Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 14.pdf/379

 340

sess, and those gentlemen find, to their dis gust, that what they relied upon as facts are mere fictions. The interiors of the courts leave little to describe. The judge or magistrate sits on a dais with a table in front of him, while just beneath sit the advocates or pleaders. Behind them sit the " Muktars," and behind them stand the public, whilst the parties and witnesses are examined in much the same position as you find in most American courts. Some of the Magistrates courts, though, are simply execrable. The advo cates or pleaders are elbowed and crushed by an odoriferous crowd pressing to the front, and a badly placed punkah gives its partial breeze to the Bench alone. Perhaps, too, the dais is very high, and it is only by an occasional stand on tiptoe by a moder ately tall man that a view of the magisterial countenance can be obtained. The court buildings are generally spa cious single-storied blocks, with a verandah round the four sides. There is, however, no waiting room accomodation for the numerous pleaders and " Muktars," still less for the crowd of litigants. In most stations the pleaders have erected, at their own ex pense, a small bungalow, wherein they sit in one long room waiting for their cases to be called on. The room is open to the pub lic, and the most important points of law, and business of the most vital interest to clients are discussed and settled here in the midst of a great noise and bustle. In some

places there is a very respectable law library, got up by private subscription; and advo cates, whose bungalows are perhaps a little distance off, sit there waiting for their cases, or consulting with their clients. The " Muk tars " squat under an erection of grass and thatch, which we should in America call a shed; whilst the unfortunate litigants, for whom primarily, partly at whose expense, all this wonderful system of law, these costly buildings and staff of officials are kept up, sit or stand anywhere, often in picturesque groups, in the verandahs, under the great "peepul " and " parca " trees, or in the blis tering sun. At one time of the year there blows a hot wind from the west with all the force of a hurricane. Clouds of fine white dust rush along, covering everything and blinding everyone. Then the European shuts up his bungalow and lives the day in darkness, but the wretched witness and the still more wretched suitor or party in the cause has to sit, sheltering himself as best he can, day after day in attendance, and often for many days after the date fixed for his case to be tried. The court hours are from 11 a.m. to 4 P.M., unless they are changed, as they some times are during the few hottest months, and then they are from 7 A.M. to 11 A.M. There is always a considerable crowd linger ing round and about the various offices, long after the courts rise, but it gradually dwin dles away, and by sunset the once busy scene has completely changed.