Description:
"This chapter examines a law report on a disputed inheritance within a Tai (Siamese) noble family under the rule of an all-conquering Burmese king. The text itself is generally known as Shin kyaw thu pyatton (?Lord Kyaw Thu?s Precedent?). Pegu?s Golden Palace was the centre of government for a vast mainland empire created by the early Toungoo-dynasty kings. The greatest of the conquerors was the White Elephant King of Hanthawaddy, known to history as King Bayinnaung (r. 1551-82), and The Precedent is the leading source on law and kingship under Bayinnaung?s rule. It reveals a vibrant legalism quite different from those of its neighbours in East and South Asia. Some aspects of sixteenth-century Burmese legalism are reminiscent of Western European approaches to law and kingship, and the end of the chapter pursues this similarity by way of a contemporary English law report....
Keywords: Lord Kyaw Thu?s Precedent; Burmese law; legal texts; King Bayinnaung; legalism; kingship; English law"
Source/publisher:
Legalism, Anthropology and History (Paul Dresch and Hannah Skoda, eds.)
Date of Publication:
2012-08-00
Date of entry:
2014-11-09
Grouping:
- Individual Documents
Category:
Language:
English
Local URL:
Format:
pdf
Size:
410.71 KB
