QUESTION III.-Are the four Adálats of the capital of equal and co-ordinate authority, or how far is one subjected to another?

ANSWER.-The other courts of the capital are subject to the Kót Linga, in which the supreme judicial officer or dit'ha personally presides.

QUESTION IV. Do the courts of the capital always sit, or have they terms and vacations?

ANSWER. They always sit, with the exception of fifteen days in the twelve months, viz., ten days at the Dasahrá, and five days at the Dewáli,* during which the courts are closed.

QUESTION V.-Are the courts of the capital permanently fixed there; or do their judges, or any of them, make circuits, civil or criminal?

ANSWER. They are fixed, nor does any judicial authority of the capital ever quit it. When necessary, the dit'ha sends special judges (bichári) into the provinces.

QUESTION VI.-In what cases does an appeal lie from the supreme or provincial courts to the Bháradár Sabhá?

ANSWER.-If any one is dissatisfied with the decision of the courts of the capital on his case, he may petition the Government, when the bháradárs (ministers) assembled in the nhólcha (palace) receive his appeal and finally decide. [Another respondent says: "If the matter be grave, and the party, one or other, be dissatisfied with the judgment of the courts of law, he applies first to the premier; and if he fails in obtaining satisfaction from him, he then proceeds to the palace gate, and calls out, 'Justice justice!' which appeal, when it reaches the rájá's ears, is thus met: four kájis, four sirdúrs, four eminent panchmen, one dit'ha, and one bichári are assembled together in the palace, and to them the matter is referred, their award being final."]

QUESTION VII.-Are the bháradárs, or ministers, assisted in judicial cases by the chief judicial authorities of the capital, when they hear appeals in the Bháradár Sabhá?

ANSWER.-They are: the dit'ha, the bicháris, and the dharmádhikari, sit with the ministers in such cases.

* Dasahrá and Dewáli, public festivals.

A high law officer; the chancellor.

QUESTION VIII.-What concern has the dharmadhikári with the courts of law in civil and penal cases; and of a hundred cases brought before the courts, what number will come in any way under the cognisance of the dharmadhikári ?

ANSWER.-Eating with those with whom you ought not to eat; sexual commerce with those between whom it is forbidden; drinking water from the hands of those not entitled to offer it —in a word, doing anything from negligence, inadvertence, or licentiousness, by which loss of caste is incurred, renders the sinner liable to the censure of the dharmadhikári. He must pay the fine called Gáo-dán to the dhurmádhikari, who will cause him to perform the práyaschitta.* In such matters only has the dharmadhikári any concern.

QUESTION IX.-Is any pursuer-general or defender-general recognised in the system?

ANSWER.-No; none whatever.

QUESTION X.-If the prosecutor fail to appear at the trial of an offender confined at his instance, is the offender dismissed, or what course is taken?

ANSWER. The offender is not dismissed, but remanded to confinement, and the trial is deferred.

QUESTION XI.-What, and how many, provincial courts are there?

ANSWER. For the provinces west of the capital there are two courts constituted by the supreme judicial authority there; that is, the dit'ha; and the provinces east of the capital have also two courts similarly constituted.+

QUESTION XII.-Is the regular appeal from the provincial courts of justice to the ordinary courts of the capital, or to the Bháradár Sabhá?

See Question XXX.

+ Palpa and Doti (and Kiránt also, see page 200) are viceroyalties, and their viceroys appoint the judicial establishment; the other districts beyond the ordinary limits of the Sadr courts' jurisdiction (Dud Cosi and Trisul) are administered by mountain bicháris nominated by the Rajah. There is no dit'ha in the provinces, but an appeal lies from all the mountain bicháris to the dit'ha of the supreme metropolitan court. To the westward there are eight, and to the eastward four mountain bicháris, besides which every assignee of superior grade exercises a good deal of indefinite magisterial and judicial power in the lands assigned to him for pay by the State. From the pecision of such assignees there is an appeal to the court of the adjacent mountain bicháris and thence to the dit'ha of the Kót Linga.

ANSWER. To the supreme court of the capital, or Kót Linga. QUESTION XIII.-Are not the powers of the provincial courts regulated with reference to the rank of the officer who happens to be nominated to the charge of the province? In other words, what are the limits of a provincial court, of a súba, of a sirdúr, and of a káji?

ANSWER.-They are not; whatever may be the rank of the officer commanding in the province for the time being, the authority of the provincial court is always the same. [Another answer states, that generally all grave criminal cases are carried to the Sadr Adálats; and the officer receiving charge of a province has a clause inserted in his commission prohibiting him from exercising judicial authority in certain offences. These are termed Panch-khát,* viz., 1, Brahmahatya, or slaying a Brahman; 2, Gouhatya, or killing a cow; 3, Stríhatya, or killing a woman; 4, Bálahatya, or killing children; and 5, Patki, and all unlawful intercourse of the sexes, such as incest, adultery, or whatever involves a loss of caste by the higher party. All penal cases, with the exception of these five, which must be reported for the direction of the Sirkár, and all civil cases whatsoever, are within the jurisdiction of the provincial authorities.]

