Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 5.djvu/378

366 CEYLON it is their duty to ascertain the real feelings of the people in refer ence to any Governmeiit measure the expediency of which may be doubtful, and to keep them thoroughly acquainted with any change in the law, and also to bring before the Government the wants of the people, and to obtain early information of any disaffection or fear of a rising of the people. They have consequently very delicate and important duties to perform in relation to the native chiefs and nobles. They have also to collect, through their subordinates, all the revenue not derived from customs duties, to see that the public buildings and highways are kept in proper order, and generally to see to the welfare of the province. The provinces are divided into districts under an assistant agent, and the districts are parcelled out into smaller divisions under native chiefs and headmen of various ranks, called in the Kaudyan country Ratemahatmayas, Koralas, and Araehchies ; in the maritime Sinhalese provinces Mudaliyas, Muhaudirams, and Vidanas ; in the Tamil provinces Vanuiyas, Udaiyars, and Vidaiias. The Kandyan provinces are the central, north-central, and parts of the western and north-western ; the maritime or low-country Sinhalese provinces are the southern and parts of the western and north- western ; the Tamil provinces are the northern and eastern. Justice. The administration of justice is conducted by a Supreme Court, consisting of a chief justice and two puisne judges ; by dis trict judges, police magistrates, justices of the peace, and commis sioners of Courts of Request. There are a Queen s advocate and a deputy Queen s advocate for the island. These officers correspond to the attorney-general and solicitor-general in England. They are the law officers of the Government, and are bound to give their advice on any case submitted for their opinion, and to appear for the Crown in all civil suits. The Queen s advocate also has to discharge the duties of public prosecutor, to supervise the proceed ings of the justices of the peace, and to conduct the prosecution in all cases before the Supreme Court and in all serious cases before the District Courts. The Queen s advocate is assisted by provincial deputies, who are the legal advisers of the agents of Government in charge of the provinces. The Supreme Court has original criminal jurisdiction in all cases. It usually tries only cases ordinarily punished with more than one year s imprisonment ; in all criminal cases it has the assistance of a jury. It goes on circuit twice a year for criminal cases. It has appellate jurisdiction, civil and criminal, over all the subordinate courts in the island, and the power to issue writs of mandamus and habeas corpus. The District Courts have criminal jurisdiction in cases ordinarily punishable by twelve months imprisonment with or without hard labour, by a fine of 100 or, more strictly, 1000 rupees, or by 50 lashes, or by imprisonment and fine, or by imprison ment and lashes within the specified limits. They have original civil jurisdiction in all cases, whether affecting land or not, in lunacy, in testamentary and matrimonial cases, and in administer ing the estates of minors and intestates. They have long exercised the combined powers of the Court of Chancery and the Courts of Law which have been only recently conferred by the Judicature Acts on the Supreme Court of Judicature in England. The District Courts have no jury, but they have the power, which, however, is rarely exercised, of summoning assessors to their assistance. The police courts have jurisdiction in cases ordinarily punishable by imprison ment with or without hard labour for three months, by a fine of 5 or 50 rupees, or by twenty lashes, or by imprisonment and fine, or by imprisonment and lashes within the specified limits. The Courts of Requests have jurisdiction in civil cases where the matter in dispute is not of greater value than 10. The pleadings in all the courts are in English, but the proceedings are conducted in the language of the district unless both parties are English. The evi dence is interpreted and recorded in English. Village Tribunals. In ancient times all petty disputes were settled by the village elders, who formed the village council or gamsabawa. When the island fell under European control these native customs were rudely swept away, and courts were established which were to administer justice equally to all. In course of time it was found that these courts were in reality highly oppressive to the people, who are of a litigious disposition, by bringing parties and witnesses away from their homes for the sebtlement of every petty case and involving them in costs for stamps and legal assistance, the costs often being tenfold the value of the matter in dispute. It was also found that the ancie .it customs by which each shareholder in arable land was compelled to take his proper share in the