ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the reception of a judicial forum set up by the Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1741 in Galle. The Landraad (literally Land Council) was a kind of district court which had a majority of VOC ocials and a minority of subordinate local headmen. Given Maria’s example, to what extent was the Land Council perceived as intrusive of local aairs? Law practices may by themselves be either inclusive or exclusive, or deliberately made so by those in power. Colonial judicial bodies are known to have stimulated relatively powerless groups in society to come forward (Merry 2010, p. 1068). Supplicants, in the form of litigants, sought justice by applying to the Land Council. By extension, witnesses who bolstered case narratives were engaged in a similar pursuit and will also be dealt with in this chapter as individuals who were required to face the law.