QUESTION XIV.-When a súba, sirdár, or káji, is appointed to the government of a province, does the dharmadhikári of Káthmándú send a deputy dharmadhikári with him? or the dit'ha or bichári of Káthmándú send a deputy bichári with him? or does the provincial governor appoint his own judicial officers, or does he himself administer justice in his own province ?

ANSWER. The provincial governor appoints his own judicial authority, called usually foujdár, who transacts other business for the governor besides the administration of justice. The foujdár's appointment must, however, be ratified by the Darbár.

QUESTION XV.-What are the names and functions of every officer, from the highest to the lowest, attached to each Sadr and provincial court?

ANSWER.-At the capital, one dit'ha for all the four courts; and for each of them two bicháris, one jámadár, twenty-five sipúhis, twenty-five mahánias, and five chaprássís. The dit'ha

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

gives orders to the bichári, the bichári to the jámadár; and the jámadár to the sipáhis and mahúnias, who serve processes, and see that all persons are forthcoming when required for the purpose of justice. [Another authority adds the following to the list of officers, after the bichári, viz., the bahidár, arz-begí, and two naikia. The dit'ha (he says) decides; the bichári conducts the interrogation of the parties, and ascertains the truth of their statements; the bahidár writes the kail-máma, which the bichári's interrogation has forced from the party in the wrong; the arzbegi is the superintendent of the jail, and sheriff or officer who presides over, and is answerable for, executions. The naikiás, with their mahánias, inflict the korá* when needed, and they are also subordinate to the arz-begi.]

QUESTION XVI.- How are the judges and other persons attached to the courts paid? By fees or salary, or both? ANSWER. By both; they receive salaries from Government, and take fees also.

QUESTION XVII.-Are there separate courts for the cities of Pátan and Bhátgáon,† or do the inhabitants of those places resort to the courts of Káthmándú ?

ANSWER.-There are separate courts for Pátan and Bhátgáon, one for each city; and each court has the following functionaries attached to it, viz:-one duária, one bichári, four pradháns, and fifty mahánias. There is an appeal from these courts to the chief court at Káthmándú, and important causes are sent by them to that court in the first instance.

QUESTION XVIII.-How far, and in what cases, do the Sadr courts use Pancháyets?-in civil and criminal cases, or in the former only?

ANSWER.-Both civil and criminal cases are referred to Pancháyets, in any or every instance, at the discretion of the court or the wish of the parties. [The answer of another respondent is as follows:-" With the exception of cases of life destroyed, all matters may be referred to a Pancháyet, at the desire of the parties; but cases of assault and battery are not usually referred to Pancháyets."]

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 Káthmándú.-B. H. H.

QUESTION XIX.-Are the persons composing the Pancháyet appointed by the parties to the suit, or by the Government? or does each party nominate its own members and the Government add a president or casting-vote, or how?

ANSWER. The members of the Pancháyet are never appointed by the Government, but by the judge (diť'ha), at the solicitation of the parties; and no man can sit on a Pancháyet without the consent of both parties. [Another reply adds, that the judge takes from the parties an obligation to abide by the award of the Pancháyet when given, and that the court or Government never volunteers to appoint a Pancháyet; but if the parties expressly solicit it by a petition, declaring that they can get no satisfaction from their own nominees, the Government will then appoint a Pancháyet to sit on the case. A third respondent says generally, in answer to the query, "The parties each name five members, and the Government adds five to their ten."]

QUESTION XX.-What means are adopted to hasten the decision of the Pancháyet, if it be very dilatory?

ANSWER.-In such cases the matter is taken out of the hands of the Pancháyet, and decided by the court which appointed it to sit. [The answer given by another of the respondents states that there never can be needless delay in the decision of causes by Pancháyets, as these tribunals assemble in the courts out of which they issue, and officers of the court are appointed to see that the members attend regularly and constantly.]

QUESTION XXI.-With what powers are the Pancháyets invested to enforce the attendance of parties and witnesses, and the production of papers, and to give validity to their decrees?

ANSWER.-The Pancháyet has no authority of its own to summon or compel the attendance of any person, to make an unwilling witness depose, or to secure the production of necessary papers; all such executive aid being afforded by the court appointing the Pancháyet; and, in like manner, the decision of the Pancháyet is referred to the court to be carried into effect. The Panchúyet cannot give orders, far less enforce them, but communicates its judgment to the court, by which it is put in execution.

QUESTION XXII.-Are all the Panch required to be unanimous,