I also found that no law books are kept at the Court, and it would be well, therefore, if Your Honours applied to His Excellency the Governor and the Council to provide you with such books as they deem most useful, because only a minority of the members possess these books privately, and, as a rule, the Company's servants are poor lawyers. Justice may therefore be either too severely or too leniently administered. There are also many native customs according to which civil matters have to be settled, as the inhabitants would consider themselves wronged if the European laws be applied to them, and it would be the cause of disturbances in the country. As, however, a knowledge of these matters cannot be obtained without careful study and experience, which not every one will take the trouble to acquire, it would be well if a concise digest be compiled according to information supplied by the chiefs and most impartial natives. No one could have a better opportunity to do this than the Dessave, and such a work might serve for the instruction of the members of the Court of Justice as well as for new rulers arriving here, for no one is born with this knowledge. I am surprised that no one has as yet undertaken this work.
The advice of Mr. Laurens Pyl in his Memoir of November 7, 1679, with regard to the Court of Justice, namely, that the greatest precautions must be used in dealing with this false, cunning, and deceitful race, who think little of taking a false oath when they see any advantage for themselves in doing so, must be followed. This is perhaps the reason that the Mudaliyars Don Philip Willewaderayen and Don Anthony Naryna were ordered in a letter from Colombo of March 22, 1696, to take their oath at the request of the said Mudaly Tamby only in the heathen fashion, although this seemed out of keeping with the principles of the Christian religion (Salva Reverentio), as these people are recognized as baptized Christians, and therefore the taking of this oath is not practised here. The natives are also known to be very malicious and contentious among themselves, and do not hesitate to bring false charges against each other, sometimes for the sole purpose of being able to say that they gained a triumph over their opponents before the Court of Justice. They are so obstinate in their pretended rights that they will revive cases which had been decided during the time of the Portuguese, and insist on these being dealt with again. I have been informed that some rules have been laid down with regard to such cases by other Commandeurs some 6, 8, 10, and 20 years previous, which it would be well to look up with a view to restrain these people. They also always revive cases decided by the Commandeurs or Dessaves whenever these are succeeded by others, and for this reason I never consented to alter any decision by a former Commandeur, as the party not satisfied can always appeal to the higher court at Colombo. His Excellency the Governor and the Council desired very properly in their letter of November 15, 1694, that no processes decided civilly by a Commandeur as regent should be brought in appeal before the Court of Justice here, because the same Commandeur acts in that College as President. Such cases must therefore be referred to Colombo, which is the proper course. Care must also be taken that all documents concerning each case are preserved, registered, and submitted by the Secretary. I say this because I found that this was shamefully neglected during my residence here in the years 1691 and 1692, when several cases had been decided and sentences pronounced, of which not a single document was preserved, still less the notes or copies made.