91. If the instrument be in a foreign country, be illegibly written, be destroyed, faded, stolen, mutilated, burned, or torn, [the Court] shall direct a new one to be made. 92. The authenticity of a written instrument which is doubtful, is to be ascertained by [comparison with other] documents in the handwriting of the party &c.,[168] by [enquiry into] the probability of its having been obtained,[169] and [the mode of] its preparation, by [observation of] any marks, by [enquiry of] the relation [in which the parties stand to each other], and how the matter came about. 93. As often as the debtor makes a payment, either he shall write an indorsement to that effect on the document, or the creditor shall give a receipt under his hand. 94. When the debt is paid, [the debtor] shall cause the document to be torn up, or shall have another prepared, _viz._ of discharge. If the debt was incurred before witnesses, its payment should also be before witnesses.[170] 95. The scales, fire, water, poison, the sacred draught--these are the ordeals for exculpation,[171] in case of grave accusations, if the accuser be prepared to pay a fine. 96. When it is agreed on; one of the parties shall perform [the ordeal], the other be in readiness to pay the fine. Even without a fine, there shall be trial by ordeal in case of treason or great crime. 97. [The accused,] being summoned, shall, after bathing at sunrise and fasting, be made to go through the several ordeals, in presence of the monarch and the bráhmaṇs. 98. The scales are [the ordeal] for women, children, aged men, the blind, the lame, bráhmaṇs, and those afflicted with disease. Fire or water, or the seven barleycorns' weight of poison are [the ordeal] for a Śúdrá. 99. For a less value than a thousand _paṇas_, one shall not go through the ordeal of the [heated] iron plough-share, of poison, or of the scales: but in case of offence against the monarch or great crime, purifications[172] shall always be gone through. 100. When the accused has been placed in the scales by those who understand the art of weighing, a counter-weight adjusted, and a line drawn, he is then to be taken out [of the scales.] 101. "O scales! made by the gods, of old, the abode of truth: therefore do ye, propitious ones, declare the truth and liberate me from suspicion! 102. If I be an evil-doer, then bear me down, oh mother! If I be pure, carry me upwards!" Thus shall he [who is to go through the ordeal] invoke the scales. 103. The hands [of the accused] shall be inspected when rice has been rubbed in them; after which, seven leaves of the Indian fig tree are to be placed therein [_scil._ in his hands] and fastened round successively with a thread. 104. "Thou, O fire, dwellest in all created things! O purifier, in testimony of innocence and guilt, do thou, in my hand, make known the truth!"