Hindu Law and Judicature Part 11

[Footnote 82: A guild (_sreni_) signifies those of one calling, whether of the same cast or not. (_M._)]

[Footnote 83: Literally "before, before," which implies their successive rank and importance, _i. e._ that an appeal lies from the family to the guild, and so on.]

[Footnote 84: Literally "outside." The Commentator explains it--outside of the town, &c.]

[Footnote 85: _artta_ out of health; evidently meaning here, the victim of disease so as to be unfit for the business of life.]

[Footnote 86: The word (_vyasani_) may also be rendered, suffering calamity; and the Commentator explains the use made of it in the text to be, a person who is unhappy either by reason of the absence of the object of his desire or by reason of the presence of what is disagreeable to him. We have however preferred the alternative meaning which the word admits of.]

[Footnote 87: &c., _i. e._ paralysed by any cause or emotion whatever.

See Manu, ch. 8, sl. 163.]

[Footnote 88: by public officers and delivered to the king. (_M._)]

[Footnote 89: The Commentator considers the treasure-trove here alluded to, to be buried wealth, of which there is no claimant.]

[Footnote 90: Manu, ch. 8, sl. 37, 38.]

[Footnote 91: The Commentator explains--of the whole world!]

[Footnote 92: _i. e._ by any other than the monarch or a _learned_ brahma?. (_M._)]

[Footnote 93: The Commentator (referring to Vasish?ha and Gautama) reads this,--the finder shall take a sixth, the monarch the residue--such being the converse of the plain language used.]

[Footnote 94: Manu ch. 8, sl. 40: in which, to the monarch who fails to make rest.i.tution is imputed the guilt of the thief. Sir Wm. Jones'

translation of this pa.s.sage is too indefinite.]

[Footnote 95: _i. e._ The brahma? borrower gives two hundredths, the kshattriya three hundredths, &c. (_M._) But Jagannat'ha, in his Digest (Colebrooke, B. 1, c. 1, s. 28) interprets the text inversely, _viz._ the brahma? creditor takes two _suvar?as_ in a hundred, the kshattriya three, and so on. Manu, ch. 8, sl. 140-142.]

[Footnote 96: where there is risk of life or property. (_M._)]

[Footnote 97: as well brahma?s as others, (_M._) Manu ch. 8, sl.

157.]

[Footnote 98: _scil._ Notwithstanding the above provisions of the law, where nothing is expressly stipulated, whatever interest is contracted for must be given and taken.]

[Footnote 99: oil, ghee, &c. (_M._)]

[Footnote 100: Manu enumerates five modes of enforcing or recovering a debt; persuasion, law-suits, artifice, worrying, force: ch. 8, sl.

49.]

[Footnote 101: as a fine. (_M._)]

[Footnote 102: to defray the cost of adjudication. (_M._)]

[Footnote 103: This includes one of equal cast (_M._) Manu ch. 8, sl.

177; also ch. 9, sl. 229.]

[Footnote 104: in conformity with the usages of his cla.s.s. (_M._)]

[Footnote 105: This includes every debtor of superior cast to the creditor. (_M._)]

[Footnote 106: This rule of course (as observed by the Commentator) includes the head or manager of the family himself, if alive. Manu, ch. 8, sl. 166.]

[Footnote 107: for drinking. (_M._)]

[Footnote 108: _e.g._ what is promised to a flatterer, a mountebank, a panegyrist, a prize-fighter, &c. (_M._) Manu ch. 8, sl. 159.]

[Footnote 109: The Commentator explains this to mean, an acknowledgment by the husband on his death-bed or when about to go abroad.]

[Footnote 110: Colebrooke's translation of this pa.s.sage adds "or son,"

but this is unauthorised either by the text or the Commentary.]

[Footnote 111: The Commentator adduces in ill.u.s.tration, his being afflicted with incurable disease.]

[Footnote 112: and this, notwithstanding they are wholly without patrimony or estate derived from their father. (_M._)]

[Footnote 113: that there is such a debt.]

[Footnote 114: capable of inheriting and managing. (_M._)]

[Footnote 115: _i. e._ marries.]

[Footnote 116: This is the reading sanctioned by the Commentator, _viz._ _putro' nanya'sritadravyah_, signifying, that, on failure of those before designated, a son who would be otherwise incapable, by reason of blindness, &c. is to be deemed capable. Another reading may be, as suggested by the Commentator, _putro nu'aya'sritadraoyah_, "not the son whose paternal estate another holds," which is adopted by Colebrooke, and by his author, Jagannat'ha, (Dig. B. 1, ch. 5, s.

171)]

[Footnote 117: _e.g._ "Give such a one money, he will not deceive you; he is the son of such a one." (_M._)]

[Footnote 118: "If he do not pay, I will." (_M._)]

[Footnote 119: Manu ch. 8, sl. 160-162.]

[Footnote 120: metaphorically in the original "If all stand under the same shade:" The Commentator explains.]

[Footnote 121: lit. "publicly."]

[Footnote 122: as of a field, garden, &c. (_M._) Manu, ch. 8, sl.

143.]

[Footnote 123: fire, water, &c. (_M._)]

[Footnote 124: The Commentator excludes from this exception a culpable act of the monarch, but the text is general.]

[Footnote 125: Even though there be a written memorial of the pledge, and attested; yet, without actual acceptance and possession, it is incomplete. (_M._)]

[Footnote 126: _charitrabandhakam. charitra_ (the mode or the subject of pledge) is defined by the Commentator to be either, moral worth, or, the merit earned by performance of religious rites, such as ablution in the Ganges, &c. We have rendered it as the mode, not subject, of pledge. See Jagannat'ha's Digest (Colebrooke), Bk. 1, ch.

3, sec. 2, text cxxiv.]

[Footnote 127: Receiving on one's plighted word (_satyankara_) signifies, borrowing on a solemn promise to repay. The application is,--where, at the time of handing over the pledge, it was expressly declared by the debtor, that the loan should be repaid, even if increased to two-fold the original sum, and the pledge not abandoned; in such case also, the debtor should be made to repay twice the amount of the debt contracted.(_M._)