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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1A judge who remains silent, or who, when asked to pass a sentence, says what is contrary to justice, is criminal, i.e. a great sinner. A. Nearly identical with Manu VIII, 13. 11. Those judges who sit mute in the judicial assembly, being apparently engaged in meditating over an altogether different affair than that for which the parties have appeared before the tribunal, and who fail to declare at the proper time the victory of the one party and the defeat of the other, all such persons shall be looked upon by the king as equally criminal with those who pass a false sentence. A. 12,13. These two paragraphs belong together. If the judges THE JUDGMENT. 39 members of the court obtain their absolution, and the guilt goes to the offender, when the guilty person is punished. 14. He who, having entered the court, delivers a strange opinion, ignoring the true state of the case, resembles a blind man who regardless swallows fish together with the bones. 15. Therefore let every assessor of the court deliver a fair opinion after having entered the court, discarding love and hatred, in order that he may not go to hell. *16. As an experienced surgeon extracts a dart by means of surgical instruments, even so the chief were to acquit the criminal, and unjustly to condemn the innocent party, the iniquity or sinful action committed by the unjust decree would go into four parts, i.e. a quarter of it would go respectively to the shares of the perpetrator of the deed, of the witnesses, of all the assessors of the court, and of the king. If, however, the guilty person alone is condemned, i.e. if the criminal party loses his cause, the king becomes free from guilt, the judges are free from responsibility, and the whole guilt falls on the perpetrator of the iniquitous deed. A. Medhftithi, in commenting on the identical rule of Manu (VIII, 18), observes that the guilt goes to the king, in case the sentence had been passed by him in person. Otherwise it goes to his chief judge. Identical with Manu VIII, 18, 19, &c. 14. One whose eyesight is unimpaired, does not eat fish without having previously removed the bones, which would injure his mouth, his tongue, and his palate. A blind man, on the contrary, eats fish together with the bones, because he is unable to remove them. The case is similar with the eye of knowledge. A. 1g. Considering all this, let a judge, after having entered the court of judicature, reject every kind of bias, and deliver a fair, i.e. an impartial opinion, in order that he may not go to hell burdened with the crime of a guilty person (acquitted by him). A. 16. As a skilful surgeon conversant with the art of extracting a dart, extracts it, though it may be difficult to get at and invisible, by the application of surgical instruments, of spells, and other manifold artful practices, even so a judge shall extract the dart of 40 NARADA. judge must extract the dart (of iniquity) from the lawsuit.
2judge must extract the dart (of iniquity) from the lawsuit. *17, When the whole aggregate of the members of a judicial assembly declare, ‘This is right, the lawsuit loses the dart, otherwise the dart remains in it. 18, That is not a judicial assembly where there are no elders. They are not elders who do not pass a just sentence. That is not a just sentence in which there is no truth. That is not truth which is vitiated by error. iniquity which has entered a lawsuit, by employing the artful expedients of judicial investigation. A. 17. ‘The members of a judicial assembly’ are those who have come together for the trial of a cause. A. 18. This paragraph, in the original, is a verse composed in the Trishfubh metre, and has the look of an old versus memorialis. Though the author of the Nférada-smrzti has incorporated it in his work, its contents do not quite fit in with his own ideas regarding the constitution of a judicial assembly, and the prominent place which he assigns to the chief judge of the king. FIRST TITLE OF LAW. Tue Law. or DEsrt. 1. Payment of a Debt. *1, Which debts must be paid, which other debts must not be paid; by whom, and in what form (they must be paid); and the rules of gift and receipt, (all that) is comprised under the title of ‘Recovery of a Debt.’ *2. The father being dead, it is incumbent on the sons to pay his debt, each according to his share (of the inheritance), in case they are divided in interests. Or, if they are not divided in interests, the debt must The twenty-five sections into which the law of debt has been divided in this translation correspond in the main, though not throughout, to the headings proposed by Asah4ya in different portions of his work. Asah4ya, as pointed out before, is not consistent with himself in this respect. It is curious to note that the whole law of evidence, excepting the general rules laid down in the preceding chapters, has been inserted by Narada between the divers tules of the law of debt. He seems to have followed in this respect, as in other particulars, the example set to him by the earlier legislators, such as Manu and Y4gfiavalkya. I, 1, 2. If a debt contracted by the father has not been repaid during his lifetime, by himself, it must be restored, after his death, by his sons. Should they separate, they shall repay it according to their respective shares. If they remain united, they shall pay it in common, or the manager shall pay it for the rest, no matter whether he may be the senior of the family or a younger member, who, during the absence of the oldest, or on account of his incapacity, has undertaken the management of the family estate. A. 42 NARADA. I, 3. be discharged by that son who becomes manager of the family estate. * 3. That debt which has been contracted by an undivided paternal uncle, brother, or mother, for the benefit of the household, must be discharged wholly by the heirs.
