The minor law books: The minor law books (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1889)

86

NARADA.

I,

hand and makes his approach may be recognised
as a destroyer of bridges (and embankments) ; one
carrying an axe is declared a destroyer of trees.
* 175. One whose looks are suspicious is likely to
have committed an assault. In all these cases wit-
nesses may be dispensed with ; only in the (last-
mentioned) case of assault careful investigation is
required.
176. Some one might make marks upon his per-
son through hatred, to injure an enemy. In such
cases it is necessary to resort to inductive reason-
ing, (ascertaining) the fact of the matter, and strata
gems, in order to get a (reliable) test.

14. False Witnesses.
177. Those must not be examined as witnesses
who are interested in the suit, nor friends, nor asso-
ciates, nor enemies, nor notorious offenders, nor
persons tainted (with a heavy sin).
* 178. Nor a slave, nor an impostor, nor one not
admitted to Nraddhas, nor a superannuated man, nor
a woman, nor a child, nor an oil-maker, nor one
175. ‘Suspicious looks/ as e.g. a sword smeared with blood.
Viramitrodaya. In an analogous text of Vahkha, as quoted in
the Viramitrodaya, &c., the possession of stolen goods is mentioned
as a further manifest proof of crime.
177-187, 190. Manu VIII, 64-67, 71; Yagffavalkya II, 70, 71;
Vishzzu VIII, 1-5 ; Gautama XIII, 5. Asahaya observes that the
rules regarding incompetent witnesses do not relate to cases of
assault only, but to judicial proceedings of every sort.
177. ‘Associates,’ i.e. partners in business. ‘ Notorious offenders,’
persons formerly convicted of perjury or other crimes. A. For
different interpretations of some of the terms occurring in this
section, see the notes to Professor Buhler’s Manu, and to Burnell-
Hopkins’s Manu, VIII, 64, foil.
178. ‘A slave,’ one born in the house. ‘An impostor,’ a