TO%R* ~~ THE CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. SECOND EDITION PARKER AND MORTON ALLAHABAD PRINTED AT THE PIONEER PRESS, 1803. 2 Sh “HE CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. (Originally compiled by E. Woodati Parker, Lsg | SECOND EDITION rr teeter erates a gta (ur > EDITED BY P. MORTON. Eso. BARRISTER-AT-LAW, ADVOCATE OF THE HIGH COURT, ALLAWARAD, AND OF THE CHIRF COURT, PUNJAR : LAW LECTURER, PUNJAR UNIVERSITY. dh Nm PN en ALLAHABAD: PRINTED AT THE PIONEER PRESS, 1803. 235 1 »N om 2 «© <« 0 m 20 DD PREFACE lS Bt, sn a 2 Ir, in re-editing Mr. Parker's Manual of Jurisprudence, 1 have altered little of the original text, in performing the same office for these outlines, I have altered less, so that with the exception of a change in figures rendered necessary by: the lapse of time and a few minor revisions the book is such as it was when it left Mr. Parker's hands. The following are the chief authorities referred to in this work :— CHarTer 1 & IL—Awmos: “ The English Constitution? The British Constitution and Government, Wicks, 1892. Dicey’s Lecture on Constitutional Lazo, [II to VII (inclusive) — The Tagore ZLectives Jor 1872 and the Statutes reldting to Indra, VIUL—Powell's Révensie Manital, Chapters I &° II, and the Statutes relating to India, IX & X.—Chesney's Indian Lolity and the Sta: tutes relating to India, XL. — India in 1880, by Sir R. T. emple. XIL—1India in 1880 and Aitchison's Trea lies, PHILIP MORTON. : fo p SN An fe I~ ry — — -§ Nd ih § nN py 5 n 0 2 J 2 g m Ls Oo S—-0 s > ~J LAHORE : 1 0 < i 93. March, 18 20h 0 28] N LL -N 241 el eo ON ay o a a - ®] CONTENTS, CHAPTER 1 THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. — Characteristics of the British © Constitution ; the early history of the British Constitution ; general principles of the Constitution. CHAPTER II. PARLIAMENT. — Central and Local Authorities ; the Sovereign ; the House of Lords; the House of Commons, tts constitulon; Powers and Privileges of the House 5 the Business of the House ; Political Parties CHAPTER III. EARLY ‘HISTORY OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA, — The East India Company; first Charter of the East India Com-Dany; territorial acquisitions ; legislative and judicial authority at this period ; the Regulating Act; the Amending Act of 1780-81; Commissioners Jor the Affairs of India and the Supreme and Local Governments in India ; He Company as trusiees. CHAPTER 1V, HISTORY OF LEGISLATION DOWN TO 1861.— Exercise of legislative authority; local legislation Jive bodies of statute law in 1834 ; system of 1834; reforms of 1853; comparison between the Legislatures of 18 34 and 1853. CHAPTER V. GOVERNMENT UNDER THE CROWN.— Transfer of the Government in 1858 ; Council of India; Government of India and of the Presidencies; Council of Governor-General ; new provinces ; the Indian Councils Act of 1892, CHAPTER VI. THE LEGISLATURES OF INDIA UNDER THE CROWN.—Delegation of legislative power; the Legisiative Council of India; method of legislating ; extent of legislative power ; local Legislatures ; powers of local Legislatures ; powers of the Cron. vi CHAPTER VII THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. — The Privy Council, its early history ; constitution of the Privy Council in regard lo fudia; law regulating appeals to Privy Council; the Superior Courts in India—early history, later history ; Madras and Bombay ; the Hick Courts and Chief Court. CHAPTER VIIL TERRITORIAL SUB-DIVISIONS. — Presidencies and Provinces ; the present constitution of Provinces ; the Non-Regulation Provinces ; Scheduled Districts ; Regulations under 33 Vie, Chap. 3. CHAPTER IX. THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION, —/7s organization ; the District, the Central Departments ; 1, sea customs } 2, inland cus. domes ; 3, opium ; 4, mint; 3, stamps ; 6, accounts ; 7, postoffice ; 8, telegraphs ; 9, railways; 10, education 5 11, publec works ; 12, forests. CHAPTER X. THE PRINCIPAL SERVICES.— The Indian Civil Service } the Statutory Civil Service ; military officers in civil employ ; the Uncovenanted Service ; the 4 rey. CHAPTER XI. FINANCE AND REVENUE. —General; the receipls and the revenue; chief source of income; incidence of taxalion 3 principles of taxation; provincial services; the public debi CHAPTER XII. ALLIED AND PROTECTED STATES.—ZExlent of independence ; Afghanistan ; Khelat; North-Western Frontier ; Kashwir; Hill States; Chamba, Mandi and Suket; States cast of the Sutlej; Sirmur; smaller States; Border Tribes; Nipaly Sikkim, Bhutan and Siam ; States within the plains of India; protected Sikh States 5 Rajasthan ; Makratta States; Baroda, Bhopal and Pannak > Bakawalfuer; Travancore; Kolhapur; South Mahratta States; Kalhiawar ; lesser States : Mysore. vil APPENDIX I.