Judiciary under British Rule

Prior to British territorial expansion, judicial administration in Mughal India operated on a decentralized model. The emperor acted as the supreme judicial authority, while provincial Subahdars and Nazims oversaw civil and criminal justice at lower levels. Qazis adjudicated cases involving Islamic law (Sharia), and Pandits or Shastris advised local authorities on Hindu personal laws. Executive and judicial functions were combined in the same administrative officials, such as Faujdars and Kotwals.

The Mayor’s Courts (1726)

The East India Company established early judicial bodies called Mayor’s Courts in the Presidency towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay through a Royal Charter issued by King George I in 1726. These courts derived their authority directly from the British Crown rather than the East India Company. They held jurisdiction over civil cases involving Europeans living within the Presidency boundaries.

Judicial Experiments Under Warren Hastings

Adalat System of 1772

Following the acquisition of Diwani rights over Bengal, Bihar, and Orissa in 1765, Warren Hastings introduced a dual judicial system through the Judicial Plan of 1772. He set up two distinct types of courts in every district:

• Mofussil Diwani Adalat: Handled civil disputes. The District Collector presided over this court, assisted by native scholars to interpret personal religious codes.
• Mofussil Nizamut Adalat: Handled criminal cases. A Qazi and a Mufti presided over the court, applying Islamic law (Fiqh-i-Alamgiri), while the Collector exercised general supervision.

Courts of Appeal

Hastings created two supreme appellate courts in Calcutta:

• Sadar Diwani Adalat: Heard civil appeals from district courts. The Governor-General and members of his Council presided over this body.
• Sadar Nizamut Adalat: Heard criminal appeals. A Daroga-i-Adalat, appointed by the Nawab of Bengal and supervised by the Governor-General, headed this court.

Regulating Act of 1773 and Supreme Court at Calcutta

The Regulating Act of 1773 authorized the crown to issue a Royal Charter establishing a Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Calcutta in 1774. Sir Elijah Impey served as its first Chief Justice. The court possessed civil, criminal, admiralty, and ecclesiastical jurisdictions over British subjects. Conflicts over jurisdiction arose between the Supreme Court and the Governor-General-in-Council until the Amending Act of 1781 exempted the official actions of the Governor-General and his Council from the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction. Supreme Courts were later established at Madras in 1800 and Bombay in 1823.

Reforms Under Cornwallis and William Bentinck

Cornwallis Code of 1793

Governor-General Lord Cornwallis separated judicial administration from revenue collection through the Cornwallis Code of 1793.

• The District Collector lost judicial authority and focused purely on revenue collection.
• A separate cadre of District Judges (Zila Judges) took charge of district civil courts.
• Cornwallis created a four-tier judicial hierarchy for civil cases: Munsiff’s Court, Registrar’s Court, District Court, and Provincial Courts of Appeal at Calcutta, Murshidabad, Dacca, and Patna.
• Circuit Courts replaced the district Nizamut Adalats to try criminal cases, presided over by European judges.

Rationalization Under Lord William Bentinck (1828–1835)

Lord William Bentinck reorganized the judicial setup to eliminate delays and reduce administrative costs.

• Bentinck abolished the Provincial Courts of Appeal and Circuit Courts.
• He transferred criminal circuit duties to District Magistrates and Collectors.
• He set up separate Sadar Diwani Adalat and Sadar Nizamut Adalat branches at Allahabad in 1831 to cater to the Upper Provinces.
• He made vernacular languages permissible for lower court proceedings, while English replaced Persian as the official language of the higher courts in 1837.

Codification of Laws and High Courts Establishment

Law Commissions and Legal Codes

The Charter Act of 1833 authorized the creation of the First Law Commission in 1834 under the chairmanship of Thomas Babington Macaulay. This commission laid the foundation for codifying Indian laws to replace varied local customs and religious interpretations.

• The Indian Penal Code (IPC) was drafted in 1837 and enacted in 1860.
• The Code of Civil Procedure (CPC) was passed in 1859.
• The Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was enacted in 1861.
• The Indian Evidence Act became law in 1872 under Sir James Fitzjames Stephen.

Indian High Courts Act 1861

The Indian High Courts Act of 1861 authorized the British Crown to establish High Courts in the Presidency towns. This measure merged the Supreme Courts and the Sadar Adalats, unifying the parallel judicial hierarchies.

• High Courts were established at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay in 1862.
• A fourth High Court was established at Allahabad in 1866.
• Each High Court consisted of a Chief Justice and up to fifteen judges, with a rule requiring one-third of the judges to be barristers and one-third to be drawn from the Covenanted Civil Service.

Institutional Evolution of Indian Courts

Federal Court of India and Final Appeal Framework

Government of India Act 1935

The Government of India Act 1935 provided for a Federal Court of India, which was formally established in New Delhi on October 1, 1937. Sir Maurice Gwyer served as its first Chief Justice. The court exercised original, appellate, and advisory jurisdiction over disputes between provinces and the center, as well as constitutional interpretation.

Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction

Decisions of the Federal Court and High Courts remained subject to appeal before the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council in London. The Indian legislature passed the Abolition of Privy Council Jurisdiction Act in September 1949, ending all appeals to Great Britain. On January 28, 1950, two days after India became a republic, the Supreme Court of India was inaugurated, replacing both the Federal Court of India and the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.

Facts and Historical Details

Pran Nath Pandit became the first Indian judge appointed to a High Court when he joined the Calcutta High Court bench in 1863. Justice Mahmood, son of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, was appointed to the Allahabad High Court bench in 1887 and contributed to Indian civil jurisprudence. The Privy Council in London served as the highest court of appeal for British Indian subjects for over a century, delivering over 2,500 judgments on Indian civil, criminal, and constitutional matters between 1833 and 1949. Under the Cornwallis system, native judges handled lower-level civil litigation as Munsiffs (cases up to 50 rupees) and Amins (cases up to 100 rupees). Lord William Bentinck created the office of Principal Sadar Amin in 1831, allowing Indian judicial officers to try civil suits valued up to 5,000 rupees. The legal profession was regulated through the Legal Practitioners Act of 1879, which organized lawyers into categories such as Barristers, Advocates, Vakils, Pleaders, and Mukhtars, establishing a structured bar across British India.