3A. 42 NARADA. I, 3. be discharged by that son who becomes manager of the family estate. * 3. That debt which has been contracted by an undivided paternal uncle, brother, or mother, for the benefit of the household, must be discharged wholly by the heirs. *4. If a debt has been legitimately inherited by the sons, and left unpaid by them, such debt of the grandfather must be discharged by his grandsons. The liability for it does not include the fourth in descent. *5. Fathers wish to have sons on their own account, thinking in their minds, ‘He will release me from all obligations towards superior and inferior beings.’ 3. A debt contracted for the household, by an unseparated paternal uncle or brother, or by the mother, must be paid by all the heirs. If they are separate in affairs they must pay for it according to their shares. If they live in union of interests, they must repay it in common. A. 2, 3. Manu VIII, 166; Vishau VI, 27, 35, 36; Ya4gnavalkya II, 45, 50. 4. A. proposes an explanation of this paragraph which-is not in accordance with its literal meaning, and decidedly opposed to the principles of a sound method of interpretation. He says that the term ‘ grandsons’ must be taken to relate to the grandsons of the debtor’s sons, i.e. to the great-grandsons of the debtor, and that the term ‘the fourth descendant’ signifies the fourth in descent from the debtor’s sons, i.e. the fifth in descent from the debtor himself. This assumption, he says, is necessary in order to reconcile the present rule with the statements of all other legislators, and with Nérada’s own rule (par. 6). Vishwu VI, 27, 28; Yag#avalkya II, 50. 5. A. uses this paragraph in support of his theory that the obligation to pay the debts of an ancestor extends to the fourth in descent. As the great-grandson has to discharge ‘the debt to superior beings,’ i.e. as he has to offer the customary Sraddhas to his great-grandfather, so he is liable for debts contracted by him, which have not been repaid.. I, 6. DEBTS. 43 6. Three deceased (ancestors) must be worshipped, three must be reverenced before the rest. These
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1A judge who remains silent, or who, when asked to pass a sentence, says what is contrary to justice, is criminal, i.e. a great sinner. A. Nearly identical with Manu VIII, 13. 11. Those judges who sit mute in the judicial assembly, being apparently engaged in meditating over an altogether different affair than that for which the parties have appeared before the tribunal, and who fail to declare at the proper time the victory of the one party and the defeat of the other, all such persons shall be looked upon by the king as equally criminal with those who pass a false sentence. A. 12,13. These two paragraphs belong together. If the judges THE JUDGMENT. 39 members of the court obtain their absolution, and the guilt goes to the offender, when the guilty person is punished. 14. He who, having entered the court, delivers a strange opinion, ignoring the true state of the case, resembles a blind man who regardless swallows fish together with the bones. 15. Therefore let every assessor of the court deliver a fair opinion after having entered the court, discarding love and hatred, in order that he may not go to hell. *16. As an experienced surgeon extracts a dart by means of surgical instruments, even so the chief were to acquit the criminal, and unjustly to condemn the innocent party, the iniquity or sinful action committed by the unjust decree would go into four parts, i.e. a quarter of it would go respectively to the shares of the perpetrator of the deed, of the witnesses, of all the assessors of the court, and of the king. If, however, the guilty person alone is condemned, i.e. if the criminal party loses his cause, the king becomes free from guilt, the judges are free from responsibility, and the whole guilt falls on the perpetrator of the iniquitous deed. A. Medhftithi, in commenting on the identical rule of Manu (VIII, 18), observes that the guilt goes to the king, in case the sentence had been passed by him in person. Otherwise it goes to his chief judge. Identical with Manu VIII, 18, 19, &c. 14. One whose eyesight is unimpaired, does not eat fish without having previously removed the bones, which would injure his mouth, his tongue, and his palate. A blind man, on the contrary, eats fish together with the bones, because he is unable to remove them. The case is similar with the eye of knowledge. A. 1g. Considering all this, let a judge, after having entered the court of judicature, reject every kind of bias, and deliver a fair, i.e. an impartial opinion, in order that he may not go to hell burdened with the crime of a guilty person (acquitted by him). A. 16. As a skilful surgeon conversant with the art of extracting a dart, extracts it, though it may be difficult to get at and invisible, by the application of surgical instruments, of spells, and other manifold artful practices, even so a judge shall extract the dart of 40 NARADA. judge must extract the dart (of iniquity) from the lawsuit.