-agram giving aconspectus of the Legislatures. Lene Carta summarized, oui. x: of the Habeas Corpus Act, 1679. “ls. THE CONSTITUTION AND POWERS OF THE GOVE" """2NT OF INDIA. Nm mam CHAPTER I. THE ENGLISH CONSTITUTION. Characteristics of the British Constitution and Parliamentary Sovereionty. The entire Indian Peninsula, as well as some other extensive and adjacent territories, are subject to the supreme sovereignty of the British Crown. Considerable portions of these territories are, it is true, held by Native Chiefs, who are termed sovereign and independent, but who are, neces sarily, under the protection and general control of the British Government. The external political relations of the protected states of India are entirely regulated by the supreme sovereign power ; while their internal affairs are left to the ruling Chiefs, subject to the liability to interference in the event of gross oppression or misgovernment. Thus the supreme political authority of Great Britain is the supreme political authority of India; and the I ”» yA constitutional law of the latter country is bound up with that of the former. But the Government of Great Britain can only exercise powers of general control over so distant a country as India, and the main portion of the business of Government has to be performed by authorities in this country to whom - powers are delegated by parliamentary statutes, Owing to the vast size of the Indian Empire the system of government comprises certain local authorities, who exercise administrative, and, in some instances, legislative powers over the provinces into which the country is sub-divided, as well as a supreme government and legislature controlling these subordinate local governments. In dealing with the constitution of the government of this country, therefore, it becomes necessary to consider the nature of the government of Great Britain, as well as that of the supreme and provincial governments in India; and also to ascertain the position of the protected states in relation to these governments. The organization of any government includes the determination of the persons who take part in it; how these persons are related to one another and to the rest of the community; how laws are made; how and by whom they are enforced; and what securities the people of the country have against misgovernment. In the words of Dicey in his lectures on constitutional law: * constitutional law includes all rules which directly or indirectly affect the distribution or the exercise of the sovereign power in the State.” The chief characteristics of the English Constitution are that the supreme political authority consists of a King or Queen and two Houses of Parliament ; that the King or Queen is a particular member of a particular family; that the two Houses are composed respectively of members appointed by virtue of hereditary succession in special families and popular election; that no law can be enacted without the joint consent of the King or Queen and the two Houses of Parliament; that the King or Queen appoints, through the agency of Ministers directly responsible to the two Houses of Parliament, officials engaged in securing obedience to the laws, in collecting the taxes, in preserving the public peace, and in administering the Army and Navy; and lastly, that by Trial by Jury, by the Habeas Corpus Acts, and by special provisions for the independence of the Judges, the people are protected against abuses on the part of the executive. Another important feature of the Constitution is that the imposition of taxation is entirely controlled by the elected representative Chamber. While the general form and nature of the Constitution are liable to little or no change, there are subordinate features which, from time to time, are subject to alterations in accordance with the views of public opinion. Thus, for instance, the mode of election and representation < have varied from time to time. This elasticity or power of modification in details, without in any way affecting the fixity of the general characteristics and principles of the whole, is a source of the strength and endurance of the Constitution through all the vicissitudes and changes involved in the development of political opinion. The British Constitution, in its present form, is the result of many centuries of growth and of many political influences. The early history of its origin and development is involved in obscurity, like that of most other political institutions. Until the last two centuries historians said little of civil institutions, and all Governments such as that of England arose before the time of written history, Even at the present time it is based largely on tradition and immemorial usage. To understand the Constitution of England (says Amos in his work on the English Constitution), existing and immemorial institutions must be studied as well as the following classes ot authorities :— (1) Written documents of the nature of solemn engagements made at great national crises, between persons representing opposed political forces. Such are the Great Charter and its several confirmations and amended editions, the Petition of Rights, and the Declaration of Rights, (2) Statutes, such as the Habeas Corpus Act and its amendments, the Bill of Rights, the Act of Settlement, Mr. TFox’s Libel Act, the Prisoners’ Counsel Act, the Reform Act, the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, the Naturalization Act, the Municipal Corporation Act, and the Local Government Acts. (3.) Authoritative judicial decisions, as those on the rights of jurymen, on the prerogative of the Crown, on the privileges of the Houses of Parliament and of their members, and on the rights and duties of the Police. (4.) Parliamentary precedents as recorded in reports of committees of both Houses, in the writings of authoritative commentators on parliamentary usage, and in the reported debates and proceedings of both