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

286

B72ZHASPATI.

II, 21.

thoroughly examined by means of oaths (or ordeals),
it should be known to be a judgment based on
moral law.
21. When the defendant admits the accusation,
or furnishes clear evidence of his innocence through
performing an ordeal, it should be known to be
another sort of a decision based on moral law.
22. A sentence founded on an examination of the
evidence is termed (a decision based on) the issue of
the case. When (the defendant) tells a lie, or makes
no answer, it is also termed (a decision based on
the issue of the case).
23. When a sentence is passed according to the
inference (to be drawn from circumstantial evidence),
it is termed (a decision based on) custom. When it
is passed according to local usages, it is termed
another sort (of a decision based on custom) by the
learned in law.
24. A decision based on an edict from the king
is ordained, first, for those cases in which no evidence
is forthcoming. When the law-books or the judges
are at variance with one another, the second sort (of
this species of decisions) is said to be applicable.
25. When a sentence is passed exclusively ac-
cording to the letter of the law, it should be con-

tained and a sentence passed accordingly. The second kind is
when no examination of the facts takes place, the question being
settled either through a confession on the part of the defendant, or
through the performance of an ordeal. Smn'ti/^andrika.
22. The evidence here referred to can be human evidence only,
i. e. the deposition of witnesses, documents, or possession, divine
test being referred to in the two preceding texts. Smrzti^.
23. ‘ Inference/ such as when a man is caught with a firebrand in
his hand. Smrzti^. See Narada 1,18, 172—175 (above, pp. 85, 86).
25-27. Viram. pp. 120, 121.