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persons he speaks of justices and from the difficulties in the
as the
way of taking
the evidence in the case I have
deferred bringing it to his further
notice until I hear from you
The persons alluded to
I understand are
Justices
are village elders and the witnesses,
it is probable, he
was asked if he had presented a formal petition to them
a
The authority
to whom he had to look was
i.e.,
the Magistrate
early next morning,
as soon as possible,
a report would be made and
for redress. Upon receipt
of this report, the Magistrate
in duty bound,
would view the body
and, in natural course,
returned to
the District Court waiting for
the arrest of the persons concerned to take the evidence of
the witnesses.
As with us,
it is not usual in China to hold an Inquest
without a body
the evidence of the accused
cannot be convicted in a court
being the only evidence on
which a conviction will be held until
there is a prisoner to examine.
For the formal enquiry into the case would naturally
follow until there was
I attach no importance to the objection that in his panic the
first witness made no attempt
to follow the robbers. I should rather have doubted his evidence
if he had.