired shall receive One Tenth of the Milk produced by the Cows.

If a Man hath hired any Person for the Business of Agriculture (exclusive of driving the Plough) and no Agreement is made in regard to Wages, that Person shall receive One Tenth of the Crop produced.

Where several Persons are employed in the Execution of One Piece of Business, of the whole Wages paid for such Work, they shall each receive a respective Proportion, according to the Difference of their Assiduity.

If a Person hired for the Business of Agriculture should abscond, the Magistrate shall censure him, and take a Fine from him.

If a Person, receiving his Victuals in the House of his Master, performs the Business of plowing the Ground, and no Wages are stipulated, in that Case, whatever Crop is produced from that Ground, the Person so employed shall receive One Fifth of that Crop; if he does not receive his Victuals at the House of his Master while he performs the Business of ploughing, he shall receive One Third.

If a Person, who is hired to bring up any domestick Animals or Birds, should abscond, the Magistrate shall hold him amenable, and shall censure him.

If a Person, having received his Wages, doth not perform the Business for which he was hired, and at the same Time is not sick, the Magistrate shall cause him to give back to his Master whatever Wages he may have received, and shall fine him in Double of that Sum.

If a Person, not having agreed for Wages at the Time of being hired, shall have performed the Business allotted him, upon which Business no Profit whatever should arise, in that Case, according to the Wages that other People in the same Kingdom receive for the same Kind of Business, he also shall receive Wages at the same Rate from his Master.

If a Person, not receiving his Wages, but making a Stipulation for the Payment and Proportion of them, is employed upon any Business, and, during the Time of such Employment, absconds from his Business, without the Plea of Sickness, or any Calamity, the Magistrate shall fine him in whatever Sum was agreed upon for his Wages.

If a Person, being hired to perform any Business, should forsake that Business, at a Time when but little of it remains unfinished, without the Plea of Sickness, or any Calamity, he shall not receive any Wages.

If a Person, hath given another a Promise, saying, "I will execute your Business," and at the same Time neglects to begin it, and, without the Plea of Sickness, or any Calamity, afterwards should say, "I shall not be able to execute your Business," in that Case, the Magistrate shall cause him to perform the Business; if, after the Order of the Magistrate, that Person still neglects to execute the Business, the Magistrate shall fine him Eight Gold Coins, and, without giving him any Wages, shall oblige him to perform the Work agreed for.

If a Person, being allotted the Execution of any Work, should fall sick after he has begun the Work, and afterwards, upon his Recovery, goes on with the Performance of the Business, he shall receive Wages also for the Time of his Sickness.

If a Man, by the Fault of his Master, forsakes his Service, in that Case, he shall receive proportionate Wages for whatever Number of Days he continued in the Service.  

If a Servant, by his own Fault, spoils any Thing belonging to his Master, that Servant shall make it good; but if that Thing be spoiled by any unexpected Calamity, or Innovation of the Magistrate, the Servant shall not pay for it.

If a Person, without any Fault committed by his Servant, discharges the Servant, the Magistrate shall take from that Person One Hundred Puns of Cowries, and cause him to pay the Servant his Wages.

If a Servant maliciously hurts the Property of his Master, he shall give Twice as much to the Magistrate for a Fine, and make good the Property of his Master.

If a Servant, at the Command of his Master, commits Theft, or Murder, or any such Crimes, in that Case, it is not the Fault of the Servant, the Master only is guilty.

If a Beopary, hiring a Person to go to any specified Place, takes him along with himself, and the Beopary, having sold all his Goods on the intermediate Road, discharges that Person, in that Case, he shall give him Wages for whatever Part of the Road he hath gone; and as to the Part of the Way agreed upon, which remains untravelled, he shall give him Half of the stipulated Wages for that Part; and, if, as they are on their Journey to the Place specified, any Person should hinder the Beopary from carrying his Goods, or should steal them, in that Case, the Person hired shall receive Wages for that Part of the Journey already accomplished, and for what remains unperformed, he shall receive Nothing.

