Page:History of the Indian Archipelago Vol 3.djvu/105

 LAWS. 91 some of the tribes, collateral oaths are deemed ne- cessary, and the testimony of an accused person must be corroborated by that of others, somewhat in the manner of the compurgators of the middle ages of Europe. Among those people, however, it is the relations of the deceased alone that are sworn. Marsden gives the following interesting account of the practice : "In administering an oath, if the matter litigated respects the proper- ty of the grandfather, all the collateral branches of the family descended from him are understood to be included in its operation ; if the father*s effects only are concerned, or the transactions hap- pened in his lifetime, his descendants are included ; if the affair regards only the present parties, and originated with them, they and their immediate de- scendants only are comprehended in the conse- quences of the oath ; and if any single one of these descendants refuses to join in the oath, it vitiates the whole ; that is, it has the same effect as if the party himself refused to swear ; a case that not unfrequently occurs. It may be observed, that the spirit of this custom tends to the requiring a weight of evidence, and an increase of the importance of the oath, in proportion as the distance of time ren- ders the fact to be established less capable of proof in the ordinary way." * ■ History of Sumatra, p. 241.