‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎249r] (504/722)

and are active and just, or corrupt and cruel, as he happens to be vigilant
and virtuous, or avaricious and tyrannical.
The lowest of those entrusted with the administration of the f urf/ or
customary law, hear complaints of all kinds and summon evidence ; and
even the heads of villages are allowed to inflict slight punishment, or impose
small fines. But if the crime be serious, the delinquent is sent to the person
that holds the office of collector and magistrate of the district, whose power
is more extensive. And when the case, either from the magnitude of the
property concerned, the rank of the parties, or the heinousness of the crime,
appears above the collector's cognizance, he refers it to the governor of the
province, who is generally competent to decide on all cases that do not affect
life. But the power to put to death is seldom delegated by the king,
unless in cases when a country is in rebellion, or when the government is
committed to one of the blood-royal. In all other circumstances, when an
example is necessary, the proof of the guilt of the criminal taken accord-
ing to legal foims before the court of £ shara, or written law, is sent to
court, and a royal mandate is transmitted for his execution.
The lay-magistrates of Persia always hold their courts of justice publicly,
which undoubtedly operates as a salutary check upon their proceedino-s!
These courts are sometimes very tumultuous ; though the judge is always
aided by a crowd of inferior officers, whose duty is to preserve order. The
females, who attend these courts, are often the most vociferous; for it is not
peimifted that the servants of the magistrates should silence them with
those blows which, in cases of disturbance, they liberally inflict upon all
others.
The jurisdiction of the courts of written and customary law in Persia
neither is, nor can be, from the constitution of the latter, clearly defined.
The sovereign and his ministers desire to promote this confusion of authority
which adds to their power and emolument. But though in civil and
criminal cases appeals, or rather complaints, are carried from one of these
couits to the other, all deeds, contracts, marriages, and divorces must
be drawn up by the officers of the shara, or written law; and their
decisions on such points are received as evidence in the court of the lay-
magistrate, who is also in the habit of continually referring to them all
cases which he desires (either from personal or political reasons) should be
decided by their authority. And in criminal cases, where regular procedure
is adopted, the chief judge of the court of shara pronounces sentence
according to the decrees of the sacred law.
The decisions of the courts of Persia, whether those of written or custom
ary law, are speedily obtained; and a suit in them is attended with little
apparent cost, though considerable sums are often given in bribes. The
administration of the customary law, or £ urf/ is more summary than that of
shara, because it is more arbitrary. All forms and delays of law arise
out of a respect for persons and property that is unknown to this branch
of the administration of justice in Persia, which always imitates, in its
decisions, the promptness of that despotic authority from which it proceeds
and by which it is supported.
It has been already stated that the king of Persia deems himself vested
with an authority independent of the law, and considers that he can, from
the prerogative of his high condition, take the life or seize the property of
any one of his subjects; but it has been shown that the exercise of his
absolute power is practically limited. In all cases where he does not