The Justice in Southeast Asia Lab (JSEALab) at UW-Madison has just published an exciting and important new edition of Justice in Translation: “Oaths and Ordeals in Classical Cambodian Law, 1011–1891,” by anonymous, translated by Trent Walker.

Translations of three Cambodian texts on oaths and ordeals—“Oath of the Guards,” “A Solemn Oath,” and “Law for Ordeals”—dating to 1011, 1693, and 1891 CE, respectively, and grounded in three linguistic phases of the Khmer language: Old, Middle, and Modern. These texts reveal the importance of such oaths and ordeals over time and provide a basis for comparison with similar legal traditions in pre-twentieth-century Burma, Laos, and Siam.

Download the free, open-access PDF here.

Browse the archive of all Justice in Translation pieces published to date here.

Details on how to submit a translation here.