Page:History of India Vol 1.djvu/273

Rh five heads, the law of agriculture and pasture, the law of property, usury laws, the law of inheritance, and the law of partition. We begin with the law of agriculture and pasture. According to Apastamba:—

"If a person who has taken a lease of land does not exert himself, and hence the land bears no crop, he shall, if he be rich, be made to pay the value of the crop that ought to have been grown.

"A servant in tillage who abandons his work shall be flogged.

"The same punishment shall be awarded to a herdsman who leaves his work.

"And the flock entrusted to him shall be taken away.

"If cattle, leaving their stable, eat crops, the owner of the crops may make them lean (by impounding them); but shall not exceed that.

"If a herdsman who has taken cattle under his care allows them to perish or loses them, he shall replace them to the owners.

"If (the king's forester) sees cattle that have been sent into the forest through negligence, he shall lead them back to the village and restore them to their owners."

Again Gautama says:—

"If damage is done by cattle, the responsibility falls on the owner.

"But if the cattle were attended by a herdsman, it falls on the latter.

"If the damage was done in an unenclosed field