"Village headmen, while held to a strict discharge of their
duties and severely punished for various malpractices, were
safeguarded against all aggression or undue interference on the part
of the jito. The law of property was almost entirely synonymous with
that of fiefs. These, if originally conferred for public services
rendered by the grantee, could not be sold. On the death of the
holder it was not necessarily the eldest son--even though
legitimate--that succeeded. The only provision affecting the father's
complete liberty of bequest or gift to his widow--or concubine, in
one article--or children, was that a thoroughly deserving eldest son,
whether of wife or concubine, could claim one-fifth of the estate.

"Not only could women be dowered with, or inherit, fiefs, and
transmit a legal title to them to their own children, but a childless
woman was even fully empowered to adopt an heir. Yoritomo had been
the first to sanction this broadminded and liberal principle. In
Kamakura, an adulterer was stripped of half of his fief if he held
one; and if he had none, he was banished. For an adulteress the
punishment was no severer, except that if she possessed a fief, the
whole of it was confiscated. A good many sections of the code deal
with legal procedure and the conduct and duty of magistrates, the
great objects being to make the administration of justice simple,
prompt, and pure, while repressing everything in the shape of
pettifogging or factious litigation.

"The penalties were neither cruel nor ferocious. Death for the worst
offences--among which theft is specially mentioned--confiscation of
fief, and banishment, these exhaust the list. The only other
punishment mentioned is that of branding on the face, inflicted on a
commoner for the crime of forgery, a bushi's punishment in this case
being banishment, or simply confiscation of his fief, if possessed of
one.

"Bakufu vassals were strictly forbidden directly to solicit the
Imperial Court for rank or office; they must be provided with a
special recommendation from Kamakura. But once invested with Court
rank, they might be promoted in grade without any further
recommendation, while they were free to accept the position of
hebiishi. Analogous restrictions were placed on the Kwanto clergy,
who were to be summarily removed from their benefices if found
appealing to Kyoto for promotion, the only exception being in favour
of Zen-shu priests. In their case the erring brot