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

300 BAZHASPATI. VII, b.
terms with both parties, and acquainted with (the
rules of) duty.
8. He is denominated a messenger who is a re-
spectable man, esteemed and appointed by both
parties, and has come near to listen to the speeches
of the plaintiff and defendant.
9. He is a spontaneous witness who declares that
he has witnessed the transaction, after having ap-
proached the court of his own accord, while a cause
is being heard.
10. That witness who communicates what he has
heard to another man, at a time when he is about to
go abroad, or lying on his deathbed, should be con-
sidered as an indirect witness.
11. He also is called an indirect witness who re-
peats, from his own hearing or from hearsay, the
previous statements of actual witnesses.
12. He is called a secret witness to whom an affair
has been entrusted or communicated by both parties,
or who happens to witness the transaction.
13. The king in person having heard the speeches
of plaintiff and defendant, may act as witness if both
should quarrel with one another.
14. If after the decision of a suit a fresh trial
should take place, the chief judge, together with the
assessors, may act as a witness there, but not in any
other case.
15. The (people of the) village may no doubt give
testimony, even without a special appointment, as to
what has been anywhere spoiled or damaged in the
boundary line.

11. The reading bhashatam in the Viramitrodaya is a misprint
for bhashate.