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RULES OF PROCEDURE.
first of all; then the title of law must be ascertained; thereupon follows the cure; and the decision comes at the end. These are the four parts of a trial.
37. Avoiding carefully the violation of either the sacred law or the dictates of prudence, he should conduct the trial attentively and skilfully.
38. As a huntsman traces the vestiges of wounded deer in a thicket by the drops of blood, even so let him trace justice.
* 39. Where the rules of sacred law and the dictates of prudence are at variance, he must discard the dictates of prudence and follow the rules of sacred law.
40. When it is impossible to act up to the precepts of sacred law, it becomes necessary to adopt a method founded on reasoning, because custom decides everything and overrules the sacred law.
41. Divine law has a subtile nature, and is occult
be cured like an illness, by carrying it through the four parts of a judicial proceeding. A.
38. As deer in a thick forest is difficult to catch, even so justice is difficult of attainment. A huntsman traces the game by following up the drops of blood to the spot, though the soil may be covered by thick grass, where the wounded deer is seen by him. Similarly a king, following the course of the lawsuit, traces law to the point where justice shines forth clearly. A. Manu VIII, 44.
39. Yâgħavalkya II, 21.
40. According to A., this verse inculcates the superiority of custom to written law. Thus both the practice of raising offspring to a deceased or disabled brother, and the remarriage of widows (see twelfth title of law) are specially sanctioned in the sacred lawbooks. Yet these two customs are opposed to established practice. Therefore subtle ratiocination is required. A. quotes a verse to the effect that the immemorial usages of every province, which have been handed down from generation to generation, can never be overruled by a rule of the sacred law. Vasishtha XVI, 4; Gautama XI, 23.
41. The visible path' means either ratiocination founded on
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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 |