If a Person, going on a Journey, takes another with him, and this Person should fall sick upon the Road, or is unable to travel on Account of Fatigue, in that Case, the Person who took him shall remain Three Days upon the Spot, in waiting for him; if he does not thus wait for him, the Magistrate shall fine him.

If a Person, without receiving Wages, or Subsistence, or Cloaths, attends Ten Milch Cows, in that Case, he shall select, for his own Use, the Milk of that Cow, whichever produces the most; and if he attends more Cows than those, he shall take Milk, after the same Rate, in lieu of Wages.

If a Person attends One Hundred Cows, for the Space of One Year, without any Appointment of Wages, in that Case, by way of Wages, he shall take to himself One Heifer of Three Years old; and also, of all those Cows that produce Milk, whatever the Quantity may be, after every Eight Days, he shall take to himself the Milk, the entire Produce of One Day.

If a Person attends Two Hundred Cows, for the Space of One Year, without Appointment of Wages, in that Case, after every Eight Days, he shall take to himself the Milk, the entire Produce of One Day; and also, by way of Wages, One Cow in Milk, and her Calf.

Cattle shall be delivered over to the Cowherd in the Morning; the Cowherd shall tend the Herd the whole Day with Grass and Water, and in the Evening shall redeliver them to the Master, in the same Manner as they were intrusted to him; if, by the Fault of the Cowherd, any of the Cattle are hurt or stolen, that Cowherd shall make them good.

When a Person is employed, Night and Day, in attending Cattle, if One of them, by his Fault, should be hurt, he shall make it good.

If a Thief takes away, by Violence, a Cow or a Buffaloe, in the Owner's Sight, and the Cowherd, as soon as he knows the Circumstance, makes a violent Outcry, but is not able to preserve them, it is not to be imputed the Fault of the Cowherd; and, if in that Country, or in that particular Spot, any Calamity should happen, during which Time the domestick Animals come to any Damage, it is not to be imputed the Fault of the Cowherd, the Loss shall fall upon the Owner.

If a Cowherd drives away any Cows, Buffaloes, and such Kinds of Cattle, to feed, or on any Account carries them to another Place, he shall guard those Cattle, to the utmost of his Power, from any Accident of Flies, Thieves, Tigers, Pits, Rocks, or any such Kind of Misfortune; if he is unable to protect them from these Accidents, he shall, with a loud Voice, give Notice to the People there, or to the Owner of the Cattle; if he does this, no Fault lies upon the Cowherd; but if he neglects to act in this Manner, he shall make good the Cattle, and the Magistrate shall fine him Thirteen Puns of Cowries.

If a Cowherd should go to his own House, or to any other Place, and leave any sick Cattle upon the Plains, the Magistrate shall censure him.

If a Cow, or Buffaloe, or any such Kind of Cattle, should die of any Sickness, while the Cowherd, knowing the Remedy proper for such Sickness, neglected to administer it, the Magistrate shall censure him, and cause him to give such an Animal to the Owner of the Herd; he shall also fine him Thirteen Puns of Cowries, and cause the proportionate Part of his Wages to be paid him.

When a Cowherd hath led the Cattle to a distant Place to feed, if it happens, that One, or Two, or more of those should die of some Distemper, notwithstanding the Cowherd applied the proper Remedy, in that Case, the Cowherd shall carry the Head, or Tail, or Fore or Hind Foot, or some such convincing Proof taken from that Animal's Body, to the Owner of the Cattle; having done this, he shall be no farther answerable; if he neglects to act thus, he shall make good the Loss.

SECT. II. Of the Wages of Dancing Women or Prostitutes.

If a Prostitute, after having received Hire from any Person, neglects to go to him, whatever Money she received, she shall return back Twice as much; but if the Person who hired her does not require her Attendance, in consequence, the Money he hath given her shall not be returned.

If a Prostitute or Dancing Woman, having, at her own Request, received Hire from any Person, should be sick, fatigued with any Business, or melancholy on Account of any Calamity, or in waiting upon the Business of the Magistrate, at such Times, if the Person aforesaid requires her Attendance, and the Prostitute is unable to go, it is not her Fault; but, after her Recovery, or after the Termination of the Calamity, or after Dismission from the above-mentioned Business, she shall attend him; if she then neglects to go, she shall give back Double of the Hire she received.

