Judicial system in ancient India: A review

Ever since Mankind made its mark on the planet of earth, there has been one consistent effort on the part of rulers as well ruled to ensure ‘justice’ to ‘all’, irrespective of any differentiation on the basis of any of the factor which can be the cause of such differentiation. India, a country reckoned with early civilizations of the world has long history to provide ample literature on the most vulnerable aspect of Government-the judicial system. The Judicial system evolved itself from the rich resources like Vedas, writings of thinkers and philosopher of that times which are still considered as relevant literature on governance. The justice system of ancient times was far from any bias as it had roots in its Secular principle. The strength of judicial system of those times can be gauged from the fact that some of the features of the system are in vogue even today or some of these are reflected in the present system in one way or the other. The present paper tries to deal with the topic keeping in view the earlier efforts while highlighting some of the unique features of the ancient judicial system which were of relevance and importance even today.