Houses. Some of the most important of these documents will be found at the end of this volume as being embodied in the Constitution as it at present stands. However instructive and interesting the study of constitutional history may be, it is beyond the scope of the present enquiry, which deals merely with constitution and powers of the Gov- ernment of India as at present established, we will therefore proceed to consider at once: The general principles of the Constitution. It will be useful to glance at the nature of the checks imposed upon the power of the monarch and of the guarantees for the freedom of the people under the British Constitution. The whole executive power is lodged in the sovereign; all the appointments to offices in the army and navy; all movements and dispositions of those forces; all negotiation and treaty; the power of making war; of forming alliances; all nomination to offices ; the superintendence of the whole judicial administration; the power of remission of sentence; the disbursement of the sums voted by Parliament; all these are in the exclusive possession of the Crown. An ample revenue is allotted for the support of the sovereign’s dignity, and provision is made for all members of the Royal Family. The sovereign chooses his own ministers, and can alone create peers and confer honours, while he possesses extensive church patronage. On the other hand, the Houses of Parliament can refuse their confidence in the ministers selected ; they may refuse supplies (a matter entirely within the powers of the House of Commons), and thus prevent the carrying on of any war, and indeed stop the whole course of government; this power 0 ensures the calling of Parliament every year, as also the annual sanction to the Army Act; and thus the sense of Parliament, which represents the whole interests of the nation, is paramount in the state. While the appointment of the judges lies with the Crown, they cannot be removed except upon a joint address of the two Houses of Parliament ; their independence is thus secured against Court influences. They are removed from political influences by their disability to sit in Parliament. The security of personal liberty and a free Press complete the fabric of the British Constitution. CHAPTER 11. PARLIAMENT, Central and Local Authorities. Parliament is the chief political authority in the territ@ies governed by the British Crown ; but while it constitutes the central power, it delegates much authority to local agencies in Great Britain, and to subordihate legislatures and officials in the colonies and dependencies, The central power is compounded of two distinct elements—one legislative, and the other, executive or administrative. The legzsiative authortZy consists of the Sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons. The executive or administrative authority is composed’ of the Sovereign and his ministers, and the various depart- - © mental officials. The popular working of the central government is secured by (1) the mode of electing members to the House of Commons ; (2) the right of petitioning both Houses of Parliament and of presenting deputations to the ministers of the Crown ; and (3) by the system of trial by jury, through which in all the most important criminal prosecutions, the final decision is given, not by an executive official, but by a body of twelve men, duly qualified, and impartially chosen out of the body of the people: The local powers in the United Kingdom are various and numerous. They are either special officers or boards’ (that is, small assemblies of persons), and are fixed (1) in the parish or district; (2) in the county; (3) in the borough or town. These officers or boards are generally elected by persons living and paying taxes on the spot, though in many cases the central executive authority controls the elections by refusing to sanction the election of certain persons, or by appointing additional officers of its own. The principal purposes for which these local authorities exist are— (1) the relief of the poor; (2) the education of the poor; (3) the management of goals and lunatic asylums; (4) the lighting, paving, drainage, and conservancy of a town or village ; (5) the administration of the laws in the cases of all minor offences ; (6) levying rates for these purposes. In the British colonies and dependencies Parliament has delegated almost the whole of its legislative and administrative authority to local officers and legislatures; reserving merely the right to legislate directly in case of necessity, and the general supervision and control of the administration by a minister of the Crown. Such legislatures exist in the South African and Australian colonies, in New Zealand, Canada, and India. In all the colonies the system of government is modelled upon that of England, and the legislative assembly is wholly or partially elective and representative. In India the existing political conditions necessitated a somewhat different form of legislature, composed of members selected by the chief executive authority. The government is thus autocratic in this great Empire of India; at the same time it is so influenced and controlled by the spirit of the English nation and of Parliamentary government, that the people of India have obtained as much freedom as was secured to the people of England only after a struggle lasting