If a Person, having settled the Sum to be given, hath hired a Prostitute, and attempts to commit any unnatural Act with her, he shall give her Eight Times the Sum stipulated, and pay a Fine also of Eight Times as much to the Magistrate.

If any Person verbally agrees with a Prostitute, and says, "I will employ you," and gives her Hire upon his own Account, but afterwards, instead of employing her himself, causes several other Men to enjoy her, in that Case, he shall pay her Eight Times as much as the Sum stipulated, and pay a Fine also of Eight Times as much to the Magistrate.

If a Man hath mentioned One particular Person's Name to a Prostitute, and, having given her a stipulated Hire in that Person's Name, carries her to another Man, the Magistrate shall fine that Man One Masheh of Gold ( 1/12 of Askrusie.)

If a Man, having agreed with a Prostitute for her Hire, goes to her accordingly, and afterwards does not pay her the stipulated Sum, then whatever Hire he had agreed to give, he shall pay Double of that Sum to the Woman, and a Fine also of Double of the same Sum to the Magistrate.

If a Person, having agreed for the Hire of a Prostitute to himself, takes a Number of Men with him to that Prostitute, and there enjoys her, in that Case, whatever Hire he had agreed to pay, he shall give her Double of such Hire for every Person whom he carried with him; and in like Manner shall pay Double of such Hire for every single Person to the Magistrate as a Fine.

If a Bherooah (i.e.) a Pimp or attendant Musician upon Prostitutes, and a Prostitute have any Dispute, the Mistress of the Girl shall settle the Dispute.
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed May 19, 2021 5:39 am

CHAP. X. Of Rent and Hire.

If a Person, paying Rent and Hire, builds a new House upon the Lands of any Stranger, and lives there, in that Case, whenever he quits that Place, and pays up his Rent without a Balance, he may do what he pleases with the House.

If a Person, without paying Rent, builds a new House upon the Lands of a Stranger, and lives there, in that Case, at the Time he quits that Place, he may not dispose of the House at his own Pleasure; the Owner of the Land shall also become Owner of the House.

If a Person hath hired any Thing for a stipulated Time, he shall pay the Rent accordingly.

If a Person hath hired any Thing from another, he shall continue to pay the Hire for it, until he returns it to the Owner.

If a Person hath hired any Thing from another, and does not apply to any Use the Things hired, he must pay the Rate of Hire for it, and be held to return it to the Owner.

If a Person, having agreed for the Rent of the Water of a Pool, or of the Water of a Well, or of the Water of a River, or of a House, does not pay it, the Magistrate shall cause such Rent and Hire to be paid.

If a Person hath hired any Thing from another, and the Thing so hired, without any unexpected Calamity, or Innovation of the Magistrate, be spoiled by the Fault of that Person, he shall make it good; if it be damaged by any natural Accident, or by the Innovation of the Magistrate, he shall not make it good.  
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed May 19, 2021 6:06 am

CHAP. XI. Of Purchase and Sale.

SECT. I. Of the Venders not delivering up to the Purchaser the Commodity sold, and of the Magistrates causing him to deliver it.


If a Person hath sold to any One, Glebe Land, or Houses, or any such Property, and, having received the due Value for it, forcibly detains the Premises sold, and himself expends the Profit arising upon them, upon the Purchaser's laying a Complaint of this Nature before the Magistrate, that Magistrate shall cause the purchased Premises, and also the Profit accruing upon them, to be delivered over to the Purchaser; and if, at the Time of entering upon the Premises, the Price has fallen, with respect to the Time when the Purchase was made, he shall cause such Overplus of Price also to be given back to the Purchaser, by the Vender; but, if the Price hath risen, the Vender shall not receive such Difference of Price, and the Magistrate shall also fine the Vender One Hundred Puns of Cowries.

