хх yet almost every one of the elements contained in his work is based upon good and appropriate authorities cited below the page. In some instances, however, he has erred in not specifying the peculiar doctrines of the different schools, or in blending the especial doctrine of one school with that of another. The learned author does not so fully treat of the doctrines of the other schools as he does of the two schools in the South of India where he had to, administer justice. His work therefore is of greater utility in the "Courts of Madras and Bombay than in those of the other provinces. The second volume of the work, which contains cases and law opinions appended by the learned author to his work, under the title of “ Responsa Prudeautumn,” or opinions of the Pandits, is indeed very valuable, almost every one of them being followcd by remarks from the pen of Colebrooke, Sutherland, and Ellis, or one or other of them ; and the work is rendered 'still more valuable by containing the opinions of Colebrooke in answer to letters from the author. The above opinions and remarks are truly responsa prudentum, and the author's seeking Colebrooke's opinion on every difficult point, and his publication thereof in support of what he wrote, are actiones prazdentis. The Principles and Precedents of Hindu Law composed and compiled by Mr. (afterwards Sir) William Hay Macnaghten, are the most clear and lucid of the digests hitherto compos- . ed by natives or Europeans. The first volume of this work treats of proprietory right, inheritance, strádhan, partition, marriage, adoption, minority, slavery, and contracts, and contains a translation of a portion of the Mittiksharā. The second volume consists of precedents or opinions of the Hindu law officers delivercd in, and admitted by, the several courts of judicature, and examined and approved of by the author himself. This volume is very useful, and it would have been much more so had the author published in it the very valuable opinions and remarks of Mr. Henry Colebrooke, contained in Strange's Elements of Hindu Law ; and his first volume too would have been more excellent and authoritative had he all along cited authorities in support of the principles and doctrines therein contained in the same manner and with the same prudence as Sir Thomas Strange has done.”
- Mr. Morley says :—“In a late judgment delivered by the Privy Council, Sir William Macnaghten's work is mentioned as by far the most important authority amongst the Hindu law-books by European authors ; and it is stated, on the information of Sir Edward Ryan, to be constantly referred to in the Supreme Court of Calcutta as all but decisive on any point of II.indu law contained in it; (but see anre pp. 605–607;) and that more respect would be paid to it by Judges, than to the opinions of the Pandits.” If the expression “Hindu law-books' mean those composed or compiled by Europeans, Macnaghten's work is for the greater part such as it is stated to be ; but if it comprehend also translations and the remarks and written opinions of Europeans, then whatever has come from the pen of that eminent scholar and lawyer Mr. Henry Colebrooke ought to be regarded as of greater weight : especially his 鷺 of the Dayabhāga and Mitàksharā, the former of which works is standard law in Bengal and the latter is re ted in all the schools from Benares to the Southern extremity of the peninsula of India as the chief ground work of the doctrines they follow ; and the translations themselves are also masterpicces, and, accompanied as they are with translations of the most illustrative and appropriate comments, &c. they are perhaps more useful than the originals. The translation of the Dattaka-mimansa and the Dattuka-chandriko, the standard law tracts on adoption, made after the manner of Colebrooke by his nephew, Mr. Sutherland, and the translation of the portion of the Mitsiksharā made by Sir William Macnaghten, and those of the Dáyakramasangraha and Vyavahara-mayokha are of equal authority with the above. Next in importance are the remarks aud opinions of Colebrooke, “ whose learning,” says Sir Thomas Strange, “in that abstruse science, drawn directly from the original and the most authentic sources, stands acknowledged in Europe as well as in India.” The remarks and opinions above alluded to convey, in most instances, not only his strictures on the points referred and opinions reported, but references also to printed authorities in support of his observations, or of the answers of the Pandits. It is with reference to one of those opinions that Mr. Shakespear, an able Judge of the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut at Calcutta, said, alluding to Sir William Macnaghten : “Now I imagine Mr. Henry