many Centuries, and they are governed on the most enlightened principles. There is, moreover, a strong tendency to encourage and foster native public opinion ; to give the natives as large a share in the administration as is possible; to allow local (native) authorities to manage local affairs; and to let the people choose their own local representatives. | The Sovereign. The succession to the Crown is regulated by an Act of Parliament passed in the year 1700, in the twelfth year of the reign of William III, and usually called the Act of Settlement. The Sovereign must be of the Protestant religion; and cannot quit the United Kingdom without the consent of Parliament. The monarch may be either a King or a Queen. The present Queen began to reign in 1837. Her eldest son is called the Prince of Wales. The order of succession is te the eldest son, and to his eldest son or grandson. If the Prince of Wales’s eldest line die out, the second son would succeed. If none of the Prince of Wales's children or their children are living, then the Prince of Wales's next brother and his children successively would inherit, In the event of the Sovereign's being under some incapacity, a Regent is appointed by Parliament. The Sovereign is supported by an annual grant of £60,000, besides other sums for official charges and expenses, and for various members of the Royal Family. These sums form what is called the Civil List. The Sovereign is always held to act upon the advice of his ministers, who are responsible to. Parliament and to the country. The niinisters as a body are termed the Cabinet. The members of the Cabinet, past and present, besides many other persons, are members of the Privy Council, a body { TI 3 which at one time possessed very extensive powers; but which is now of little importance. The monarch summons and prorogues or dissolves Parliament at will. If the Sovereign die while Parliament is sitting, or during prorogation, it continues to exercise, or resumes its functions until protogued or dissolved by his successor. If the Sovereign die after the dissolution of one Parliament and before the day appointed for the assembling of a new one, ‘the last preceding Parliament meets and continues for a period of six months, unless sooner prorogued or dissolved. No Parliament can last longer than seven years, unless, in the event last mentioned, it be extended by six months, When Parliament comes to a natural end or is dissolved, all the representative members have to be elected afresh; in case of its being prorogued the members have merely to be summoned again. The Sovereign cannot dispense with Parliament for more than a year, owing to the necessity for obtaining its sanction to the levy of taxes and the maintenance of the Army; or, in other words, for the yearly supplies and Army Act. Full liberty of speech is guaranteed by the Bill of Richts. The session usually extends, with two short recesses, from February to August each year, The session is opened by a speech from the Sovereign, which is delivered either by the Sovereign in per- { 12) son, or by a body of Commissioners, of whom the Lord Chancellor is usually one. The Houses of Parliament communicate with the Sovereign by addresses. The Sovereign appoints, either directly or by delegation, all Judges. In the case of the superior Judges, except the Lord Chancellor, they are appointed for life, and cannot be removed except for misbehaviour, and then only upon an address of both Houses of Parliament. All prosecutions for offences run in the name of the Sovereign ; and the Sovereign can, with few exceptions, pardon all offenders against Criminal Law, either before or after conviction. This prerogative cannot be exer cised in the case of an impeachment by the Commons in Parliament ; or in that of committing any person to prison out of the realm contrary to the Habeas Corpus Act; or where the pardon would inflict an injury on an innocent person. It is usually exercised (1) where fresh evidence tending to exculpate the accused is discovered after the trial ; (2) where it is discovered that evidence relied upon at the trial was untrustworthy, and that justice has consequently miscarried ; (3) where the judge himself sees reason to make recommendations against a finding of a jury; and (4) in political offences after the danger has subsided. A pardon may be free or conditional ; and is frequently offered as an inducement to participators in a crime to turn Queen's evidence. [ 13 J The Sovereign alone confers honours and degrees of nobility ; coins money ; conducts affairs with foreign states; controls the army and navy ; appoints governors and ambassadors; and the Sovereign is the head of the Established Church. The House of Lords. The House of Lords is composed of the nobility of the land, who are called Peers, and of the Archbishops and Bishops of England. The number of Peers composing the House of Lords is not fixed ; it amounts to about 540; but it is liable to decrease by the death of Peers without heirs and to increase by the creation of new Peers. Of these, 5 are royal princes; 27 are life-members by right of office, as archbishops and bishops; there are 21 dukes, 18 marquises, 24 viscounts, 111 earls, 240 barons, 16 representative peers of Scotland— chosen for each Parliament; 28 representative peers of Ireland—elected for life. Peerages are hereditary