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Art. XXI.—Some Account of the Systems of Law and Police as recognised in the State of Nepál

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2011

Brian Houghton Hodgson Esq
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Extract

[With a view to obtain correct and authentic information on the subject of Nepálese law, both in its theoretical principles and practical administration, Mr. Hodgson addressed a series of questions to several individuals who were judged most capable of replying to them in a full and satisfactory manner. Copies of these series of interrogatories, with their respective answers, have been communicated by him to the Royal Asiatic Society (together with a separate paper on crimes and punishments); and the following article has been drawn up from a careful comparison of the whole, excluding as much as possible the repetitions unavoidably occurring, in many instances, in the various answers to any particular question. A reference to the works of Kirkpatrick, Hamilton, and others, will shew how little has hitherto been contributed to the knowledge of Europeans respecting Oriental systems of jurisprudence, as far as regards the kingdom of Nepal; it is therefore particularly gratifying to be enabled to produce so complete a view of the subject as has been furnished by Mr. Hodgson, whose perseverance and energy in obtaining an acquaintance with these and other matters hitherto kept sacred from all strangers, are only equalled by the intelligent and liberal manner in which he communicates to the public the information he has acquired.—Ed.

Type
Original Communications
Information
Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society , Volume 1 , Issue 2 , July 1834 , pp. 258 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Asiatic Society 1834

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References

* Also called Bháradár Sab'há, or great council of state.

† Also called Kamári Chok.

‡ The government, or its representative.

* A superintending minister of justice, who does not try causes, but watches over the conduct of the court—B. Hamilton.

† A court for questions relating to land revenue.—Ed.

‡ Dasahra and Dewáli; public festivals.

* A high law officer; the chancellor.

† See Question XXX.

* Panch, “five,” and the Arabic, “a crime, sin, fault.”

* A kind of whip.—Ed.

† Both places are situated in the great valley, the former at the distance of eight, the latter at that of only two miles from Kat'hmandu.—B.H.H.

* This fine or tax is called dasórud-bis-ónd.

* Pújá, worship—adoration.—Ed.

† Called góla.

‡ This fee is called narkouli.

§ A very low tribe.

Surya, the sun; Chandra, the moon; Varuna, the regent of the ocean; Yáma, the deity presiding over the infernal regions.—Ed.

Vide answer to Question LXIII.

** Hence this fee or tax is called pagrí (turban).

* The vilest of the vile.

* Note from Mr. Hodgson's remarks on the great military road which traverses the valley of Nepál. “This state, instead of collecting its revenues, and paying its establishments out of them, prefers the method of assigning its revenual claims directly to its functionaries, and leaving them to collect the amount; while, as judicial follows revenual administration in Nepál, the government feels little concern about territorial divisions: in the whole country westward from Kat'hmandu, as far as the Narayáni river; and eastward as far as the Dúd Kósi river, there is no specific arrondissement, district, or zilla. These large tracts of country are assigned principally to the Compú, or army stationed in the capital; and their judicial administration is for the most part in the hands of deputies of the officers, supervised by certain migratory royal judges, called mountain-bicháris.”

† Dr. Buchanan Hamilton observes, that ordeals were seldom used until the Gorkha family seized the government; since which time they have become very frequent.—Account of Nepál, p. 103.Google Scholar

* Vide answer to Question XXX.Google Scholar

† Srid'hán, dowry.

* One of the respondents—the person referred to by Mr. Hodgson in his Memoir on the Law of Adultery in Nepál, p. 48 of this volume—voluntarily appended some remarks of his own to these queries, which will be found in substance in the same passage.—Ed.