Page:The kingdom and people of Siam - with a narrative of the mission to that country in 1855 (IA b29352447 0001).pdf/208

 174 the seventy volumes of manuscript laws. But though this portable and useful publication was intended for general use, it is now only obtainable by favour and with considerable difficulty. The Siamese generally divide their laws into three principal sections :- LEGISLATION. 1. The Phra-tam-ra, which prescribes the titles and duties of public functionaries. 2. Phra-tam-nun-codes of the ancient Kings. 3. Phra-raxa-kam-not-modern codes, under the various heads of Robbers, Slaves, Conjugal Duties, Debts and Contracts, Disputes and Law-suits, Inheri- tance, and Generalia. Pallegoix says he has made himself master of the codes, and speaks favourably of them, and of their adaptation to the national charac- ter and wants. The groundwork is traccable to the institutions of Menu. There is a provision that all the provincial judges shall have a copy of the laws, and that the King shall read a portion of them every day; which is probably as much practically in force, as the enactment that all law-suits shall be termi- nated in three days:" such days are frequently pro- longed to years. 66 Judicatures, or Courts of Law. There are practi- cally in Siam three principal tribunals for the admi- nistration of justice,-those of the King, the princes, and the provincial governors. A governor holds daily sittings in the portico of his official residence. His auxiliaries are- Balat, or lieutenant-governors; the Jokabat, who is a sort of public accuser, and check upon the governor; the