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BRIHASPATI.
I, 31.
31. Judges are superior in authority to (meetings of) kindred and the rest; the chief judge is placed above them; and the king is superior to all, because he passes just sentences.
32. The insight of princes surpasses by far the understandings (of other persons), in the decision of the highest, lowest, and middling controversies.
33. They who are ignorant of the customs of the country, unbelievers, despisers of the sacred books, insane, irate, avaricious, or troubled (by pain or illness) should not be consulted in the decision of a
cause.
34. A Brahman is the root of the tree of justice; the sovereign prince is its stem and branches; the ministers are its leaves and blossoms; just government is its fruit.
35. Renown and wealth are the sap of its fruit; a dignified station, invincibility, esteem among men, and an eternal residence in paradise is enjoying its fruit.
36. Having recognised these advantages in (the pursuit of) justice, a king should be equitable towards litigants, and should pass a just sentence, discarding avarice and other (evil propensities).
II. GENERAL RULES OF PROCEDURE.
1. This legal procedure is declared, however, to be divided into a number of branches. Hear, now,
33. Smritik. desâkârânabhigñâ ye nâstikâh sâstravargilâh unmattakruddhalubdhârtâ na prashtavyâ vinirnaye II
34-36. Vîram. p. 14. Read bhogo-tha grahapuganam in 35; vivâdinâm tyaktvâ lobhâdikam râgâ dharmyam in 36.
II, 1, 2. Vîram. p. 292.
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