Unit 1

a) Charters of the East India Company of 1600 and 1661and Early Settlements in Surat,
Madras and Bombay

CHARTER OF 1600 A. D. :EAST INDIA COMPANY

The first Charter of 1600 was mainly designed for trade in order to meet competition with the
Portuguese and the Dutch. Charter of 1600 laid the foundations for British Government in India,
although at that time no one in England dreamed for the establishment of British rule in India.
However, this Charter contained all the provisions necessary for the constitution of a
government according to law in any territory. This Charter granted permit to traffic and use the
trade of merchandise and to assemble themselves in any convenient place, to make reasonable
laws and ordinances for the good government of the East India Company. The factories, on the
other hand, were given power to make reasonable laws and impose punishments.

PROVISIONS
⮚ The company was to have a life span of 15 years.
⮚ Charter could be revoked also on two years’ notice.
⮚ Exclusive trading rights to company.
⮚ India, Asia, Africa and America fall within their geographical limits.
⮚ Without a licence from company no British subject Could carry on the trade in India.
⮚ Unauthorised traders were liable to forfeiture of ships and merchandise.
⮚ The affairs of the company were to be conducted on Democratic lines.

IMPORTANCE
⮚ Despite its limited scope the early grant of legislative Power to the company is of
historic interest.
⮚ It is out of this modest beginning in the year 1600 that the vast powers of legislation
grew in course of time.

SHORTCOMINGS
⮚ The legislative powers thus conferred on the company Was very limited.
⮚ Serious crimes could not be adequately dealt with.
⮚ No power to the company for governing any territory.

Thus, The East India Company, with its official title as “The Governor and company of
merchants of London trading into East Indies” was incorporated in England on the 31st
December 1600, by a charter of Queen Elizabeth which settled its constitution, powers and
privileges.

CHARTER OF 1661 C.E.

The need for this charter was felt since the company wanted to expand its legal jurisdiction as
it was becoming difficult for them to handle the subjects of the company with limited power.
It, thus, requested the Council of State in England for grant of powers to their Presidents and
Councils in India in order to enforce discipline in all Englishmen resident within their
jurisdiction. Thus in 1661 Charles II granted a new charter to the company authorising the
Governor and council of each factory to judge all persons under them, in all civil and criminal
cases according to the laws of England.

THE MAIN FEATURE OF CHARTER OF 1661 AD

1. Right to Administration.- i) the Charter empowered to the Company to administrated

over the Fort, Colonies and cities. If it is expedient to maintain the administration could
fought the war with Indian local King and could make the peace treaty. ii) Company was
authorized for that if any person who interferes in the trade monopoly of Company be
sent to Britain for starting litigation.
2. Appointment of Officer: i) Company was authorized to appoint the Governor and
officers for judicial administration over all subjects as well as workers of Company. ii)
Every person equally punished for the breach of law and orders of Company.
3. Security. - i) Company was enabled by this Charter that it could keep the armed forces,
weapons, and fighters ship for itself security. ii) Company could keep the commander and
other officers who were suitable for Governor and his Council and they were convenience
for trading purposes.
4. Judicial Administration.- Following rights were given to Governor and his Council:
That they could adjudicate and execute accordance with the English law in cases which is
there under:
a) Cases concerned with company,
b) Matters within the limits of Company, and
c) All the cases of civil and criminal nature.

5. The direction was given by this Charter that the governor and his Council will apply the
English law in all cases. Those Indian who were residing in their colonies the also will be
governed by this English law. It was very arbitrary compliance of English law and orders
of upon the Indians. That was very undesirable.
6. Punishment. - i) the Charter of 1600 AD provided very simple punishment. But the
Charter of 1661 enabled to Governor and his Council to penalize with the punishment of
hanging in the heinous crime.
ii) Wherever the Governor and his Council was not constituted the accused was sent for
nearby Governor and his Council or sent to Britain for trial.
Early Settlements in Surat, Madras and Bombay

A) Surat, since ancient times, has been an important trading centre owing to its proximity to
the sea. It was an important commercial centre, an international port as well as a
populous town. These features attracted British for whom the sea was the only means of
communication. A factory was a place consisting of offices, residencies for company’s
employees and spacious warehouses for storage of goods. In the year 1612 Englishmen
succeeded in establishing their factory in Surat with the permission of the local Mughal
governor.

