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Two puzzles of judicial wagers

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2021

Harald Wiese*
Affiliation:
University of Leipzig, Postfach 920, D-04009 Leipzig, Germany Email: wiese@wifa.uni-leipzig.de

Abstract

This paper is about an Old Indian judicial institution called paṇa (“wager”). Within a court proceeding, a judicial wager is a certain sum of money that a conflicting party offers to pay if he ends up losing his case. This paper explains the rationale of judicial wagers by showing that they may signal truthfulness.

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Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Royal Asiatic Society

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