Karaka, Dosabhai Framji: History of the Parsis: including their manners, customs, religion and present position ; in two volumes (Band 1) (London, 1884)

CHAPTER V.

INTERNAL GOVERNMENT AND LAWS.

Internal government—The Panchayet—Ignorance of the past—Missions to
Persia—Books of religion brought from Persia—The first Paneliayet—The
priests of Navsari—The Panchayet as a court of justice—The penalty of
excommunication—Beating with a shoe—Sanction of Governor of Bombay
—Internal disputes—The priests pass a law in their own favour, and
overreach themselves—The firmness of the laity—Supported by the
English Government—A committee of affairs—The first twelve—A new
Panchayet—Decline in efficiency—The practice of polygamy—Law against
bigamy—Growth of the evil—The case of Jamshedji Beramji Laskari—
Law to prevent women going out unattended—Prohibition of offerings
to Hindu temples—Decay of the Panchayet—A law for the rich and for
the poor—Framji Kavasji—A Parsi petition—Parsi charitable funds—
The trusteeship of the Panchayet—The present trustees—A state of
confusion—The want of a distinct law—The rule of custom—Question
of succession—Intestate properties—The law in Bombay and in the
Mofussil—"The nature of chattels real"—A code of inheritance drawn
up—A commission appointed—A code of betrothal, etc.—Various ques-
tions and considerations—The resolutions of the commissioners—Action
of the Governments—Substitution of courts for the Panchayet—Those to
whom the credit of the new order of things was due.

As there is no authentic record of the early history
of the Parsis after they left their mother-country and
took up their abode in India, we are in ignorance as
to the particular laws by which they were guided,
and also of the manner in which their religious, social,
and other disputes were decided in the earliest years
of their exile. But it can well be imagined that, as
is the case in all small and large communities, the