1 A king, desirous of investigating law cases, must enter his court of justice, preserving a dignified demeanour, together with scholars and with experienced councillors.

2 There, either seated or standing, raising his right arm, without ostentation in his dress and ornaments, let him examine the business of suitors,

3 Daily deciding one after another all cases which fall under the eighteen titles of the law according to principles drawn from local usages and from the Institutes of the sacred law.

4 Of those titles the first is the non-payment of debts, then follow (2) deposit and pledge, (3) sale without ownership, (4) concerns among partners, and (5) resumption of gifts,

5 (6) Non-payment of wages, (7) non-performance of agreements, (8) rescission of sale and purchase, (9) disputes between the owner of cattle and his servants,

6 (10) Disputes regarding boundaries, (11) assault and (12) defamation, (13) theft, (14) robbery and violence, (15) adultery,

7 (16) Duties of man and wife, (17) partition of inheritance, (18) gambling and betting; these are in this world the eighteen topics which give rise to lawsuits.

8 Depending on the eternal law, let him decide the suits of men who mostly contend on the titles just mentioned.

9 But if the king does not personally investigate the suits, then let him appoint a learned scholar to try them.

10 That man shall enter that most excellent court, accompanied by three assessors, and fully consider all causes brought before the king, either sitting down or standing.

11 Where three scholars versed in the scriptures and the learned judge appointed by the king sit down, they call that a court of righteous judgement.

12 But where justice, wounded by injustice, approaches and the judges do not extract the dart, there they also are wounded by that dart of injustice.

13 Either the court must not be entered, or the truth must be spoken; a man who either says nothing or speaks falsely, becomes sinful.

14 Where justice is destroyed by injustice, or truth by falsehood, while the judges look on, there they shall also be destroyed.

15 "Justice, being violated, destroys; justice, being preserved, preserves: therefore justice must not be violated, lest violated justice destroy us."

16 For justice is said to be like a bull; that man who violates it God considers despicable; let him, therefore, beware of violating justice.

17 The only friend who follows men even after death is justice; for everything else is lost at the same time when the body perishes.

18 One quarter of the guilt of an unjust decision falls on him who committed the crime, one quarter on the false witness, one quarter on all the judges, one quarter on the king.

19 But where he who is worthy of condemnation is condemned, the king is free from guilt, and the judges are saved from sin; the guilt falls on the perpetrator of the crime alone.

20 Only a man learned in the law and upright in conduct may interpret the law to the king, at the king's pleasure; never one who merely bears the name of scholar.

21 The kingdom of that monarch who looks on while an ignorant man settles the law will sink low, like a cow in a morass.

22 That kingdom which is full of the ignorant, which is infested by deniers of God and destitute of learned men, soon entirely perishes, afflicted by famine and disease.

23 Having occupied the seat of justice, having covered his body, and having prayed to God for guidance, let him, with a collected mind, begin the trial of causes.

24 Knowing what is expedient or inexpedient, what is pure justice or injustice, let him examine the causes of suitors in due order.

25 By external signs let him discover the internal disposition of men, by their voice, their colour, their motions, their aspect, their eyes, and their gestures.

26 The internal working of the mind is perceived through the aspect, the motions, the gait, the gestures, the speech, and the changes in the eye and of the face.

27 The king shall protect the inherited and other property of a minor, until he has returned from his teacher's house or until he has passed his minority.

28 In like manner care must be taken of barren women, of those who have no sons, of those whose family is extinct, of wives and widows faithful to their lords, and of women afflicted with diseases.

29 A righteous king must punish like thieves those relatives who appropriate the property of such females during their lifetime.

30 Property, the owner of which has disappeared, the king shall cause to be kept as a deposit during three years; within the period of three years the owner may claim it, after that term the king may take it.

31 He who says, "This belongs to me," must be examined according to the rule; if he accurately describes the shape, and the number of the articles found and so forth, he is the owner, and ought to receive that property.

32 But if he does not really know the time and the place where it was lost, its colour, shape, and size, he is worthy of a fine equal in value to the object claimed.

33 Now the king, remembering the duty of good men, may take one-sixth part of property lost and afterwards found, or one-tenth, or at least one-twelfth.