If a Person sells any Thing, except Glebe Land, to any One, and, having received the due Value, forcibly detains the purchased Commodity, and himself expends the Profits arising upon it, upon the Purchaser's carrying a Complaint of this Nature before the Magistrate, that Magistrate shall cause the Commodity bought to be delivered over to the Purchaser; and also whatever Profit thereupon accruing, which the Seller has applied to his own Use; and if, at the Time of delivering up the Purchase, the Price of such Commodity has fallen, with respect to the Time when the Purchase was originally made, the Vender shall also make good such Difference of Price, and shall pay to the Magistrate a Fine of One Hundred Puns of Cowries.

If a Person, having sold any Thing to a Merchant who is gone into another Country to trade, hath received the due Value for it, and then forcibly detains the purchased Commodity, in that Case, upon the Merchant's preferring a Complaint of this Nature to the Magistrate, that Magistrate shall cause the purchased Commodity to be delivered to the Buyer, and also whatever the present Profit falls short of that Profit which the Merchant would have gained by selling it in another Kingdom, at the Time of his making the Purchase, the Magistrate shall cause that Difference also to be made good to the Purchaser, and shall likewise take to himself, as a Fine, One Hundred Puns of Cowries: This Ordination is according to Beeba-dur Tunmgurkar: —Approved.

If a Person hath purchased any Thing with Agreement to take away the Goods the same Day, and hath settled a Day of Payment, and the Vender also Consents to this, yet does not deliver up the Goods on the Purchaser's Demand, upon the Purchaser's preferring a Complaint of this Nature to the Magistrate, that Magistrate shall cause such Goods to be delivered to the Purchaser, and shall also make the Vender give up whatever Advantage he may have enjoyed, arising from the Goods so detained, and shall fine him moreover One Hundred Puns of Cowries; but the Purchaser shall be held to pay according to the Stipulation; nevertheless, if, with respect to the Time of the Purchase, the Price is since fallen, the Vender shall make it good.

If a Person, having purchased any undamaged Commodity, afterwards returns it back to the Vender, at whatever Price the Purchase was made, the Vender shall detain One Tenth of such Price, and return the other Nine Parts to the Purchaser, receiving back at the same Time the purchased Goods.

If any Person hath sold any Commodity to another, and does not deliver up such Commodity to the Purchaser upon his Demand, after which the Commodity receives any Damage, the Vender shall make it good.

If a Person hath sold any Commodity to another, and the Purchaser doth not make demand for the Goods purchased, which Goods are afterwards damaged by the Vender's Fault, the Vender shall make good the Loss; but if the Damage arises from any Calamity of the Season, or from any Innovation of the Magistrate, the Vender shall not make good the Loss.

If a Person, producing to another a Commodity without Blemish, and, having stipulated for a Price according to the Value of such Commodity, afterwards gives to the Purchaser damaged Goods, in that Case, the Magistrate shall cause the Vender to give Double of such Price to the Purchaser, and himself also shall take from the Vender Double of such Price as a Fine.

If a Person, conscious of a Blemish in his Goods, conceals that Blemish when he sells those Goods, in that Case, the Magistrate shall cause the Vender to give Double of the Price of the Goods to the Purchaser, and himself also shall take from him the same Sum as a Fine.

If Idiots, or Persons rendered senseless by Intoxication, or Men who cannot distinguish between their own Good and Evil, sell any Thing, it is not approved; if they will take such Commodity back again, they are authorized.

la each particular Season, every Commodity has its particular Price; if a Person, under the Influence of Fear, sells any Commodity remarkably under Value, with respect to the Season, it is not approved; and, if he will take it back again, he is authorized.

If a Man, having sold a Commodity to one Person, afterwards sells the same Commodity to another, the Magistrate shall cause him to give Double of such Commodity to the First Purchaser, and himself also shall take the same Sum as a Fine.

If a Person hath sold any Thing to another, with Agreement to deliver up the Purchase on a stipulated Day, and, upon his tendering the Goods on that Day accordingly, the Purchaser refuses to receive them, the Vender, in that Case, may dispose of them elsewhere: In this Case, the Vender is not in fault; and, if, on the Second Sale, any Loss should accrue to the Vender, the First Purchaser shall make it good.

