Page 194 - A History of Siam

A HISTORT OF SUM
186

to the rank of the Testator.
varying according Moreover,
are as in witnesses to the
they not, England, merely
of the but also to its and to the
signature Will, contents,
competence of the Testator. These provisions render
it difficult for a man to make a
hasty or eccentric Will,
since it may not be easy to find the requisite number of
respectable persons to witness it. It is thus practically
for a on his to disinherit
impossible Siamese, death-bed,
his wife and children and leave his money to a home for
lost
dogs.
The Law of which came into force in
4. Debt,
A.D. 1648, is another ingenious piece of legislation. This
Law sets forth the of wives
very clearly respective liability
and husbands, parents and children, and brothers and
sisters for one another's debts,
A curious of the Law of Debt is that a
provision person
who denies before a Court of Law for his debt,
liability
but is proved in fact to be liable, may be made to pay
"
double so as to keep him from getting into the way of
denying his debts." Similarly, an unsuccessful Plaintiff
may be mulcted in twice the amount of his claim, so as
to teach him not to false claims. These
bring provisions
are not enforced at the In former
present day. times,
one must suppose that none but litigants with cast iron
cases ever ventured into Court.
to modern
The Law of Debt was ill adapted require-
ments ; it was superseded by the new Civil Code intro-
duced in 1926.
The most curious of Prasat
5. specimen King T'ong's
efforts has been to the last. This is his
legislative kept
addition to the Law of Offences the Government
against
of A.D. It was issued in after the
1351. 1657 (probably
King had had a particularly trying time with van Vliet)
"
and runs as follows If of the Realm,
any subjects
: