Page:Parsees by Dosabhoy Framjee.djvu/119

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CHAPTER IV.

LAWS AND INTERNAL GOVERNMENT OF THE PARSEES.

  • The punchayet
  • Its origin
  • Progress and decline
  • A new association established for obtaining civil laws for the Parsees.

The affairs of the Parsee community, after their expatriation from Persia, seem generally to have been managed by a punchayet or committee of five, selected from among their most influential and their wisest men. We have no record of the early history of this body, and are in ignorance as to what laws it was guided by, in its early existence, in the decision of the religious, social, and other disputes arising among the people. The authorities of the place were never called upon to interfere in the matter.

The punchayet was the court of justice, and its decisions, being invariably given after great care and deliberation, were never disputed by the contending parties. Any one refusing to

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