III. The Plaint

The Minor Law Books (SBE33), by Julius Jolly, [1889], at sacred-texts.com

III. THE PLAINT.

1. ¹ The part called the declaration; the part called the answer; the part called the trial; and the part called the deliberation of the judges regarding the onus probandi: these are the four parts of a judicial proceeding.

2. The plaint is called the (first) part; the answer is the second part; the trial is the third part; and the judgment is the fourth part.

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3. ³ In the case of a denial, (a judicial proceeding) consists of four parts; likewise, in the case of a special plea; the same rule applies to a plea of former judgment; but in the case of a confession, it has two parts only.

4. ⁴ When plaintiff and defendant come together, each claiming to be first, their declarations should be received in the order of their castes, or after considering their respective grievances.

5. ⁵ Those acquainted with (the true nature of) a plaint declare that to be a (proper) plaint, which is free from the defects of a declaration, susceptible of proof, provided with good arguments, precise, and reasonable,

6. Brief in words, rich in contents, unambiguous, free from confusion, devoid of improper arguments, and capable of meeting opposite arguments;

7. When a plaint of this description has been proffered by the plaintiff, the defendant should tender an answer conformable to such plaint.

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8. ⁸ The above and other qualities (of a plaint) having been duly considered, a plaint (containing them) may be regarded as a proper plaint; one not answering this description is a mere semblance of a plaint.

9. ⁹ That (plaint) which (mentions an act that) has never been done by anybody is called impossible; one referring to a slight offence, or to a trifling sum, is called unmeaning; one in which neither a demand nor a grievance is referred to, should be known to be purposeless.

10. ¹⁰ (Or) that plaint is unmeaning which does not concern one of the (fourteen) titles of law relating to the lending of money at interest and so forth; and that plaint is purposeless which does not concern one of the (four) titles of law relating to insult and so forth.

11. ¹¹ (When a claimant declares): This man is bound to give me a bow made of the horn of a hare, the wise declare such a plaint to be unreasonable and unsusceptible of proof.

12. When the interests of a town or kingdom are violated by bringing a certain plaint before a chief judge or before the king, it is termed a plaint contrary (to equity).

13. ¹³ When a man, (whether) acting as plaintiff (or as defendant), is forsaken by his strength on being about to make a statement in a suit, it is proper

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that a delay should be granted to him, according to circumstances and according to his ability.

14. ¹⁴ Let him remove superfluous statements and amplify incomplete ones, and let him write down (everything) on the floor, till the (whole) matter has been definitely stated.

15. ¹⁵ The plaintiff is at liberty to alter his declaration, when it is defective or redundant, till the defendant has tendered his answer in the presence of the judges.

16. ¹⁶ When the plaintiff through timorousness does not dare to speak, it devolves on the judges to amend his declaration, according to the circumstances of the case.

17. A charge founded on suspicion, (one founded on) fact, a petition regarding the recovery of a debt, and claiming a fresh trial of a cause previously tried: thus a plaint is represented as fourfold.

18. The plaint is fourfold, and so is the answer; the judgment is declared to be of four kinds also; by some it is represented as being of eight sorts.

19. Suspicion is explained to mean doubt; fact is (said to be) an insight into the real nature of a matter; a petition regarding the recovery of a debt is (plea of) error; a fresh trial is the repetition of a previous trial.

Footnotes

289:1 III, 1, 2. Vîram. pp. 59, 60.

290:3 Vîram. p. 59.

290:4 Vîram. p. 60. 'When Brahmans and others have entered the judicial assembly simultaneously, the four parts of a judicial proceeding should be instituted in the order of their castes, the Brahman's cause being tried first of all by the king, then the Kshatriya's, and so on, in the order (of their castes). If the comparative importance or heaviness of the respective grievances of each party differs, the order in which the causes are tried is not made to depend either on the relative priority of each declaration, or on the respective caste of the parties. If they are all of equal caste, the relative priority of the declarations is taken into account. If the declarations have been simultaneous, and if the litigants are equal in caste, and their grievances are also equal, the order is made to depend on the choice of the judge and of the assessors of the court.' Vîram.

290:5 5-7. Raghunandana, p. 12.

291:8 Smritik. evamâdi gunân samyag âlokya ka suniskitam | pakshah kritah samâdeyah pakshâbhâsas tv ato^ऽnyathâ ||

291:9 Vîram. p. 66.

291:10 Vîram. p. 67. Regarding the titles of law, see Brihaspati, II, 5-9.

291:11 11, 12. Vîram. p. 67.

291:13 Raghunandana, p. 11.

292:14 Vîram. p. 70.

292:15 Raghunandana, p. 14.

292:16 16-19. Vîram. p. 71.