The Singhalese Police. chances of conviction are so small that hei nous offences are committed with little risk, for nothing is easier than to bribe all the wit nesses, and probably the headman, whose duty it should be to prosecute. Sometimes even the plaintiff himself is bribed! As re gards the headmen, it is only natural that they should be amenable to bribes, for, in stead of receiving remuneration for helping in the detection of crime, and in the capture of criminals, they have often to incur serious expense out of their own slender means. In one very common class of accusation, against which no man is safe, namely, that of grave immorality, the result turns on which man can bribe the largest number of false witnesses, and the innocent accused is very often obliged to purchase safety by pay ing his accusers to let the charges drop. If the besetting sin of the Singhalese is their inordinate love of litigation, this certainly is fostered by their very troublesome law of in heritance, which results in such minute sub divisions of property that the loxjth share of a field, or the soth of a small garden (con taining, perhaps, a dozen palms, and a few plantains), becomes a fruitful source of legal contention, of quarrels, and of crime. Emer son Tenant mentions a case in which the claim was for the 2,52Oth share in the prod uce of ten cocoa palms! To illustrate this sort of litigation, the Rev. R. Spence Hardy quot ed an intricate daim on disputed property, in which the case of the plaintiff was as follows: "By inheritance through my father I am en titled to i -4th of i -3rd of i-8th. Through my mother, I am further entitled to i-4th of i-3rd of i-8th. By purchase from one set of co-heirs, I am entitled to i-96th; from an other set, also 1-96111; and from a third, i -96th more. Finally, from a fourth set of co-heirs I have purchased 1-144111 of the whole." There is a nice question to solve ere a landowner can begin to till his field or reap its produce.
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But, although difficult questions, such as this, must always have proved a fruitful source of contention, it is only in recent years that the gentlemen of the legal profes sion have become so numerous. Singhalese or Tamil, Portuguese or Dutch, Eurasian or European, all have equal chances in the race for distinction as barristers, or magistrates, or judges. The business of the courts is most unnecessarily 'lelayed by the invariable em ployment of magistrates' interpreters. In In dia, where in every presidency there are so many different languages, each magistrate is bound to master any language, a knowledge of which is requisite for the conduct of his own court, interpreters being employed in the supreme courts only. In Ceylon, al though there are only two native languages, and every new-comer has to pass examina tions in them, every word spoken in court, every question and every answer, must be repeated through an interpreter. Among the cases which call for consider able detective skill are those of forging bank notes and of altering coins. The forgeries are generally the joint work of professional engravers and surveyors; the false rupees, though manufactured by Singhalese gold smiths, are occasionally proved to be the work of Buddhist priests, who, by casting images of Buddha have acquired the requi site skill. The Buddhist priests are said to be the chief money lenders and usurers; and it is whispered that they contribute rather a large proportion of the felons, although to avoid scandal, they are, as a rule, unrobed before trial. Some years ago, however, one was hanged in full canonicals just to show that British law is no respecter of persons. To glance at the pleasanter aspects of po lice work in Ceylon, one of the most success ful schemes has been the Servants' Registra tion Ordnance, by which every servant is bound to have a pocket register, in which his antecedents are recorded, as are also the be ginning and the end of his services, and th*
