Verse 8.43 [General Rules regarding Judicial Proceedings]

Sanskrit text, Unicode transliteration and English translation by Ganganath Jha:

नोत्पादयेत् स्वयं कार्यं राजा नाप्यस्य पूरुषः ?? ।
न च प्रापितमन्येन ग्रसेदर्थं कथं चन ॥ ४३ ॥

notpādayet svayaṃ kāryaṃ rājā nāpyasya pūruṣaḥ ?? |
na ca prāpitamanyena grasedarthaṃ kathaṃ cana || 43 ||

Neither the king himself nor any servant of his shall promote a suit; nor shall he suppress a suit that has been brought up by another person.—(43)

 

Medhātithi’s commentary (manubhāṣya):

‘Suit’—object of dispute;—none such shall the king himself ‘promote’—i.e., cause to be instituted;—for encompassing the injury of some hated persons, or for obtaining the wealth of some rich person, he shall not instigate his debtor or some other person who may have suffered at his hands, saying to him—‘you should do such and such a thing, why do not you bring it up before me?—or, ‘you have been injured by him, I shall have you avenged’;—any such thing the king shall not say, even though his hate or greed for riches be great.

When a suit has been ‘brought up’—presented before him—he shall not ‘suppress’—hush up, ignore, it. The verb ‘nigiret,’ ‘swallow,’ is often used in the sense of ignoring; and the root ‘gram’ (used in the text) is synonymous with ‘ni-gira’ People make use of such expressions as—‘everything that is said to-day he swallows up, and he does not answer it.’

Others explain the latter half of the verse as follows:—‘He shall not appropriate—make his own—any artha, i.e., money, that is brought to him in any manner save through the suit.’ If the king were to inflict fines in an unfair manner, he would he incurring evil in the next world and bring trouble on his kingdom.

The following is yet another explanation offered by others:—‘The king himself shall not promote a suit’;—i.e., even, though he may get at the offender directly, he himself shall not say anything, until the man has been brought before him by the man against whom the offence has been committed, in a regular suit. Because it is only after the man has been defeated in the suit brought by the other party that it is time for the king to perform his duty of inflicting the legal punishment. But this applies only to the non-payment of debts and similar subjects; as for thieves and criminals,—who are like ‘thorns’ in the kingdom,—these the king shall capture and punish, even when he catches them himself. The rest of the verse is as explained before.

‘Nor any servant of his’;—‘servant,’ i.e., person holding an office under him.—(43)

 

Explanatory notes by Ganganath Jha

‘Anyena’—‘By another’,—i.e., the plaintiff (Medhātithi),—‘the plaintiff or the defendant’ (Kullūka).

This verse is quoted in Mitākṣarā (on 22.5), where Bālambhaṭṭī offers the following explanations of the second half of the verse:—(a) The king should not entertain any suit illegally brought up by any one;—or (b) he shall not ignore a suit brought forward by any one;—(c) (if we adopt the reading ‘na cāprāpitam’) ‘he shall not admit into the proceedings any facts not presented by either of the two parties to the suit.’ The Subodhinī reproduces the same explanations.

It is quoted in Aparārka (p. 605), which adds the following notes:—‘Kāryam’ here means ‘suit,’ ‘dispute’;—any proved fact that may be adduced during the hearing of the suit, the king should not ignore or set aside;—in Kṛtyakalpataru (13b), which explains ‘na graset’ as ‘he should not ignore’;—and in Vīramitrodaya (Vyavahāra, 15b).

 

Comparative notes by various authors

Gautama (13.27).—‘The litigant shall humbly go to seek the judge.’

Pitāmaha (Smṛticandrikā-Vyavahāra, p. 61).—‘The King shall not himself or through his officers, promote law-suits; nor through anger or through greed or through affection, shall he suppress a suit; nor shall he, on his own account, institute suits not brought up by the parties concerned.’

Nārada (Do.).—‘The King shall not, either for asserting his power or through greed for making money out of it, create law-suits among people who have no disputes among themselves.’