34 Property lost and afterwards found by the king's servants shall remain in the keeping of special officials; those whom the king may convict of stealing it, he shall cause to be slain by an elephant.

35 From that man who shall truly say with respect to treasure-trove, "This belongs to me," the king may take one-sixth or one-twelfth part.

36 But he who falsely says so, shall be fined in one-eighth of his property, or, a calculation of the value of the treasure having been made, in some smaller portion of that.

37 When a learned man of proven honesty has found treasure deposited in former times, he may take even the whole of it; for the learned and honest are to be trusted.

38 When the king finds treasure of old concealed in the ground, let him give one half to scholars and place the other half in his treasury.

39 The king obtains one half of ancient hoards and metals found in the ground, by reason of his giving protection, and because he is the steward of the soil.

40 Property stolen by thieves must be restored by the king to men of all ranks; a king who uses such property for himself incurs the guilt of a thief.

41 A king who knows the sacred law must inquire into the laws of tribes, of districts, of guilds, and of families, and thus settle the peculiar law of each.

42 For men who follow their particular occupations and abide by their particular duty, become dear to people, though they may live at a distance.

43 Neither the king nor any servant of his shall themselves cause a lawsuit to be begun, or hush up one that has been brought before them by some other man.

44 As a hunter traces the lair of a wounded deer by the drops of blood, even so the king shall discover on which side the right lies, by inferences from the facts.

45 When engaged in judicial proceedings he must pay full attention to the truth, to the object of the dispute, and to himself, next to the witnesses, to the place, to the time, and to the aspect.

46 What may have been practised by the virtuous, by such men as are devoted to the law, that he shall establish as law, if it be not opposed to the customs of countries, families, and tribes.

47 When a creditor sues before the king for the recovery of money from a debtor, let him make the debtor pay the sum which the creditor proves to be due.

48 By whatever means a creditor may be able to obtain possession of his property, even by those means may he force the debtor and make him pay.

49 By moral suasion, by suit of law, by artful management, or by the customary proceeding, a creditor may recover property lent; and fifthly, by force.

50 A creditor who himself recovers his property from his debtor, must not be blamed by the king for retaking what is his own.

51 But him who denies a debt which is proved by good evidence, he shall order to pay that debt to the creditor and a small fine according to his circumstances.

52 On the denial of a debt by a debtor who has been required in court to pay it, the complainant must call a witness who was present when the loan was made, or adduce other evidence.

53 The plaintiff who calls a witness not present at the transaction, who retracts his statements, or does not perceive that his statements are confused or contradictory;

54 Or who having stated what he means to prove afterwards varies his case, or who being questioned on a fact duly stated by himself does not abide by it;

55 Or who converses with the witnesses in a place improper for such conversation; or who declines to answer a question, properly put, or leaves the court;

56 Or who, being ordered to speak, does not answer, or does not prove what he has alleged; or who does not know what is the first point, and what the second, fails in his suit.

57 Him also who says "I have witnesses," and,

being ordered to produce them, produces them not, the judge must on these same grounds declare to be non-suited.

58 If a plaintiff does not speak, he may be punished corporally or fined according to the law; if a defendant does not plead within three fortnights, he has lost his cause.

59 In the double of that sum which a defendant falsely denies or on which the plaintiff falsely declares, shall those two men offending against justice be fined by the king.

60 A defendant who, being brought into court by the creditor, and being questioned, denies the debt, shall be convicted of his falsehood by at least three witnesses who must depose in the presence of the scholar appointed by the king.

61 I will fully declare what kind of men may be made witnesses in suits by creditors, and in what manner those witnesses must give true evidence.

62 Householders, men with male issue, and natives of the country, of any lawful calling, are competent, when called by a suitor, to give evidence, not any persons whatever, except in cases of urgency.

63 Trustworthy men of all classes may be made witnesses in lawsuits, men who know their whole duty, and are free from covetousness; but let him reject those of an opposite character.

64 Those must not be made witnesses who have an interest in the suit, nor familiar friends, companions, and enemies of the parties, nor men formerly convicted of perjury, nor persons suffering under severe illness, nor those tainted by mortal sin.

