DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52452#0067
THE JUDGMENT.
39
members of the court obtain their absolution, and
the guilt goes to the offender, when the guilty person
is punished.
14. He who, having entered the court, delivers
a strange opinion, ignoring the true state of the case,
resembles a blind man who regardless swallows fish
together with the bones.
15. Therefore let every assessor of the court
deliver a fair opinion after having entered the court,
discarding love and hatred, in order that he may not
go to hell.
* 16. As an experienced surgeon extracts a dart
by means of surgical instruments, even so the chief
were to acquit the criminal, and unjustly to condemn the innocent
party, the iniquity or sinful action committed by the unjust decree
would go into four parts, i. e. a quarter of it would go respectively
to the shares of the perpetrator of the deed, of the witnesses, of all
the assessors of the court, and of the king. If, however, the guilty
person alone is condemned, i.e. if the criminal partyloses his cause,
the king becomes free from guilt, the judges are free from responsi-
bility, and the whole guilt falls on the perpetrator of the iniquitous
deed. A. Medhatithi, in commenting on the identical rule of
Manu (VIII, 18), observes that the guilt goes to the king, in case
the sentence had been passed by him in person. Otherwise it goes
to his chief judge. Identical with Manu VIII, 18, 19, &c.
14. One whose eyesight is unimpaired, does not eat fish without
having previously removed the bones, which would injure his mouth,
his tongue, and his palate. A blind man, on the contrary, eats fish
together with the bones, because he is unable to remove them.
The case is similar with the eye of knowledge. A.
15. Considering all this, let a judge, after having entered the
court of judicature, reject every kind of bias, and deliver a fair, i.e.
an impartial opinion, in order that he may not go to hell burdened
with the crime of a guilty person (acquitted by him). A.
16. As a skilful surgeon conversant with the art of extracting a
dart, extracts it, though it may be difficult to get at and invisible,
by the application of surgical instruments, of spells, and other
manifold artful practices, even so a judge shall extract the dart of
39
members of the court obtain their absolution, and
the guilt goes to the offender, when the guilty person
is punished.
14. He who, having entered the court, delivers
a strange opinion, ignoring the true state of the case,
resembles a blind man who regardless swallows fish
together with the bones.
15. Therefore let every assessor of the court
deliver a fair opinion after having entered the court,
discarding love and hatred, in order that he may not
go to hell.
* 16. As an experienced surgeon extracts a dart
by means of surgical instruments, even so the chief
were to acquit the criminal, and unjustly to condemn the innocent
party, the iniquity or sinful action committed by the unjust decree
would go into four parts, i. e. a quarter of it would go respectively
to the shares of the perpetrator of the deed, of the witnesses, of all
the assessors of the court, and of the king. If, however, the guilty
person alone is condemned, i.e. if the criminal partyloses his cause,
the king becomes free from guilt, the judges are free from responsi-
bility, and the whole guilt falls on the perpetrator of the iniquitous
deed. A. Medhatithi, in commenting on the identical rule of
Manu (VIII, 18), observes that the guilt goes to the king, in case
the sentence had been passed by him in person. Otherwise it goes
to his chief judge. Identical with Manu VIII, 18, 19, &c.
14. One whose eyesight is unimpaired, does not eat fish without
having previously removed the bones, which would injure his mouth,
his tongue, and his palate. A blind man, on the contrary, eats fish
together with the bones, because he is unable to remove them.
The case is similar with the eye of knowledge. A.
15. Considering all this, let a judge, after having entered the
court of judicature, reject every kind of bias, and deliver a fair, i.e.
an impartial opinion, in order that he may not go to hell burdened
with the crime of a guilty person (acquitted by him). A.
16. As a skilful surgeon conversant with the art of extracting a
dart, extracts it, though it may be difficult to get at and invisible,
by the application of surgical instruments, of spells, and other
manifold artful practices, even so a judge shall extract the dart of