common work, such as fencing, repairing the dams of the reservoirn for irrigation, and the like, had gradually fallen into disuse under British rule. It was consequently determined by Sir Hercules Robinson, then governor of Ceylon, to revive the ancient system, and by the "Village Communities Ordinance, 1871," power was given to every village or group of villages to frame rules, having the force of law, for the management of village affairs, and to form village tribunals on the ancient model for the settlement of all petty cases, such as petty assaults and the like, punishable by a small fine, and all civil cases of 2 and under. These tribunals are presided over by a native of rank and experience. The experiment has proved a suc cess beyond the expectation of its original advocates. The relief to the people in getting their small disputes settled on the spot by their own elders is very great, and the revival of the ancient village customs is leading to the general restoration of the village tanks and other irrigation works, which were rapidly falling into decay from the failure of the Government to enforce the ancient rules for their preservation. Laws. In the maritime provinces ceded to Great Britain by the peace of Amiens the Roman-Dutch law prevails ; in the Kandyaii provinces the Kandyau law is administered under the convention of 1815. The Mahometans have their own laws of marriage ami succession. The English law of evidence, trial by jury in the more serious criminal cases, and the English mercantile law have been introduced by local enactments. The Roman-Dutch law applies where no other system of law specially applies. Cases frequently occur in which it is a matter of the utmost difficulty to determine by which system of law they are to be decided, and it is a matter for surprise that no attempt has been made to codify the Ceylon laws, or at least to adapt to the not very different circumstances of Ceylon the admirable civil and criminal codes, and the regulations of procedure, which have been given to India by the able men who have followed Lord Macaulay in the great task of regulating the administration of justice in India. Language. The language of nearly 70 per cent, of the population is Sinhalese ; of the remaining 30 per cent., with the exception of about 6000 Europeans and about 14,000 of European descent, the language is Tamil. Sinhalese is an Aryan language, nearly allied to Pali, which is the sacred language of Buddhism. Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken by those of Arab descent and by the Tamils, who are natives of the northern and eastern provinces, as well as by the Tamil immigrants from Southern India. A corrupt form of Portuguese is spoken by some natives of European descent. The Vaddas, a small forest tribe, speak a distinct language, and the Itodiyas, an outcast tribe, possess a large vocabulary of their own. Pali is one of the Prakrits of ancient India, " which was spoken in the sixth century before Christ, and has been a dead language for upwards of two thousand years." It was the dialect of Magadha, or Southern Behar, and was the language in which Gautama Buddha preached. " Originally a mere provincial dialect, it was raised by the genius of the great reformer to the dignity of a classic language. It stands to Sanskrit in the relation of a younger sister ; Pali and Sanskrit, though intimately con nected, being independent corruptions of the lost Aryan speech which is their common parent." Literature. The Sinhalese possess several original poems of some merit, and an extensive and most interest ing series of native chronicles, but their most valuable literature is written in Pali, though the greater portion of it has been translated into Sinhalese, and is Lest known to the people through these Sinhalese translations. The Pali literature is of great extent; it comprises (1.) The Buddhist Scriptures, called the Tripitaka, estimated in extent at eleven times that of our own Bible, and dating from 309 B.C.; (2.) The commentaries of Buddhaghosha, which date from the 5th century A.D.; and (3.) Historical, grammatical, and other works, of various dates from the 2d or 3d century to the present day, of which the most important are the two histories Dipavamsa and Mahavamsa, the discovery of which made the name of George Tumour illustrious, for in them we find the only authentic sources for the history of India previous to the Christian era. The treasures of the Pali literature are gradually being opened up to European scholars ; foremost amongst those who have sought to raise Pali scholarship to a science are a Frenchman and a Dane. Burnouf has left behind him the important works Introduction d I Histoire du Bouddhisme and Le Lotus de la Bonne Loi; and Fausboll is now editing the text of the entire Jataka, or History of the Births of Buddha. This work is being translated by an Englishman, Professor Childers, whose valuable diction

ary is an immense boon to the Pali student.