If a Person, without Agreement of Price, hath delivered to another any Goods, under the Name of Selling, saying, “I will receive the Value of them," and afterwards a Dispute should arise concerning the Price, then, whatever was the current Price of such Commodity, at the Time of the Purchase, according to the Price at that Period, the Arbitrators appointed by the Buyer and Vender shall terminate the Dispute.

SECT. II. Of Returning, or not Returning Articles purchased.

If a Person hath bought the Seeds of Paddee, of Wheat, Barley, Maush, Doll, Gram, Mustard-Seed, or such Kinds of Grain, without Inspection, and in Ten Days discovers any Defect in that Grain, he may return such Grain, within that Space of Ten Days; if Ten Days are past, he shall never afterwards return it; if he inspected the Grain at the Time of Purchase, he then shall not have Power to return it, even within the Space of Ten Days.

If a Person buys Iron, without Inspection, and afterwards discovers a Defect in that Iron, he may return it back within the Space of One Day; if he inspected it at the Time of Purchase, he shall never afterwards return it; and also, if One Day is past, he shall not afterwards return it, though not inspected at the Time of Purchase.

If a Person hath bought of any One, Pearls, Coral, or Diamonds, or any other Species of Precious Stones, without Inspection, and in Seven Days discovers any Defect in them, he may return them within that Space of Seven Days; if Seven Days are past, he shall never afterwards return them; if he inspected them at the Time of Purchase, he shall not have Power to return them, even within the Space of Seven Days.

If a Person hath purchased a Slave Girl of any One, and within a Month discovers any Defect in that Girl, he may return her within that Space of One Month; if One Month be past, she never afterwards shall be given back; and, if the Purchase was made upon Inspection, she shall not be returned, even within the Space of One Month.

If a Person purchases of any One, Camels, Bullocks, Asses, or such Kinds of Beasts of Burthen, and in Five Days any Defect should be found in them, they may be returned within that Space of Five Days; if Five Days are past, they must never be returned; if they were inspected at the Time of Purchase, the Purchaser shall not have Power to return them, even within Five Days.

If a Person, without Inspection, purchases of any One, Cows, or Cow Buffaloes in Milk, and any Defect is found on them in Three Days, they may be returned within that Space of Three Days; if Three Days are past, they must never afterwards be returned; if the Purchase was made upon Inspection, the Purchaser shall not have Power to return them, even within Three Days.

If a Person hath bought a Slave of any One, and in Fifteen Days any Defect be found in him, he may be returned within that Space of Fifteen Days; if Fifteen Days are past, he can never afterwards be returned; if he was inspected at the Time of Purchase, he may not be returned, even within Fifteen Days.

If a Person hath bought Grass, or Fuel-Wood, or Bricks, or Paddee, or Wheat, or Barley, or any other Grain, or Wine, or Honey, or Ghee, or Sugar, or Candy, of the Species of Sweet, or Round Pepper, or Long Pepper, of the Species of Bitter, or Hurreh, or Beheerreh, and other Things, of the Species of Assus, or Astringent, or Shaddock, or Tamarinds, and other Things, of the Species of Acid, or Salt, or Cloth, or Gold, or Copper, or Tin, or Tutenague, or White Copper, or Brass, and any Defect should be found in them the same Day, they may be returned within the Space of that Day; if that Day be past, they can never afterwards be returned; if the Purchase was made on Inspection, they shall not be returned, even within the same Day.

If a Man purchases old Cloaths, he must never return them.

If a Person, who is always employed in buying and selling various Sorts of Commodities, and is well skilled in that Business, should purchase any Thing, he shall not at any Time have Power to return it upon a Discovery of a Defect.  
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Re: A Code of Gentoo Laws, by Nathaniel Brassey Halhed

Postby admin » Wed May 19, 2021 6:27 am

CHAP. XII. Of Boundaries and Limits.

