The king was the head of justice-the fountainhead of law-and all matters of grave consequences were decided by him. There were special courts in the cities and villages presided over by the pradesika, mahamatras and rajukas.
There were two kinds of courts: dharmastheya dealing with civil matters and kantakasodhana deciding cases of a criminal nature.
In all important cities and headquarters, at least one court and one police head office was set up. Petty cases in the villages were settled by the village elders in their panchayats. In civil cases the Hindu code of law, as envisaged in the shastras, was administered.
The evidence of respectable persons was relied upon. Punishment was very severe, even for small offences like evasion of government’s taxes, giving false evidence, causing injury to artisans, ordinary theft, etc.
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In such cases, the body was mutilated. There were eighteen kinds of tortures including seven of whipping. The criminal code was very harsh and was strictly administered. The underlying idea of these punishments was to set an example for others, and to deter them from doing wrong. There were different kinds of prisons for different criminals, and detailed rules were prescribed for the jailors and the jailed.
Megasthenes is all praise “for the Mauryan law and order. He records that “There were few crimes; murders and thefts were almost unknown, people seldom locked their doors and the security of life and property was guaranteed by the state”.