Within the ancient Indian legal imagination, the Smritis—especially texts such as Manusmriti, Yājñavalkya Smriti, and Nārada Smriti—stood as authoritative manuals of dharma, shaping both law and morality. They were regarded as primary written sources of guidance after the Vedas, and kings and judges were expected to align their decisions with these prescriptions. Far from being mere abstract theology, they articulated concrete norms for social conduct, defining duties and rights across different social classes and stages of life. In this way, they provided the overarching ethical and social framework within which courts understood justice, responsibility, and appropriate redress.

In the practical life of the courts, Smritis offered detailed guidance on both substance and procedure. They addressed civil matters such as inheritance, property, marriage, contracts, and debt, and they also laid down rules for punishment, categorizing offenses and indicating graded penalties according to factors like status and intention. At the same time, they described how trials should unfold: the kinds of evidence that could be admitted, the examination of witnesses, and the conduct expected of judges. Kings and judges thus turned to these texts to determine not only what judgment to give, but how that judgment should be reached.

Smritis also functioned as a kind of constitutional horizon for royal power and local practice. Royal decrees and administrative measures were ideally framed “according to Smriti and Śruti,” and when local customs diverged from these norms, the texts served as a standard for interpreting and, where possible, reconciling such practices. In the hierarchy of authorities, the Vedas were held supreme, followed by Smritis, then custom, and finally royal edict, even though actual application varied by region and circumstance. Over time, learned interpreters and later digests elaborated on these texts, and courts drew on such interpretive traditions to apply Smriti principles in concrete disputes.

Seen in this light, the role of Smritis in ancient courts was both juridical and spiritual. They were not simply rigid codes, but prescriptive legal-ethical works that sought to harmonize social order, royal governance, and individual conduct with an overarching vision of dharma. Judges and rulers who consulted them were engaging not only in the administration of law, but in an attempt to align temporal justice with a deeper, sacral understanding of right and wrong.