PARTICULAR
509
PARTNERSHIP
duBtrial arts and trades. They thus became a regular
part of the population of Sanjan, adopted the Guzerati
language as their vernacular, and erected their first
fire temple in A. D. 721. Here they remained for over
five centuries of uneventful history, till in 1305 the in-
cursion of the Moslems forced them to take refuge
elsewhere. Partly by further emigrations from Persia,
and partly by spreading from their centre at Sanjan,
they gradually settled in various other localities such
as Canibray, Ankleshwar, Variav, Vankaner, Broach,
Surat, Thana, Chaul etc., and traces of them are
found even as far as Delhi. When in the sixteenth
century the Portuguese at Thana brought moral
pressure to bear in order to make them Christians,
they managed by a subterfuge to escape to Kalyan,
only returning in 177-1 when Thana had fallen under
British rule. The advent of the English to Surat in
1612 opened up new connexions for industry and
trade, so that Surat, as well as Broach, soon became
two of their chief settlements. Finally, when the gov-
ernment of the East India Company was (in 166S)
transferred to Bombay, the Parsis followed and soon
began to occupy posts of trust in connexion with Gov-
ernment and public works in Bombay. Gradually
certain families acquired wealth and prominence (So-
rabji, Modi, Kama, Wadia, Jeejeebhoy, Readymoney,
Dadyset, Petit, Patel, Mehta, AUbless, Tata etc.),
many of whom are noted for their participation in the
public life of the city, and for their various educational,
industrial, and charitable enterprises. The Parsis had
formerly a domestic tribunal called the Panchayat,
which possessed judicial control and the power of ex-
communication; but for nearly a century back its in-
fluence has been curtailed, so that at present it is little
more than a trust for the administration of public
charitable funds.
The education movement began among the Parsis in 1849. Parsi schools since then have been multiplied, but other schools and colleges are also freely frequented. In 18.54 they started the "Persian Zoroastrian Ame- lioration Fund," which, after long efforts lasting till 1882, succeeded in obtaining for their poor Irani breth- ren in Persia a remission of the Jazia tax, besides in- augurating schools and charitable institutions among them. Many of these Persians come over to India and set up cheap restaurants, which on that account are familiarly known as "Irani shops."
The Parsis are divided into two sects, the Shehan- chais or old, and the Kadmis or new party — not on any point of religion, but merely on a question of chronology (like that of the "old" and "new style" in Europe). The old party follow the Indian, and the new party the Persian way of framing the calendar, which makes a difference of about one month in the observance of their "New Year's day." Among salient peculiarities should be mentioned: worship in fire temples (which contain nothing remark- able except a vase of sandalwood kept perpetually alight); praying on the sea shore to the rising and setting sun; celebration of marriages in public assem- bly; exposure of their dead to birds of prey, in what are called " towers of silence " ; exclusiveness as regards marriage; refusal to incorporate aliens into religious membership; the rule of never uncovering the head; and of never smoking. But they are free from the Hindu trammels of caste, have no religious restric- tions about food, are free to travel and take their meals with other races etc. It should be remarked that their "worship" of fire, as explained by them- selves, is not open to the charge of idolatry, but is re- ducible to a relative veneration of that element as the highest and purest symbol of the Divinity. The Parsis have remained faithful to their Zoroastrian faith and are proud of their racial purity. And al- though the colour among many families, chiefly of the lower classes, reveals the effect of mixed marriages, the community as a whole is unmixed, and marriage
with outsiders is rare. In very recent times the influ-
ence of Western ideas has led to a relaxing of the old
reUgious and social bonds, so that many are now
merely nominal believers, while others dabble in theos-
ophy and religious eclecticism, and adopt such habits
as smoking, the uncovering of the head, and even
marrying European women etc. For an account of
their religion see Avesta.
K M^M, >, /,'. Inry o/ the Parsis (London, 18S4); II m ., A' ivs / l.iindon, 1878): Harrobsowitz, /.( /
/ in (Leipzig): Statesman's Year-fi '
< ,,'(■'(/,,"/ r'f I he Eastern Iranians (London, iss;.'. I i< i- \ im, y Fk.\mjer, The Parsees, their History, Manners, Cu.-iloms and Re- ligion (Loudon, 1858).
Ernest R. Hull.
Particular Ezamen. See Examin.ition of Con- science.
Partnership, an unincorporated association of two or more persons, known as partners, having for its object the carrying on in common by the partners of some predetermined occupation for profit, such profit, according to the usual definition, to be shared by the several partners. "The terms partnership and partner", remarks Lindley (The Law of Partnership, 7th ed., London, 1905, 10), "are evidently derived from to pari in the sense of to divide amongstorshare", and the use of the word "co-partnership" in the gen- eral sense of "co-ownership" is now obsolete (Queen against Robson, English Law Reports, 16 Queen's Bench Division, 140). Lindley, however, .suggests that an association might be deemed according to the English Common Law a partnership even though its object were the application of profits to other use than the use of the partners (op. cit., where numerous definitions of partnership are quoted).
The Roman Civil Law treated elaborately of part- nership under the name of Socielas (Pothier, "Pan- dectae Justinianea;", LXVII, Tit. II). And arch®- ologists claim to have ascertained its existence "in a highly developed state" in ancient Babylon (Johns, "Babylonian and Assyrian Laws", New York, 1904, 287, 290, 291).
Partnerships in the Roman Law were included among consensual contracts, those which required no certain form, nor any writing, but which became effectual by simple consent, qui nudo consensu per- ficiuntur, "Pandectffi", supra, "The Commentaries of Gains" , III (Cambridge, 1874), 135, 136.
And in like manner by the English Common Law, the basis of the law of the several States of the United States, except Louisiana, as well as the basis of the law of all British possessions, except those acquired from France, Holland, and Spain (Burge, "Commen- taries on Colonial and Foreign Laws", new ed., Lon- don, 1907, 1, 7, 8), partnership may be formed by verbal agreement, although it is usually evidenced by written articles (see as to Statute of Frauds rendering a WTitten agreement necessary, 116 New York Court of Appeals Reports, 97).
The contract of partnership can be legally entered into only by persons who are competent to con- tract. Accordingly, a partnership could not be formed at Common Law between husband and wife (Bow- ker against Bradford, 140 Massachusetts Supreme Court Reports, 521).
The English Law of partnership was itself to a great extent founded on what was known as the " Law Mer- chant", and thus "on foreign ideas as to matters of trade and the customs of merchants drawn frequently from the Lombard or Jew traders of the Continent' , which became "by Statute Law, custom or court de- cision . . . such a considerable body of the English law a.s to have a name to itself" (Stimson, "Popular Law-making", New Yorkj 1910, 90.
Profit or gain is the object of the relation; but not necessarily profit or gain to result from buying or sell- ing of goods. Lawyers, for example, may enter into
