There is no separate law applying to personal property, as opposed to real property, amongst the Khasis.
Decisions of Disputes.
Khasi Courts of Judicature.
In the first place a complaint is made before the Siem or chief, against a certain party or parties. The facts and circumstances of the ease, are then detailed before the chief and his headmen, the ostensible object being to attempt to bring about a compromise between the parties. If no reconciliation can be effected, a crier (u nong pyrta shnong), or in the Jaintia Hills a sangot, is sent out to proclaim at the top of his voice the durbar which is to assemble the following evening. He proceeds to cry the durbar in the evening when all the inhabitants have returned to the village from their usual daily pursuits. With a loud premonitory yell the crier makes use of the following formula [24]:—
"Kaw! thou, a fellow-villager; thou, a fellow-creature; thou, an old man; thou, who art grown up; thou, who art young; thou, a boy; thou, a child; thou, an infant; thou; who art little; thou, who art great. Hei! because there is a contest. Hei! for to cause to sit together. Hei! for to cause to deliberate. Hei! for to give intelligence together. Hei! about to assemble in durbar. Hei! for to listen attentively. Hei! ye are forbidden. Hei! ye are stopped to draw water then, not to cut firewood then; Hei! to go as coolies then; Hei! to go to work then; Hei! to go a journey then; Hei! to descend to the valley then; Hei! he who has a pouch. Hei! he who has a bag. Hei! now come forth. Hei! now appear. Hei! the hearing then is to be all in company. Hei! the listening attentively then is to be all together. Hei! for his own king. Hei! for his own lord, lest destruction has come; lest wearing away has overtaken us. Kaw! come forth now fellow mates."
This proclamation is called khang shnong, and by it all are stopped from going anywhere from the village the following day. Anybody who disregards the prohibition is liable to fine. The following day, towards evening, all the grown-up males of the village assemble at the durbar ground, the site of which is marked in some villages by rows of flat stones, arranged in an irregular circle, upon which the durbaris sit. The proceedings are opened by one of the headmen, who makes a long speech; then others follow, touching upon all sorts of irrelevant matters, but throwing out hints, now and then, bearing on the subject of accusation. By degrees the debate waxes warmer, and the parties get nearer the point. Then the complainant and the defendant each of them throw down on the ground a turban, or a bag containing betul and pán, lime, &c., in front of the durbar. These are regarded as the pledges of the respective parties and their representatives in the suit; they receive the name of mamla (hence the Khasi term ar liang mamla for the two contending parties in the suit). There are pleaders on both aides called 'riw said, who address the durbar in lengthy speeches, the Siem being the judge and the whole body of the durbar the jury. Witnesses are examined by the parties; in former times they were sworn on a pinch of salt placed on a sword. The most sacred and most binding foam of oath, however, is sworn on u klong (a hollow gourd containing liquor). As, however, the latter form of oath is regarded by the Khasis as a most serious ordeal, it will be described separately. The durbar sometimes goes on for several days. At length the finding of the durbar is taken, after the Siem has summed up, and sentence is pronounced, which generally consists of a fine in money, almost always accompanied by an order to the losing party to present a pig. The pig is supposed to be sacrificed to a goddess, Ka 'lei synshar, i.e. the goddess of the State, but it is invariably eaten by the Siem and the members of the durbar. The Siem then calls out "kumta mo khynraw" (is it not so, young people?) The members of the durbar then reply, "haoid kumta khein khynraw" (yes, it is so, young ones). Sentences of fine are more often resorted to than other punishments nowadays, probably because very few of the Siems possess jails for the reception of criminals. The condemned one in a criminal case frequently serves his time by working for the Siem as a menial servant. The above description, which is based on the account given by the Rev. W. Lewis, with some modifications, may be taken as the usual form of procedure of the Khasi durbar.
Under the heading of decision of disputes we may perhaps give a short description of some of the punishments which were inflicted by the Siems and their durbars in criminal cases in ancient times. Murder was punishable by beating the culprit to death with clubs (ki tangon ki lymban). The killing, however, of a nong shoh noh, i.e. a man who seeks for human victims to sacrifice to the monster, u thlen, is not considered murder, even now by the Khasis, and the slayer of the nong shoh noh only has to inform the Siem and deposit Rs. 5, and one pig in the Siem's court. The slaying of a robber also is dealt with in like manner.
The punishment of adultery was imprisonment for life (ka sah dain mur), or a fine of Rs. 1,100, and one pig (ka khadwei spah wei doh). Whether such a heavy fine was ever paid is perhaps doubtful, and probably some other form of punishment was substituted for it. A husband finding his wife and a man in flagrante delicto could, as under the law of the ancients, kill both adulterer and adulteress without punishment for murder. He was, however, bound to deposit Rs. 5, and the conventional pig in the Siem's durbar. The punishment for rape (kaba khniot tynga) was imprisonment for life in the case of the woman being married, and a heavy fine and one pig if the woman was a spinster. Arson was punishable with imprisonment for life, or a heavy fine. The punishment for causing people to be possessed by devils (ka ba ai-ksuid briew) was exile (pyrangkang par); but if a person so possessed died, the sorcerer was hurled down a precipice (pynnoh khongpong). The punishment for robbery and theft was the stocks (ka pyndait diengsong), the imposition of fetters, or a punishment known as kaba s'ang sohmynken, by which the culprit was compelled to sit on a bamboo platform under which chillies were burnt. The result of such torture can be better imagined than described. Incest, or sang, which amongst the Khasis means cohabiting with a member of a man's or woman's own clan, was punishable with exile or a fine of Rs. 550/- and one pig. It is believed by the Khasis that the evils resultant from incestuous connection are very great; the following are some of them: being struck by lightning, being killed by a tiger, dying in childbirth, &c.
Decision of Cases by Ordeal.
Water Ordeal.