65 The king cannot be made a witness, nor mechanics and actors, nor a learned scholar, nor a student of the scriptures, nor one who has given up all connexion with the world,

66 Nor one wholly dependent, nor one of bad fame, nor a robber, nor one who follows forbidden occupations, nor an aged man, nor an infant, nor one man alone, nor one deficient in organs of sense,

67 Nor one extremely grieved, nor one intoxicated, nor a madman, nor one tormented by hunger or thirst, nor one oppressed by fatigue, nor one tormented by desire, nor a wrathful man, nor a thief.

68 Women should give evidence for women, and righteous men for men of their own kind.

69 But any person whatsoever, who has personal knowledge of an act committed in the interior apartments of a house, or in a forest, or of a crime causing loss of life, may give evidence between the parties.

70 On failure of qualified witnesses, evidence may be given in such cases by a woman, by an infant, by an aged man, by a pupil, by a relative, by a slave, or by a hired servant.

71 But the judge should consider the evidence of infants, aged and diseased men, who are apt to speak untruly, as untrustworthy, likewise that of men with disordered minds.

72 In all cases of violence, of theft and adultery, of defamation and assault, he must not examine the competence of witnesses too strictly.

73 On a conflict of the witnesses the king shall accept as true the evidence of the majority; if the conflicting parties are equal in number, that of those distinguished by good qualities; on a difference between equally distinguished witnesses, that of the most righteous among them.

74 Evidence in accordance with what has actually been seen or heard, is admissible; a witness who speaks truth in those cases, neither loses spiritual merit nor wealth.

75 A witness who deposes in an assembly of honourable men anything else but what he has seen or heard, falls after death headlong into Hell and loses the Garden.

76 When a man not originally appointed to be a witness sees or hears anything and is afterwards examined regarding it, he must declare it exactly as he saw or heard it.

77 One man who is free from covetousness may be accepted as witness; but a woman should not stand alone as sole witness, for one may err and the other remind her; nor even many other men, who are tainted with sin.

78 What witnesses declare quite naturally, that must be received on trials; depositions differing from that, which they make improperly, are worthless for the purposes of justice.

79 The witnesses being assembled in the court in the presence of the plaintiff and of the defendant, let the judge examine them, kindly exhorting them in the following manner:

80 "What ye know to have been mutually transacted in this matter between the two men before us, declare all that in accordance with the truth; for ye are witnesses in this cause.

81 "A witness who speaks the truth in his evidence, gains after death the most excellent regions of bliss and here below unsurpassable fame; such testimony is approved by God Himself.

82 "He who gives false evidence is firmly bound by God's chastisement, helpless; let men therefore give true evidence.

83 "By truthfulness a witness is purified, through truthfulness his merit grows; truth must, therefore, be spoken by witnesses of all ranks.

84 "The soul itself is the witness of the soul, and the soul is its own refuge; despise not thy own soul, the supreme witness of men.

85 "The wicked, indeed, say in their hearts, 'Nobody sees us;' but God distinctly sees them, and the angels who record their deeds.

86 "The sky, the earth, the waters, the heart, the moon, the sun, the fire, the wind, the night, the two twilights, and justice will bear witness, by God's leave, to the conduct of all corporeal beings."

87 The judge, being purified, shall ask in the forenoon the witnesses who also have been purified, and stand facing the north or the east, to give true evidence in the name of God and in the presence of scholars.

88 Let him examine each according to his calling: a scholar beginning with "Speak," a warrior beginning with "Speak the truth," a trader admonishing him by mentioning his kine, grain, and gold, a labourer threatening him with the guilt of every grievous crime;

89 Saying, "Whatever places of torment are assigned to the slayer of a righteous man, to the murderer of women and children, to him who betrays a friend, and to an ungrateful man, those shall be thy portion, if thou speakest falsely.

90 "The reward of all meritorious deeds which thou, good man, hast done since thy birth, shall become the share of the dogs, if in thy speech thou departest from the truth.

91 "If thou thinkest, O friend of virtue, with respect to thyself, 'I am alone,' know that God, who witnesses all virtuous acts and all crimes, is ever nearer to thee than thy own heart.

92 "If thou art not at variance with God, who is near thee, thou needest neither visit the Ganges nor the land of the Kurus.

93 "Naked and shorn, tormented with hunger and thirst, and deprived of sight, shall the man who gives false evidence go with a potsherd to beg food at the door of his enemy.

