ABSTRACT
GOVERNED from time immemorial by despotic princes, who recognized no law but their own free will and pleasure, India has been accustomed to a form of judicial administration peculiar to herself. There has been no legal code, neither has there been any record of legal usage. There are, it is true, a few works containing general legal principles, and a few wise legal maxims which have helped to guide the judges in their decisions; yet nowhere have there been properly organized courts of justice. Ordinary cases have generally been settled, without any right of appeal, by the collectors of public revenue, assisted by assessors selected from the principal inhabitants and by the military officer commanding the district.
