Royal Judicial System in Ancient India

Abstract

The work deals with the problematic of royal judicial system in Ancient India from the late vedic era till the 12th century. In Ancient India the king was regarded as the fountain source of all justice, therefore he was the head of the central royal court. The internal structure of the royal court was determined besides the function of the king as the supreme judge also by the function of the pradvivaka and by the importance of the sabha. The king was often too busy to spend his time in adjudication and used to delegate the work to the pradvivaka as his chief justice. Sabha was a panel of jurors who assisted the king or the pradvivaka and its function was similar to a jury. The central royal court was also the highest appellate court and under its authority there was the system of lower royal courts. The historical sources do not allow us to make a more precise idea about this system and its development during the time of Ancient India, which was much more dynamic and less static in comparison to the development of the central royal court.