Later Englishmen felt that they need more permanency for their factory in Surat and thus, king
James I sent an ambassador Sir Thomas Roe who succeeded in getting a firman from the
Mughal Emperor Jahangir, in 1615. It granted certain privileges to the British, one of them
being that Brirtish could live according to their own religion and laws in India. Also the
President of the factory could settle the disputes but in dispute between an Englishman and
indian the matter would be settled by the local native authorities. Besides these, the Mughal
governors and Qazis and muftis were also asked to provide speedy justice to the Englishmen
and protect them from all kinds of injuries and oppressions.

Judicial Arrangements In Surat Factories

a) Administration was vested in the President and Council who were appointed by the
company. All decisions in the council meeting were taken by the majority of votes. No
veto power was given to the president.
b) In the area of law and justice, Englishmen in Surat were under dual system of law i.e
English Law and Indian Law. Main responsibility of the Englishmen at Surat was to
govern themselves and to care about the Indians who had their own local courts. No
regular tribunal was created.

The President and the Council were wielding the judicial power. The quality of justice was
not very high as the President and the councilors were traders and not experts of law.
Englishmen had no respect for established Judicial System.
The Surat settlement of the Company remained in prominence until 1617. Later, the seat of
the President and Council was shifted to Bombay and thus, Surat lost it’s importance.

B) Madras: Madras was founded by Francis Day in 1639 on a land granted to him by a
Hindu Raja. A fort named St.George was established there by the British. The Raja had
full power and authority to the company. There was a small village named
Madraspatnam adjacent to the fort. Many Indians moved to that area due to thriving
trade and commerce there. Gradually it grew in size and was came to be known as
‘Black Town’. The fort occupied by the British was called ‘White Town’. Later on these
both towns were collectively called Madras.

The Legal System Of Madras

The legal system of Madras that existed until the year 1726 can be divided into three phases
1. First Stage (1639-1665): The system of administration was at elementary stage. The
settlement was divided in two parts:

a) Choultry Court: The Choultry Court/ Native court was for the ‘Black Town’. Its
 head was the village headman known as ‘Adigar’ responsible for the maintenance of
law and order. This court could only decide small civic and criminal cases. The
village has their own system of administration which was interfered by Englishmen.
No other court was created for trial of those civil and criminal cases which fell
beyond the competency of Choultry Court.

b) Agent in council for white town: The Agent and the Council were responsible for
deciding civil and criminal cases for ‘White Town’. But they could not decide
serious offences and sent to the authority in England. The flaw in this arrangement
was that no specific and regular procedure existed to deal with the matters.

2. Second Stage (1665-1686): On the basis of the Charter of 1661, the company raised the
status of Madras to a Presidency and appointed a Governor and the Council. Charter
gave judicial power to the governor and council to administer justice according to
English law and to judge all persons within the settlements in all civil and criminal
cases.

a) High court of Judicature: In 1968, Governor and council decided to sit as court for
two days in a week to decide the cases of all matters as per English law with the help
of a Jury of twelve members. This court was called the High court of Judicature. It
decided important civil and criminal cases and also heard the appeals against the
decisions of the Choultry Court. For the first time hierarchy was established in
Madras. This court could not directly entertain case which was triable by The
Choultry court.

b) Choultry court: These were reconstituted. Adigar was replaced by three English
officers. Thy sat twice a week and tried all civil cases upto the value of 50 pagodas.
Their decisions was appealable to the Governor in council for administering justice.