To ascertain Boundaries, upon the Confines of those Boundaries shall be planted the Male and Female Banyan Tree, or the Plass Tree, or the Seemul (Cotton Tree) or the Saul, or the Toddy Tree, or the Zukkoom Tree, or the Lutta Tree, or the Bamboo, or a Mound of Earth must be made, or any large Tree, that produces not a great Number of Branches, must be planted; or by a Pool, a Well, a Bason, a Ditch, or any such Signs above-mentioned, shall the Boundaries be openly described; or a Temple shall be built there to Shaghur (i.e.) their Deity.

Dust, or Bones, or Seboos (i.e.) Bran, or Cinders, or Scraps of Earthen Ware, or the Hairs of a Cow's Tail, or the Seed of the Cotton Plant, all these Things above-mentioned, being put into an Earthen Pot, filled to the Brim, a Man must privately bury upon the Confines of his own Boundary, and there preserve Stones also, or Bricks, or Sea Sand, either of these Three Things may be buried, by way of Land-Mark of the Limits; for all these Things, upon remaining a long Time in the Ground, are not liable to rot, or become putrid; any other Thing also, which will remain a long Time in the Ground, without becoming rotten, or putrid, may be buried for the same Purpose: Those Persons, who, by any of these Methods, can shew the Line of their Boundaries, shall acquaint their Sons with the reflective Land-Marks of those Boundaries; and in the same Manner those Sons also shall explain the Signs of the Limits to their Children: If all Persons would act in this Manner, there could be no Dispute concerning Limits and Boundaries.

If a Suit, for the Limits of Ground, should arise, the Magistrate, having inspected the open and private Land-Marks above described, shall settle the Suit; if any Doubt or Perplexity should intervene, the Plaintiff and Defendant shall produce to the Magistrate their respective Accounts of Possession, under Proof, and the Suit of Boundaries shall be settled: If also there is no Land-Mark, and they cannot prove their respective Possessions, then the Plaintiff shall find out some old Men, well acquainted with the Boundaries, or the Person who first marked out the Spot, and settle the Dispute by their Means; but the Dispute of Limits shall not be settled by the Testimony of only One experienced Person, it shall not be determined by less than the Testimony of Four Persons.

If both the Plaintiff and the Defendant approve of some old and experienced Men for giving Testimony, in regard to the Settlement of a Dispute for Boundaries, then the Magistrate, or Arbitrator, shall question such Person as the Plaintiff and the Defendant have approved; and he, putting on a Red Necklace, and Red Cloaths, shall relate the true Circumstances of the Boundaries; if, after the Testimony of these Persons, the Suit is still undetermined, then the Magistrate shall select, and put the same Questions, to Four or Ten Persons of those who break up Faggot-Wood constantly in those Parts, or who are Hunters, or who, after the Grain is reaped, glean what is on the Ground; and these shall lay their Heads upon the Ground, making the due Reverences, and putting on Red Necklaces, and Red Cloaths, shall relate what they know of the Affair, saying, "If we give false Witness, may our good Actions all be reversed." In a Dispute concerning Boundaries, a single Person shall not give Testimony; but if the Plaintiff and Defendant join in approving a single Person, the Magistrate shall question him; and that Person, fasting for One whole Day, and putting on a Red Necklace, and Red Cloaths, with the due Reverences of laying his Head to the Ground, shall give his Testimony.

The Magistrate shall not settle a Dispute concerning Boundaries by the Testimony of a Person of bad Principles; if the Suit cannot be settled by Means above-mentioned, then the Magistrate shall go in Person to the Boundaries in Dispute, and inquire the Truth of the Affair from the Men in the Village, who were born in that Village, and who are well acquainted with the Boundaries; and those also who are gone to any other Part of the Country he shall summons, and, having upon Inquiries learnt the Truth from them, he shall settle the Dispute.

If the Magistrate, from Anger or Avarice, or any other bad Principle, gives the Land owned by one Person to another, it is not approved.

In a Place where there is any Dispute concerning the Boundaries of Villages, the Dispute concerning such Boundaries shall be settled by applying to the Men of Credit and Experience there; if there is a Dispute concerning Tillage, the Dispute shall be settled by applying to the Farmers in the Neighbourhood; and if there is a Dispute for the Ground on which a House stands, the Dispute shall be settled by applying to the Persons dwelling in the Neighbourhood of that House; if there are none of these, nor any Witness, nor any Land-Mark of the Boundary, nor any Account of the Usufruct, in that Case, the Magistrate shall mark out the Boundaries, according to his own Pleasure, and the Plaintiff and the Defendant shall both approve of the Decision; whichever of them shall not approve, the Magistrate shall fine him.

