- Kautilya mentions the existence of both civil and criminal courts
- Dharmadhikari: the chief justice of the Supreme Court at the capital
- There were also subordinate courts at the provincial capitals and districts under Amatyas
- Different kinds of punishments- imprisonment, mutilation and death
- Torture was employed to extract truth
- Both Kautilya and Asokan Edicts mention about jails and jail officials
- Remission of sentences is also mentioned in Asoka’s inscriptions