11 C. The double legacy (the balanced verdict)

• As achievement: Nepal's first national code; written, public, uniform procedure; a genuine (if imperfect) ceiling on feudal caprice; the backbone of Nepali legal culture for 120 years (amended repeatedly; re-enacted as the Muluki Ain 2020 BS (1963) under Mahendra — which itself removed slavery and softened caste punishments; finally replaced by the Civil and Criminal Codes of 2074 BS (2017) — the story Legal Method Unit 1 told). • As instrument: the legal armour of the Rana state and of caste hierarchy — "order" purchased at the price of equality — the very provisions the 20th–21st century's reforms (the 11th Muluki Ain amendment on women's property, the Untouchability Act 2068, the 2074 Codes) dismantled. Law-student's closing line: the Ain made Nepali law territorial and written; democracy made it equal — the 2074 Codes complete the arc.