21 March 2010

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Part 7 - Indian Legal History - Charter of 1753

Part 7 - Indian Legal History - Charter of 1753


1. In the year 1746, The French got the control of Madras Presidency.

2. Because of this Madras Corporation which was created after the charter of 1726 was ceased to function.

3. In the year 1749 Again British got the control of Madras.

4. To establish again Madras corporation King George II again issued a new charter on the 8th January ,1753


5. The company officials utilized this chance and tried to remove all the disadvantages of the charter of 1726.

6. The new charter of 1753 was made applicable to all the 3 Presidency Towns.

7. New charter changed the method of appointment of Mayor and Aldermen.

8. Governor and Council got the power to appoint the Aldermen.

9. Regarding selection of the Mayor, the corporation selected the names of 2 people and Governor and Council selected one of them as the Mayor every year.

10. This way Mayor became the puppet of the Governor and Council.

11. This way Mayor as well as Aldermen became the nominee of Government.

12. And Government got the full control of Corporation

13. This way Government got the power to appoint the judge of the Mayors Court and remove him also if he disobeyed the Government or Governor.

14. Mayor’s court lost all the autonomy and independence, and became secondary in nature.

15. The court was allowed to hear the Indian cases only if both native Indian parties agreed and submitted the case to the Mayors court.

16. Mayors court got the right to take action against the Mayor

17. No person was allowed to sit as a Judge if he was interested in the matter in anyway.

18. Mayors court got the power to hear the cases against the Government and Government Defended them

19. Now suitors deposited money with the Government not to the Mayors Court.

20. The new charter also created the new court called as Court of Request at each presidency town to decide, cheaply and quickly cases up to 5 pagodas. 1 Pagoda equals to 3 Rupees.

21. This court was established to help poor Indian litigants who can not afford the expenses of the court.

22. The court weekly sat once , and was manned by commissioners between 8 to 24 in number

23. The government appointed the commissioners and every year half of the commissioners got retired and those places were filled by the ballot method by remaining commissioners.

24. 3 Commissioners sat in each court on rotation

25. For small claims, cognizable by Requests court if people, plaintiff went to the Mayors court, the rule was that Defendant was awarded costs, this way it saved time and money also.

26. Requests court got the power to hear the Indian matters also.

27. Now there were 3 courts namely
28. a ] court of Request
29. b] Mayors Court - Civil court Jurisdiction
30. c] Court of Governor and Council – the court where appeal from the Mayors court went


31. Criminal Cases - Justice of the Peace and court of quarter sessions consisting of Governor and Council


32. Regarding civil cases Privy Council in the England was the final authority

33. This charter introduced many changes but this charter took away the Independence of Mayors Court , which was given to this court by the charter of 1726

34. The East India Company with this charter also followed the policy not to break the customs of Hindus and Muslims.


35. When both Indian parties agreed that time only Mayors court handled those cases.


36. As executive enjoyed more powers they appointed company servants as the judges.


37. The executives handled the cases in such a way it does not harm them or did not harm the company servants or friends.

38. In 1772 House of Commons appointed a committee of secrecy to check the affairs of the east India Company. The committee in its 7th report gave adverse report regarding Calcutta Judicial system.


39. The reported stated that Mayors court behaved as they wish in all the cases without following English law.

40. As a result of criticism , Supreme Court was Established at the Calcutta in the year 1774


41. The supreme court of Calcutta was Independent court and does not work under company executive and consisted of professional lawyers who knew English law in depth.

Continued -

Suggested Reading -

 
Part 8 - Indian Legal History – East India Company Becomes Diwan of Bengal


Reality views by sm - 

Tags- India Legal History Facts Charter of 1753


5 comments:

Apanatva March 22, 2010  

very good information .keep it up . Thanks for lovely compliment .
must read new one .

sm,  March 22, 2010  

Apanatva,
thanks

Gul,  March 29, 2010  

very good information

Unknown February 16, 2017  

Very precise and authentic information.

Good job done.

Fida

SM February 23, 2017  

@Gul, Fidaur Rahman,
thanks.