The ancient laws of the Lao people contained many Buddhist
legends which were taken from the Pali canon. These laws also
prescribed penalties in conformity with those of the Pali canon;
for example, the penalties were in principle divided into three
categories : Khan kha khO, Khan mai and Khan paeng. Therefore,
it may be concluded that the ancient laws of the Lao people
basically reflected the concepts of the Pali canon.
Analysis of the contents of these laws also reveals that there
were several social ranks in ancient Laotian society. Penalties
and fines were imposed on criminals according to the rank they
held. Thus, criminals of high rank, such as the members of the.
royal family, were assessed higher fines than were commoners.
The laws also mentioned two categories of bondsmen : KhOi and
Luk khun. The KhOi class served Chao khOi, its master, and the Luk
khun class served Chao Miiang, fief chief and Khun, in general.
Once these bondsmen were emancipated, Khäi was called Thai
and Luk khun was called Phai. However, the difference in social
status between Khói and Luk khun is not clear from the descriptions
of them given in the laws.
東北タイ及びラオスの古代法 : Kotmai Khosaratを中心に
KH_008_1_004.pdf
(1.36MB)
