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JUDICIAL PROCEDURE.
lawsuits; and of these, each succeeding one is superior to the one preceding him in order.
*8. Judicial procedure has four feet, four bases, four means, it benefits four, reaches four, and produces four results. This has been declared.
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*9. It has eight members, eighteen topics, a hundred branches, three efficient causes, two modes of plaint, two openings, and two issues.
* 10. Virtue, a judicial proceeding, documentary evidence, and an edict from the king are the four feet of a lawsuit. Each following one is superior to the one previously named.
*11. There virtue is based on truth; a judicial proceeding (rests) on the statements of the witnesses; documentary evidence (rests) on declarations reduced
11. Where both parties adhere strictly to truth in their statements, there is virtue or justice clearly enough, judicial procedure, written proof, and a royal edict being quite unnecessary in that case. Where either of the two parties is suspected to have made a false statement, judicial procedure has to be resorted to, which depends on the evidence given by witnesses. Documentary evidence (karitra) is where the statements of witnesses are consulted, written in their own hand, on a leaf, or on birch-bark, or on a strip of rind, or some other writing material. That suit, however, which has been decided by an edict from the king himself, is superior to all the rest, according to the saying, 'What has been decided in a village, goes into the town. What has been decided in the town, goes before the king. What has been decided by the king, though wrongly decided, cannot be tried anew.' A. The term karitra has been rendered in conformity with this interpretation, which is confirmed by the remarks of Kandesvara on this sloka. Other commentators and several MSS. of the Nârada-smriti read svîkarane or prasnakarane for pustakarane. These commentators explain the term karitra in conformity with a text of Brihaspati, 'Whatever is practised by a man, proper or improper, in accordance with local usage, is termed karitra (custom).'
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| SR No. | 007685 |
| Book Title | Grihya Sutras |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | Hermann Oldenberg |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1886 |
| Total Pages | 2642 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 49 MB |