and descend to the eldest son, and to the eldest son of the eldest son, and so on. At one time, that is, about 800 years ago, the House of Lords was the only Legislative and Executive body in the country. Itwas composed of the most important persons in the kingdom, whether as holding estates of land from the King and owing him military services in return, or as having distinct offices in the government of the country. There was then only one Chamber, or ( 14) House of Assembly, and the King presided, as at a Great Council, * Two important changes subsequently took place—one, the separation of some of the chief officers of state from the Great Council, so as to form a smaller council, or “ King’s Council 3" the other, the separation of the lesser peers, that is, the poorer and less important ones, from the richer and more eminent ones. By this separation a Second Chamber, or new House of Assembly, was created, which was the beginning of the present House of Commons. Later on, only a few of the smaller “barons” or « knights,” that is, the smaller tenants of land from the Crown were chosen to represent the rest, and later on, that is, in the year 1265, boroughs or towns were permitted to be represented by members in the House of Commons, as well as the Counties or County Divisions. At the present day very little business is done in the House of Lords, though the consent of the House is needed for any Bill to become law. Sometimes Bills are introduced in the House of Lords, but never Bills relating to taxation. Some members of the Cabinet are invariably chosen from among the members of the House of Lords. Up to quite recently the House of Lords was the highest Court of Appeal in the country, but these ‘powers have been abolished. The only judicial functions now reserved to the House of Lords are in cases of impeachment and the trial of a peer for treason or felony. rw The House of Commons : tts constiintion. The House of Commons is now the most important branch of the legislature. It is composed of the representatives of the third estate of the realm, the Commons, chosen according to law. It numbers 670 members, 271 of whom represent cities and boroughs, 13 groups of boroughs, gq universities and 377 counties. England and Wales send 495, Scotland 72, and Ireland 103. These members are chiefly composed of country gentlemen, members of the learned professions, and successful merchants and manufacturers, a few are representatives of the labouring classes maintained by those whom they represent, Every member represents a particular town or district, and the special interests of some locality or of some class of persons. The number of members representing towns varies according to their size and importance, and may change from time to time; all changes as to the places represented, and as to the number of members to be sent up to Parliament, are fixed by statute. Fundamental changes as to these questions, as well as to the system of election, are effected by laws enacted by Parliament for the purpose. These changes constitute what is called the Reform of Parliament and are embodied in Reform Bills. Formerly, it was necessary that a man should possess a certain amount of property to qualify him { 16 to sit in Parliament, but now any one may be a member of the House of Commons who can induce a constituency to return him, except an alien, a minor, one mentally imbecile, a beer, a clergyman of the Established Churches of England and Scotland, or 3 priest of the Roman Catholic Church, a judge other than the Master of the Rolls, a Government Contractor other than a Ioan Contractor, a bankrupt, and persons attainted of treason or felony, who are as dead in law. The qualifications of electors, or persons who are entitled to vote for members of Parliament, ares generally, being a male of 2p years of age, and either having property in land or buildings of a certain amount, or living in a certain settled residence for at least 12 months previous to being registered as a voter. More particularly the qualifi-. cations are, for voting in a borough, (1) being for 12 preceding months a resident occupier of a dwellinghouse within the borough ; (2) having for the same period occupied lodging of the yearly value of £10; (3) belonging to certain specified classes of persons, as (in some cases) that of « freemen.” For voting in counties the requirements are— (x) Being a “frecholder” of lands or buildings of the yearly value of £2 at least, these lands or buildings being either occupied by the freeholder, or, if not, acquired by him through marriage, a will, or promotion to an office, - [A “freeholder” is one who owns lands or buildings either for the duration of his own life or for that of another, or of others] (2.) Being a “ freeholder” of lands or buildings of the yearly value of £5 at least, though not satisfying the last-mentioned condition. (3.) Being a tenant for the unexpired part of a term of 60 years, of an estate of the yearly value of £5 at the least. [This means that the lands or buildings were originally let on lease for 60 years, that the lease has not yet run out, and that the voter has the benefit of it till it runs out. ] (4.) Being for the 12 preceding months occupier of lands or buildings of the yearly value of £12 at the least, Both in the case of the borough and in that of the county franchise, in order