3. Third Stage (1686 to 1726): The reason for introducing the third stage was that the
crimes were increasing and occurred more frequently on the ships. Thus, it was decided
to have a court having the jurisdiction to decide maritime cases which took place during
sea voyage. In 1683, Charles II granted a Charter to the company authorizing it to
establish one or more courts at such place or places as it might affect.

a) Admiralty Court was thus established with three members, out of which one had to
be a person learned in civil law and other two merchants appointed by the company.
The court was to handle the cases of trespassing, injuries committed at the sea and
the cases forfeiture and seizures of ships and goods which traded within the
company’s monopoly area. It was to decide cases according to rules of equity and
good coincidence and laws of customs of merchants.

In 1686, a Court of Admiralty was started in Madras. It consisted of three civil servants who
were members of the Government’s Council. In 1876, a lawyer-member with the designation of
Judge-Advocate was appointed to this court. This court decided all 3 cases-civil, criminal,
maritime. Criminal cases were decided with the help of jury. For the first time, a professional
lawyer to administer justice and the executive gave up the judicial function in the favor of the
Admiralty Court. By 1696, the court lost its importance as the members were either corrupt or
non-experts of law. Thus, by 1704 the court ceased to work regularly.

b) Corporation and Mayor's Court- In 1687, the East India Company decided to
establish a Corporation in Madras whose task was to provide a representative local
government, impose local taxes and impart speedier justice.
The first corporation in Madras was established in 1688. It had one Mayor and twelve
Alderman. The tenure of office of the Mayor was to be of one year and he was to be elected
every year by the Aldermen. A recorder was appointed by the Mayor and aldermen for helping
them in deciding the cases of considerable value and complexities. The jurisdiction of the court
is extended to all civil and criminal matters. The court can inflict any punishment on indian as
well as Englishmen subject to the condition that no Englishmen could be awarded death
punishment.
The court held its sitting only once in a fortnight and decided criminal cases with the help of
jury.
The Mayor could be removed from the office if he has been incompetent. Only an Englishman
could hold the Mayor's office. A reserve power was vested in the Governor and Council to
remove any Mayor, Recorder, Alderman and to appoint anyone in the vacancy so caused.

Features Of The Mayor’s Court

The Mayor and the three Aldermen were to be known as Justices of Peace. The Mayor and
Aldermen were to form a Court of Record, known as Mayor's Court which was authorized to try
all civil and criminal cases. It could inflict punishment in the form of fine, imprisonment and
corporal punishment. The lawyer member was called the Recorder' who was appointed by the
Mayor and aldermen for helping them decide the important cases. The court used the jury for
deciding criminal cases, not civil cases. It also granted probates, wills and letters of
administration of property of the deceased persons. The appeals in some matters from the
Mayor's court would go to the Admirality Court. Other peculiar feature was that no death
penalty was given to any Englishman. There was no specific law which was laid down that
could be applied by this court.

Choultry Court- After the establishment of Mayor's Court, the Choultry Court lost its
importance. Its jurisdiction was now limited to only petty criminal cases. In civil matters, it
could hear the cases of the value of 2 pagodas (currency) only. The few defects that emerged in
the arrangement of the legal system of Madras were:

a) that there was absence of a proper judicial system;

b) the laws were uncertain and there were very severe form of punishments which were given;
and c) the trials which were held were generally unfair and there was also a lack of basic
facilities in the prisons.

c.) Bombay: The Island of Bombay was under the Portuguese who acquired it from Sultan
Bahadur, King of Gujarat in 1534 by cession. In 1661, the Portuguese King gave it to Charles II
as a dowry gift after Charles II married his sister Princess Catherine. Since at that time Bombay
was a small place with less population, Charles Il gave it to the English East India Company at
the annual rent of ten pounds.

Bombay initially was placed under the Deputy Governor and Council and remained under the
presidency at Surat until 1726. The Charter of 1668 empowered the company to make laws for
the good government of the island, and to impose penalties, fines and even imprisonment and
death. The company was also authorized to create courts to judge all persons and all actions.