94 "Headlong, in utter darkness shall the sinful man tumble into Hell, who being interrogated in a judicial inquiry answers one question falsely.

95 "That man who in a court of justice gives an untrue account of a transaction or asserts a fact of which he was not an eye-witness, resembles a blind man who swallows fish with the bones.

96 "God knows no better man in this world than him of whom his conscious soul has no distrust, when he gives evidence.

97 "Learn now, O friend, from an enumeration in due order, how many relatives he destroys who gives false evidence in several particular cases.

98 "He kills five by false testimony regarding small cattle, he kills ten by false testimony regarding kine, he kills a hundred by false evidence concerning horses, and a thousand by false evidence concerning men.

99 "By speaking falsely in a cause regarding gold, he kills the born and the unborn; by false evidence concerning land, he kills everything; beware, therefore, of false evidence concerning land.

100 "They declare false evidence concerning water, concerning the carnal enjoyment of women, and concerning all gems, produced in water, or consisting of stones to be equally wicked as a lie concerning land.

101 "Marking well all the evils which are produced by perjury, declare thou openly everything as thou hast heard or seen it."

102 Learned men who have abandoned learning to tend cattle, to trade, to work as mechanics, actors or singers, menial servants or usurers, the judge shall treat as common workers.

107 A man who, without being ill, does not give evidence in cases of loans and the like within three fortnights after the summons, shall become responsible for the whole debt and pay a tenth part of the whole as a fine to the king.

108 The witness to whom, within seven days after he has given evidence, happens a misfortune through sickness, a fire, or the death of a relative, shall be made to pay the debt and a fine.

109 If two parties dispute about matters for which no witnesses are available, and the judge is unable to really ascertain the truth, he may cause it to be discovered even by an oath.

110 Both by the great sages and by righteous men of old oaths have been taken for the purpose of deciding doubtful matters; and Vasishtha even swore an oath before king Sudas, the son of Pijavana.

111 Let no wise man swear an oath falsely, even in a trifling matter; for he who swears an oath falsely is lost in this world and after death.

113 Let the judge cause the party to swear by God and by his own truthfulness, calling down on his own head the guilt of every grievous offence, if he speaks falsely.

117 Whenever false evidence has been given in any suit, let the judge reverse the judgment, and whatever has been done must be considered as undone.

118 Evidence given from covetousness, distraction, terror, friendship, lust, wrath, ignorance, and childishness is declared to be invalid.

119 I will propound in due order the particular punishments for him who gives false evidence from any one of these motives.

120 He who commits perjury through covetousness shall be fined one thousand panas, he who does it through distraction, in the lowest amercement; if a man does it through fear, two middling amercements shall be paid as a fine, if he does it through friendship, four times the amount of the lowest amercement.

121 He who does it through lust shall pay ten times the lowest amercement, but he who does it through wrath, three times the next or second amercement; he who does it through ignorance, two full hundreds, but he who does it through childishness, one hundred panas.

122 They declare that the wise have prescribed these fines for perjury, in order to prevent a failure of justice, and in order to restrain injustice.

123 But a just king shall fine and banish all who have given false evidence.

124 Manu, the son of the Self-existent, has named ten places on which punishment may be made to fall.

125 These are the organ, the belly, the tongue, the two hands, and fifthly the two feet, the eye, the nose, the two ears, likewise the whole body.

126 Let the king, having fully ascertained the motive, the time and place of the offence, and having considered the ability of the criminal to suffer and the nature of the crime, cause punishment to fall on those who deserve it.

127 Unjust punishment destroys reputation among men, and fame after death, and causes even in the next world the loss of the Garden; let him, therefore, beware of inflicting it.

128 A king who punishes those who do not deserve it, and punishes not those who deserve it, brings great infamy on himself and after death sinks into Hell.

129 Let him punish first by gentle admonition, afterwards by harsh reproof, thirdly by a fine, after that by corporal chastisement.

130 But when he cannot restrain such offenders even by corporal punishment, then let him apply to them even all the four modes conjointly.

131 Those technical names of certain quantities of copper, silver, and gold, which are generally used on earth for the purpose of business transactions among men, I will fully declare.

132 The very small mote which is seen when the sun shines through a lattice, they declare to be the least of all quantities and to be called a trasarenu (a floating particle of dust).