to claim in any year the right of voting, it is requisite to have paid, by the 20th of July in that year, all poor rates due, up to the preceding sth of January, on behalf of the Premises, the occupation of which gives the qualification. All those Possessing a degree from a university are usually entitled to vote at the election of the university member, Each summer the list of electors of each locality entitled to return members, or a member, is revised and corrected. I8 There are three movements now on foot with reference to the qualifications of electors : the first has for its object the assimilation of the borough and county franchise, by giving the towns a number of representatives in proportion to population, and in other ways strengthening the town representation ; the second relates to the so-called wznzversal suffrage, or the giving of a vote to every male who has attained the age of 21, and who is not personally disqualified ; the Z4:7d is the proposal to admit women, who are otherwise qualified, to an equal right to vote with men. The first of these movements advanced a stage by the extension of the franchise in 1884 and by lowering the qualifications. The mode of election comprises two questions, namely, the value of each vote, and the manner in which the votes are given. As to the zelue of cack vote, the general rule is that each elector has as many votes as there are members to be elected for his constituency, but an elector need not use more than one of his votes, and must not give more than one vote to one candidate. Under this system the election is determined entirely by the majority of votes ; and the minority, who might amount to half the nation, are thus entirely unrepresented. To meet these evils several remedies have been pros posed. One of them is now being tried in a few parliamentary constituencies, and another in elec tions to school boards. x: x ‘The method adopted in those exceptional parliamentary constituencies is to allow each elector to vote for all the candidates save one. If votes are given for more than the prescribed number of candidates, none of the votes on the voting paper are counted. In this way, if any one candidate have a fair number of supporters who vote for him, even though they do not compose the majority of the electors, he is very likely to be elected. a 2. The method adopted in the elections to school boards is that called “cumulative voting.” It consists in giving to each elector as many votes as there are members to be elected, and allowing each elector to give all his votes, or as many of them as he pleases, to any one candidate; or some of his votes to one candidate, and some to another. There are objections to both these systems ; other more exact methods have been devised which have not yet been tried, the object being to ensure that there shall be propertionate representation, and the chief objection to which lies in their being too complex and difficult to be mastered by the average elector, Until within the last few years, votes were given publicly in such a way that every one could know who voted for each candidate. They are now given by secret ballot, except in elections for universities. 20 Powers and Privileges of the House. The House of Commons possesses the power of expelling members for offences calculated to bring discredit upon Parliament : such offences are forgery, fraud, corruption, and other offences against the House itself. Contempts against the authority of the House, whether by members or others, can be punished by the House of Commons, which exercises the power of committing persons to prison for any such offences as disobedience of its orders ; indignities offered by libellous reflections upon the House; interference with or libels against individual members. Members are not liable, for any language used in Parliament, to the ordinary tribunals, but only to the House itself. No member can be detained by any civil process while going to, attending, or returning from the House ; but these rules do not extend to protect members against a criminal process. The Business of the House. The House is presided over by a member chosen by the House of Commons and approved by the Crown. He is called the Speaker. His duties are to keep order, decide all disputed points of procedure, regulate the order in which members address the House, and supervise the voting of the House. If votes are equal in any case, he gives the casting vote, but otherwise he does not vote. The Speaker generally holds office from Parlia- ment to Parliament, as long as he pleases, and is usually made a peer on retirement, The mode in which business is conducted in the House is by individual members making what is called a motion. Before a member does so, howaver, he must give notice of his intention, and enter it on the notice paper of a certain day ; on that day he addresses the House on the subject. A discussion may or may not take place; the question involved in the motion is then put to the vote ; and, if agreed to, an order or resolution is passed upon it. By an order the House directs some of its members or officers to do or not to do certain acts; by a resolution the House merely declares its own opinions or purposes. The voting is taken by the Speaker asking members to say aye or uo to the question; he decides which are in the majority ; and if his