In a Place where Two Villages lie on the Two Banks of a River, if, from that River, a Nullah should spring out, which, after making an Elbow into the Land, returns again to the River, and some Glebe Land should remain fixed in its original Situation, between that Elbow of the Nullah and the main River, in inch a Case, the Glebe Land shall still belong to the Village that originally possessed it.
 
In a Place where there is a River, the Two Banks of which are Boundaries to the Estates of Two Persons, if that River should break off some Part of the Bank on one Side, and carry it over to the other, then the Owner of that Boundary, upon which the other broken Bank hath fallen, shall become Proprietor of that Bank so broken, and the Person whose Bank is so divided Shall no longer have any Property therein: If the River breaks off the whole of a Person's Land, and carries it over to the Boundaries of another Person, in that Case, the Person whose whole Ground is thus torn away shall still be the Owner thereof, and the Person upon whose Boundary such Land hath fallen shall not be entitled to Possession thereof.

If a Person, not being real Owner of any Land, should, by any fraudulent Means, get Possession of some Land, the Magistrate shall take from him that Land, or give it to some other Person (he is authorized so to do) and that Person shall not have Power to cause any Let or Molestation.

If a Person hath built a new House upon the waste Ground, and hath occupied it, then, if a powerful Man should erect a Mansion upon the same Place, and should join to his own Buildings the Spot of Ground occupied by the other, it is not approved.

Whatever Pool, or Well, a Person hath occupied, from the Commencement of building his House, another Person cannot afterwards prohibit him from using.

If a Man hath had a Window in his own Premises, another Person, having built a House very near to this, and living there with his Family, hath no Power to shut up that Man's Window; and, if this Second Person would make a Window in his own House, on the Side of it that is towards the other Man's House, and that Man, at the Time of his Constructing such Window, forbids and impedes him, he shall not have Power to make a Window; if, after the Window is finished, the other Person should cause him any Trouble, the Magistrate shall take a Fine from that Person, without causing the Window aforesaid to be shut up.

If the Drain of a Man's House hath, for a long Series of Time, passed through the Buildings belonging to another Person, that Person shall not give any Impediment thereto; but if that Person caused any Impediment at the first Commencement of such Drain, then the other shall not have Power to carry his Drain that Way; if that Person, at the Commencement of the Drain, gave no Interruption, yet afterwards causes the ether any Trouble, he shall be amenable to the Sircar of the Magistrate.

If a Man hath made a lofty Building for a Seat, and goes up thither to sit, then, if, at the Time of the Commencement of the aforesaid Building, none of his Neighbours gave him any Impediment, they shall not afterwards have Power to Molest him; if afterwards they impede and cause him any Trouble, they shall be amenable to the Magistrate.

Any House, which hath a Door in each of the Four Sides, if, at the first building of the House, no Person gave any Impediment to the Construction of such Doors, and yet should afterwards attempt to impede, he shall not have Power to do it; if he should then give the Owner of the House any Trouble or Molestation, he shall be amenable to the Magistrate.

If, from the Thatch Roof of any House, the Water falls off into a Place adjoining to that House, but the Property of another Man, then, if the Person, upon whole Ground such Water falls, gave no Impediment at the Beginning, he shall not afterwards have Power to impede; if, after the Completion of the House, he gives the other any Trouble or Molestation, he shall be amenable to the Magistrate; and, if a Person makes a Sejjah (or Fenced Terras) upon the Top of his House, another shall not impede him.

If there is an old passage for Men and Cattle through the Grounds of any Person, that Person has not Power to stop up such Road.

A Person may not make a Necessary-House adjoining to the House of any Person; nor shall he fling out Rubbish and Filth there, nor dig a Ditch.

