Juristic Concepts of Ancient Indian Polity : Legal Concepts-III (Some Other Concepts)

By : Nagendra Singh

Page No: 129-148

Abstract
In this article,# the author describes how the concept of crime and punishment in ancient India differed and evolved over the Vedic age, the Magadhan empire, the Buddhist Empire of Ashoka, and through the empires of the Guptas and Harsha in ancient India. The author thereafter discusses the position of humanitarian law in ancient India. In this process, the author elaborates not merely the rules of warfare in ancient Indian polity but the weapons of warfare and acts or actions prohibited in warfare, as well, to emphasise how humanitarian aspect was not lost sight of even during hostile environment and circumstances. The author explains as to how criminal law in India was systematic, welldefined and had developed on a logical and scientific basis. In the next part of the article, the author explains the concept of property in ancient India and defines the corporate concept of property including its nature and forms. The author explains how the concept of individual property evolved in ancient India and then describes the sources of individual property and in the process also dwells on the concept of ‘exclusive women’s property’ or the concept of stridhana.

Author :
Nagendra Singh : The then former President, International Court of Justice, The Hague.