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242
QUOTATIONS FROM NÂRADA.
III, 12.
it rests with the defendant; but in a plea of former judgment, all that is required in the shape of proof is to produce the previous decree.
12. The defendant is at liberty to delay his answer for three days, or for five days even.
IV. WRITINGS AND POSSESSION. 1. A writing (or document) should be signed by witnesses, the (natural) order of ideas and syllables should not be interrupted, local customs and general rules should be observed in it, and it should be complete in every respect.
2. A document signed by the king with his own hand, or sealed with his own seal, is declared to be a royal document, and is (considered as equal to) an attested document in all affairs.
3. A document suspected (to have a blemish) is valid, unless the debtor should have clearly indicated its blemish; and so (is the validity of) a document which is more than twenty years old (established by mere lapse of time).
4. In the beginning, gift is a cause (of ownership);
12. Vy. K. pratyarthî labhate kâlam tryaham pañkâham eva vâ i
IV, 1. Smritik. lekhyam tu sâkshimat kâryam aviluptakramaksharam desâkârasthitiyutam samagram sarvavastushu a
2. Smritik.; Vîram. P. 195 (Vasishtha').
3. Smritik.; Vîram. p. 200 (Katyâyana '). The validity of a document having been called into doubt, because it either has a blemish or has been vitiated by the lapse of a considerable time, it becomes valid through proof by ordeal. This is the meaning, mere lapse of time being insufficient to produce validity. Smritik. This interpretation can hardly be correct, as ordeals are not referred to in this text.
4. M. Macn. III, 6, 5. In the case of the first man (possessor)
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