XIII. Sale Without Ownership

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

XIII. SALE WITHOUT OWNERSHIP.

1. ¹ Immediately after deposits, sale by another person than the owner has been declared by Bhrigu; listen attentively, I will expound that subject thoroughly.

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2. ² An open deposit, a bailment for delivery (Anvâhita), a Nyâsa (sealed) deposit, stolen property, a pledge, or what has been borrowed for use: when any one of these articles has been sold in secret by a man, he is declared a person different from the owner (asvâmin).

3. ³ When the vendor has been produced and has been cast in the suit, (the judge) shall cause him to pay the price and a fine to the buyer and king respectively, and to restore the property to the owner.

4. ⁴ When the former owner comes forward and makes good his claim to the thing bought, the vendor shall be produced (by the purchaser); by doing so, the purchaser may clear himself.

5. ⁵ That greedy man who covets another man's property, without having any claim to it, shall be compelled to pay twice the value (of the property claimed) as a fine, if he is unable to prove his claim.

6. ⁶ When there is no evidence in a suit, the king shall consider the character of the parties and pass a decree himself, according to the equal, greater, or less (credibility of the parties).

7. ⁷ When a purchase has been made before an assembly of merchants, the king's officers being aware of it (also), but from a vendor whose habitation is unknown; or when the purchaser has deceased:

8. The owner may recover his own property by

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paying half the price (tendered), the custom in that case being that one half of the value is lost to each of the two.

9. A purchase from an unknown (vendor) is one fault (in that case); want of care in keeping it is another; these two faults are viewed by the wise as legitimate grounds of loss to each party.

10. ¹⁰ When a man purchases (a commodity) at a fair price, and (the purchase) has been previously announced to the king, there is no wrong about it; but he who makes a fraudulent purchase is a thief.

11. That should be known as a fraudulent purchase which is made at an unreasonably low price, in the interior of a house, outside of the village, at night, in secret, or from a dishonest person.

Footnotes

334:1 XIII, 1. Ratn. p. 101; Col. Dig. II, 2, 1.

335:2 Ratn. p. 101; Col. Dig. II, 2, 2; Vîram. p. 374.

335:3 Ratn. p. 102; Col. Dig. II, 2, 30; Viv. p. 57.

335:4 Ratn. p. 101; Col. Dig. II, 2, 33; Vîram. p. 379.

335:5 Ratn. p. 106; Col. Dig. II, 2, 46.

335:6 Ratn. p. 108; Col. Dig. II, 2, 52.

335:7 7-9. Ratn. p. 109; Col. Dig. II, 2, 53, 54.

336:10 10, 11. Viv. p. 60; Vîram. p. 375; Col. Dig. II, 2, 57. In 10, Colebrooke has 'delivered by the owner in the presence of credible persons.' I have translated the reading of the Vîramitrodaya, 'previously announced to the king.' In 11, the clause 'in secret' is omitted in the Vîramitrodaya.