182 KA THIA WAR
administration of the territories was diplomatic, not magisterial ; and
the criminal jurisdiction of the first and second-class chiefs alone
was defined. In 1863, however, the country underwent an important
change. The jurisdiction of all the chiefs was classified and defined
that of chiefs of the first and second classes was made plenary; that of
lesser chiefs was graded in a diminishing scale. Four Political Agents
of the prints, resident in the four divisions of Kathiawar, now exer-
cise residuary jurisdiction with large civil and criminal powers. Each
Political Agent of a print has a deputy who resides at the head-
quarters of the print or division, and exercises subordinate civil and
criminal powers. Serious criminal cases are committed by the deputies
to the court of the Agent to the Governor, to whom also civil and
criminal appeals lie. The Agent to the Governor is aided in this
work by an officer known as the Political Agent and Judicial Assistant,
who is usually a member of the Indian Civil, Service. Appeals from
his decisions lie direct to the Governor of Bombay in Council in
his executive capacity. An officer styled the Superintendent of
Managed Estates, who is ex officio an Assistant Political Agent, and
two Deputy-Assistants also help the Agent.
In each division are several subdivisional thdnadars, holding petty
magisterial powers over a circle of villages contiguous to their stations
or Minas. These thdnadars administer 146 tdlukas out of the 193
territorial divisions of Kathiawar ; they possess certain powers of general
administration as well as judicial authority. But as the larger prin-
cipalities occupy more than 15,000 square miles of the total area of
zo,88z square miles, the Agency through its Assistants, Deputy-
Assistants, and thdnadars cannot be called upon to administer more
than one-fourth of the entire area. There are 12 thdnas in the penin
sula. The tdlukddrs are poor, ignorant, and in debt, and have only the
semblance of authority. Inter-tdlukddr relations are characterized by
petty squabbles, small jealousies, and endless subdivision of estates.
The law administered by the darbdri tribunals of the State is the
customary law: namely, the Hindu and Muhammadan religious law
as modified by local or tribal usage. The larger States have procedure
and penal codes based on those in use in British India. T o meet
a particular class of land disputes, however, a special court was estab-
lished in 1873. This was the Rajasthanik Court, constituted with the
assent and at the cost of the chiefs. It decided, under the presidency
of a British officer, all disputes as to girds or hereditary estates, between
the chiefs and the bhdydds and mulgirasias, who are for the most part
the kinsmen of the chiefs or the descendants of earlier holders who
have been deprived of their estates. It surveyed and mapped out the
girasia's estate, fixed his miscellaneous dues, and defined his relation
to his chief by laying down the extent of his obligations. The court
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