The First Stage (1668-1683): The main architect of the judicial system in Bombay was Gerald
Aungier, the Governor of Surat factory who is considered as 'true founder of Bombay. Bombay
was initially divided into two divisions. Each division had a court with five judges. Some Indian
judges were also appointed. The customs officer of each division was to be the president of the
respective court. The court was authorized to decide cases of small thefts and all civil actions
involving a subject matter of nearly one hundred and fifty rupees. The Deputy-Governor and
Council were to constitute a superior court, which would hear appeals from the divisional courts
and try all civil and criminal cases lying beyond their scope such as felony, capital etc. Thus, the
Deputy Governor's court enjoyed original as well as appellate jurisdiction. It conducted all trials
with the help of Jury.

In 1672, English law became the law of the Island and three types of courts were established.

Court of Conscience- which was set up for quick and summary justice decided only for small
civil and criminal cases under one judge.
Court of Appeals-appeals against the Court of Judicature went to Deputy Governor and
Council. Court of Admiralty was set up in 1684. It took cognizance of all civil and criminal.

Second Stage (1684-1690): Court of Admiralty was set up in 1684. It took cognizance of all
civil and criminal cases, in addition to admiralty and maritime cases falling within the ambit of
the Charter of 1683.

For almost 30 years the island was occupied by Mughal Admiral Siddi Yakub who fought
British East India Company. In 1690, the company sent envoys to Aurangzeb's camp to plead
for a pardon. The cause was that one Mughal ship which was carrying pilgrims to Mecca was
captured by the British pirate. Later, the British got the permission to continue their trade.

Third Stage (1718-1726): After nearly thirty years, a court appeared again in Bombay in 1718.
It consisted of a Chief Justice and nine judges out of which five were British and four were
Indians who represented the principal communities on the island, i.e. Hindus, Muslims,
Christians, Parsis and Portuguese. The Chief Justice and a few of the English judges were
members of the Governor's Council. The court was authorized to decide all cases- civil,
criminal and testamentary. It administered justice according to law, equity and good conscience
and the Company's rules and ordinances; it was required to pay due regard to caste customs,
Company's orders and known laws of England. Appeals from the court went to the Governor
and Council. No provision was made for jury trial. The court was given wide powers for
execution of its decrees.

The Indian judges did not enjoy an equal status with the British judges. They acted more like an
assessor than full-fledged judges. The court sat once a week and decided all sorts of cases. It
was at once a civil, criminal, military and a prerogative court. Its proceedings were quick and
inexpensive and it administered justice in a common, rough and ready manner. It was not bound
by any technical rules, law or precedent. There were no lawyers to argue the case, no codes, no
reports and no law books.

The major work of the court lay in the area of criminal justice. Treason, rape, murder,
manslaughter were capital offences.

Rama Kamati’s Case On The Then Prevailing Judicial System

Rama Kamati was a wealthy and influential Hindu of Bombay who had stood by the company
for over thirty years. He was arrested on the charges of corresponding with a pirate chief,
Angria, who was giving trouble to the British. There was no conclusive evidence against him
except a round-about story by a witness that a dancing girl had told him that Angria himself has
told her that Rama Kamati has written to him- a piece of hearsay evidence. Today, this kind of
piece of hearsay evidence would not be accepted by any court. Rama's servant was tortured to
extort a statement implicating his master. Some forged letters purported to have been written by
Rama to Angira were also produced. Rama was held guilty; he was sentenced to perpetual
imprisonment and the whole of his property was confiscated. The charge against Rama was
drawn by the Governor and Council and his trial was held before an ad hoc tribunal. The
prosecutors were also the judges of the case. After the trial, Rama's property was auctioned.
After Rama's death, it was conclusively established that he was innocent and that the whole trial
was a plot based on lies, forgeries and fabrications to which the Governor himself was a party.
Thus, profound injustice was committed in this case.