1 220 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 was framed to suit the circumstances of the country,
3 and was based on the " non-regulation " principle of
4 according the fullest possible recognition to local and
5 tribal usages. When Chief Commissioner of the
6 Punjab (the province was converted into a Chief
7 Commissionership in 1853) John Lawrence caused a
8 complete code of laws, having special reference to the
9 known peculiarities of the country and people, to be
10 compiled. This code, the work of Sir Robert Mont-
11 gomery and Sir Richard Temple, became the basis of
12 the judicial administration, and was found to be so
13 admirably suited to the requirements of a new
14 country that it was afterwards introduced into
15 Oudh and other non-regulation provinces. Many
16 changes have taken place since the days of John
17 Lawrence, and the Punjab is now equipped with
18 a supreme civil and criminal court, divisional and
19 sessions courts, small cause courts, and all the other
20 requirements of an up-to-date judicial department.
21 But though the earlier system has been superseded,
22 its character has survived and reappears in the new ;
23 and it is still an established principle in the Punjab
24 " that mercantile usages and local customs affecting
25 the family life of the people and the disposition of
26 their property shall be valid and shall be recognized
27 by the courts of law, unless they be contrary to
28 justice, equity, or good conscience."
29 Amongst the many other beneficent objects to
30 which John Lawrence devoted his attention was the
31 promotion of education, and here again his task
32 was that of the pioneer, for the Punjab, so far as
33 education was concerned, was virgin soil. The Sikh