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The traditional Bhutanese jabmi (legal
counsel) will be brought into the mainstream of the
legal system with a government initiative to license
this form of “practice”.
The week after Losar, jabmis from all
parts of the country will gather in Thimphu for a month-long
training programme after which they will be issued licenses,
like the international system of lawyers and legal counsels.
With senior judges and representatives
from related branches of government as the instructors,
the jabmis will be educated in judicial ethics, their
responsibilities and obligations to clients, code of
conduct, and special etiquettes and decorum demanded
of all who work within the legal system.
The Chief Justice, Dasho Sonam Tobgye,
explained that the judiciary had always tried to make
law simple and accessible for people but that, at the
same time, the dispensation of justice had also grown
increasingly complex.
“We need to make the jabmis more professional
because their work, properly carried out, can make an
important contribution towards making justice more accessible
to the people,” he said. “the jabmis should be like
familiar guides and advisors for people who may otherwise
be intimidated by legal procedures and the general air
of formality in the courts.”
The jabmi is usually an astute and
articulate person who plays an important role in the
interpretation and dispensation of justice in Bhutan.
Offering legal advice and often representing litigants
in court for a fee they are little-known in modern society
but enjoy the respect of rural society.
A senior judge of the High Court pointed
out that a jabmi should have a strong sense of honesty
and integrity. “He should not attempt to twist and manipulate
the facts to turn truth into falsehood and falsehood
into truth,” said High Court Judge Dasho Sangay Dorji.
While the exact origins of the jabmi
system in Bhutan is somewhat shrouded in history, Dasho
Sangay Dorji said that the presence of jabmi seem to
have been recorded as far back as 1616, when the Shabdrung
came to Bhutan. They were mostly village elders and
retired government functionaries respected in their
communities for their wisdom and experience, he said.
High Court officials say it is difficult
to count the jabmis working in the country today because
many of them rarely make actual appearances on behalf
of a client.
It is known, however, that every district
court or village has a few jabmis. Their clients may
pay them in manual labour, agricultural produce or,
in some cases, a small piece of a property that may
be in dispute.
Most often, the jabmi is hired to negotiate
settlements out of the court. In the words of one village
elder, they were expected to “encourage a settlement
through mutual compromise rather than an outright confrontation
in which only one litigant could win and the other lose.”
The most reputed jabmis in the country
today have represented senior government officials and
affluent families. They have negotiated controversial
and high profile cases, building their own reputations
at the same time.
The jabmi does not demand fixed fee.
Often, exercising traditional norms of modesty, he will
not even mention it until the end of the case. The client
is expected to offer enough payment to satisfy the jabmi.
A jabmi in Thimphu, for example, has been known to earn
more than Nu. 100.000/- for one case. He told Kuensel
that he earned more than Nu. 50,000 for each case.
One jabmi quoted a Bhutanese proverb:
“He who is a good talker will soon be rich, it is him
who eats the sweeter fruit, and if you’ve recently lost
some wealth, it must be the windfall that has suddenly
come to him.”
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