2judge must extract the dart (of iniquity) from the lawsuit. *17, When the whole aggregate of the members of a judicial assembly declare, ‘This is right, the lawsuit loses the dart, otherwise the dart remains in it. 18, That is not a judicial assembly where there are no elders. They are not elders who do not pass a just sentence. That is not a just sentence in which there is no truth. That is not truth which is vitiated by error. iniquity which has entered a lawsuit, by employing the artful expedients of judicial investigation. A. 17. ‘The members of a judicial assembly’ are those who have come together for the trial of a cause. A. 18. This paragraph, in the original, is a verse composed in the Trishfubh metre, and has the look of an old versus memorialis. Though the author of the Nférada-smrzti has incorporated it in his work, its contents do not quite fit in with his own ideas regarding the constitution of a judicial assembly, and the prominent place which he assigns to the chief judge of the king. FIRST TITLE OF LAW. Tue Law. or DEsrt. 1. Payment of a Debt. *1, Which debts must be paid, which other debts must not be paid; by whom, and in what form (they must be paid); and the rules of gift and receipt, (all that) is comprised under the title of ‘Recovery of a Debt.’ *2. The father being dead, it is incumbent on the sons to pay his debt, each according to his share (of the inheritance), in case they are divided in interests. Or, if they are not divided in interests, the debt must The twenty-five sections into which the law of debt has been divided in this translation correspond in the main, though not throughout, to the headings proposed by Asah4ya in different portions of his work. Asah4ya, as pointed out before, is not consistent with himself in this respect. It is curious to note that the whole law of evidence, excepting the general rules laid down in the preceding chapters, has been inserted by Narada between the divers tules of the law of debt. He seems to have followed in this respect, as in other particulars, the example set to him by the earlier legislators, such as Manu and Y4gfiavalkya. I, 1, 2. If a debt contracted by the father has not been repaid during his lifetime, by himself, it must be restored, after his death, by his sons. Should they separate, they shall repay it according to their respective shares. If they remain united, they shall pay it in common, or the manager shall pay it for the rest, no matter whether he may be the senior of the family or a younger member, who, during the absence of the oldest, or on account of his incapacity, has undertaken the management of the family estate. A. 42 NARADA. I, 3. be discharged by that son who becomes manager of the family estate. * 3. That debt which has been contracted by an undivided paternal uncle, brother, or mother, for the benefit of the household, must be discharged wholly by the heirs.
3A. 42 NARADA. I, 3. be discharged by that son who becomes manager of the family estate. * 3. That debt which has been contracted by an undivided paternal uncle, brother, or mother, for the benefit of the household, must be discharged wholly by the heirs. *4. If a debt has been legitimately inherited by the sons, and left unpaid by them, such debt of the grandfather must be discharged by his grandsons. The liability for it does not include the fourth in descent. *5. Fathers wish to have sons on their own account, thinking in their minds, ‘He will release me from all obligations towards superior and inferior beings.’ 3. A debt contracted for the household, by an unseparated paternal uncle or brother, or by the mother, must be paid by all the heirs. If they are separate in affairs they must pay for it according to their shares. If they live in union of interests, they must repay it in common. A. 2, 3. Manu VIII, 166; Vishau VI, 27, 35, 36; Ya4gnavalkya II, 45, 50. 4. A. proposes an explanation of this paragraph which-is not in accordance with its literal meaning, and decidedly opposed to the principles of a sound method of interpretation. He says that the term ‘ grandsons’ must be taken to relate to the grandsons of the debtor’s sons, i.e. to the great-grandsons of the debtor, and that the term ‘the fourth descendant’ signifies the fourth in descent from the debtor’s sons, i.e. the fifth in descent from the debtor himself. This assumption, he says, is necessary in order to reconcile the present rule with the statements of all other legislators, and with Nérada’s own rule (par. 6). Vishwu VI, 27, 28; Yag#avalkya II, 50. 5. A. uses this paragraph in support of his theory that the obligation to pay the debts of an ancestor extends to the fourth in descent. As the great-grandson has to discharge ‘the debt to superior beings,’ i.e. as he has to offer the customary Sraddhas to his great-grandfather, so he is liable for debts contracted by him, which have not been repaid.. I, 6. DEBTS. 43 6. Three deceased (ancestors) must be worshipped, three must be reverenced before the rest. These
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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