Ordeals and Judicial Wagers (TT23)

Location: OCHS Library
Speaker: Professor Dr Harald Weise
Date: May 18, 2023
Time: 11.00am – 12.00pm

‘This Lecture 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.’

Professor Dr Weise is an Economist and Indologist from the University of Leipzig.