A Person shall not plant the Tree Kooloo, or Cocoa Nut, from whence bitter Oil is extracted, adjoining to another Man's House; if he plants them there, he must leave the Breadth of Two Cubits between the Trees and the House.

A Door through which all People pass, and a Road upon which all People travel, no One shall shut, upon Pretence that it is within his own Boundaries; nor shall he make that Path a Place to piss, or a Recepticle for Filth, or for Sand to scower the Vessels wherein the Filth is carried; nor shall he make such a Recepticle near to a House; nor, when he has swept his House, shall he throw the Rubbish and Ashes into the Path; nor shall he ease himself there; neither shall he plant Trees there.

If a Person shuts up the Path where the Magistrate, or the Magistrate's Officers, pass and repass, he shall be amenable.

If a Person, in the Time of no general Calamity, throws Rubbish and Ashes upon the High Road, or makes a Hole there, or eases himself thereon, a single Time, or plants Trees there, the Magistrate shall take a Fine from him of One Masheh of Gold, and cause him to throw away the Filth with his own Hands.

If a Person, during the Time of a general Calamity, is guilty of the Practices above-mentioned, in the High Road, he shall not pay a Fine, nor be obliged to throw away the Filth with his own Hands.

If a Person, in the Time of no general Calamity, constantly throws Rubbish, Filth, and other Things above specified into the High Road, the Magistrate shall fine him Two Cahawuns of Cowries, and oblige him to throw the Filth into some other Place with his own Hands.

If, in Times either of Calamity, or of no Calamity, a feeble old Man, or a Child, or a Woman big with Child, should throw any of the Things above-mentioned into the High Road, they shall neither pay a Fine, nor be obliged to throw away the Filth with their own Hands; but the Magistrate shall caution them to be more careful for the future.

If a Person throws any Filth into a Garden, or near the Steps of a Pool, the Magistrate shall fine him One Hundred Puns of Cowries, and oblige him to throw away the Filth with his own Hands.

If a Person throws away Filth into the Places of Zeearut (or religious Walks) or near the Steps of a Pool, a Well, or Bason of Water, so that People are prevented from going thither, and cannot Use the Water of such Pool, Well or Bason, the Magistrate shall fine the Offender Two Hundred and Fifty Puns of Cowries, and oblige him to throw away the Filth with his own Hands.

If between the Boundaries of Two Persons any Tree should grow, the Flowers and Fruit of such Trees shall be indiscriminately used by both Parties.
 
If Trees be on the Boundaries of one Person, and the Branches of those Trees extend over the Boundaries of another, then the Person, into whose Premises such Branches extend, is Proprietor of those Branches, and may do with them as he pleases.

If a Person, by causing violent Apprehension in another Person, occupies that Person's House, or Pool, or Garden, or Tillage, the Magistrate shall cause the Possession thereof to revert to the Owner, and shall fine the other Person One Hundred Puns of Cowries.

If a Person, having by Mistake affirmed, that the House, Pool, Well, Garden, or Glebe, or any such Things, the Property of another, belonged to himself; hath applied them accordingly to his own Use, the Magistrate shall fine him Two Hundred Puns of Cowries, and cause the Possession thereof to revert to the real Proprietor.

If a Person should dig up by the Roots a Tree planted for a Land-Mark, as before specified, it is a Crime, and the Magistrate shall fine him Two Hundred Puns of Cowries.

If a Person, by removing a Land-Mark, fraudulently appropriates to himself an additional Piece of Land, the Magistrate shall take from him a Fine of Five Hundred and Forty Puns of Cowries, and shall give back the Ground to the Owner.  

If a Person entirely breaks the dividing Ridge between the Tillage of any Two Persons, the Magistrate shall fine him One Hundred and Eight Puns of Cowries.

If a Person hath destroyed much of the Tillage of another Man, and appropriated a larger Piece of Ground than what belongs to him, the Magistrate shall fine him One Thousand and Eight Puns of Cowries, and shall cause him to give back the Land to the Owner.

If a Person, to serve his own Tillage, steals the Water from another Man's Pool, and waters his Ground therewith, the Magistrate shall fine him One Hundred and Eight Puns of Cowries.
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