decision is questioned, a divi. zon takes place and the members are counted. A very important part of the business in both Houses is that of asking questions of members of the Government, or other members, as to their intention to bring forward certain measures, or to proceed with certain business ; by such questions the House informs itself of the policy of the Government. Notice of such questions must also be previously given, The most important business is that of Passing @ Bill, or legislating. Bills may be introduced in either House of Parliament, except those affecting taxation, which must be brought in the House of Commons. A Bill may be brought in either by the Government or by a private member. It is necessary first to obtain permission to bring in the Bll; it is usually read a first time without discussion, and a date is fixed for the second reading ; this is the stage at which discussions take place and at which Bills wholly disapproved of are thrown out. If a Bill passes a second reading, it is committed, that is, the House sits as a Committee and discusses the measure, clause by clause. Itis then brought up on a future day for a third reading, which is also purely formal, and is then passed. When the Bill has been passed by the House of Commons, it goes up at this stage to the House of Lords, where the same or a similar course is gone through. Thus the course of a Bill is briefly as follows :— 1. Motion for leave to bring in the Bill. Order to bring it in. 2. Motion to have the Bill read a firs/ time. Order that it be read a first time, 3. Motion to have the Bill read a second time, Order that it be read a second time. 4. Motion to have the Bill “committed.” Order that it be committed. 5. Committee on details of Bill. Report of Committee. 27 vo, Molin that the Bill be read a #s7d time. Motion that it be passed. Passing of a Bill and sending of it to House of Lords. When the House of Lords has considered the Bill, if it makes no changes in it, nothing remains to be done but to obtain the Royal Assent, that is, the assent of the Queen. This is now-a-days never refused, and is, in fact, a purely formal proceeding. If the House of Lords makes any changes in the Bill, it must go down to the House of Commons again, and the House of Commons must either accept the Lords’ amendments or reject them. If it accept them, the Bill is ready for the Royal Assent. If it reject them, the Bill is lost unless the House of Lords can be induced to give up their amendments. In order to bring this about, two practices are resorted to—one, that of sending the Bill back to the Lords with the reasons for not accepting the amendments, This is the customary mode. The other practice (which is rare) is that of requesting a conference between the two Houses, that is, a meeting of certain members of both Houses for the purpose of ascertaining the points of difference between the Houses, and of thereby bringing the Houses into harmony. It is to be noticed that the House cannot begin business unless forty members are present. It proceeds whatever number of members are Present, unless a member « takes notice” that forty mem. ( 24 bers are not present. If, on the House being counted by the Speaker, this is found to be so, the House is adjourned. At any time during the discussion of the Bill, a member may endeavour to get rid of it for the session by moving ¢¢ That it be read again this day six months, or three months,” choosing the date so as to make it fall during the vacation. A member may also suspend or arrest a Bill for a time by moving that the matter with which it deals be referred to a “ Select Committee,” that is, a small body of not more than fifteen members sitting apart. Select Commatices of the House sit every day for a variety of purposes. They examine witnesses on oath, inspect documents, and investigate minutely all the details of a question. Upon completing the inquiry, they report to the House upon the desirableness or inexpediency of any legislation proposed. Sometimes a question is referred to a Royal Commission ; that is, a body of men, generally including members of both Houses, specially appointed to investigate the subject. Every person or body of persons may petition Parliament ; such petition must be presented to oither House by a member of that House, Political Parties. For many years the members of both Houses have been accustomed to range themselves in large opposed parties ; all the members of a party voting together on all material questions. Some members belong to no party and vote on either side, as they may consider right. Of late years the Irish meme bers have combined to form a party of their own, The two main parties were formerly called Whigs and Zorses, but are now known as Liberals and Conservatives. It is from one or other of these great parties that the members of the Government are chosen. It depends upon which party has most votes in the House, whether the ministers are chosen from one party or from the other, The ministers and their Supporters sit on one side of the House, and the members of the Opposition upon the other ; the independent members sit on what are called the cross-benches. The Irish members, while keeping together for action in regard to Irish measures, range themselves as Liberals or Conservatives for other purposes. There is a section of extreme Liberal members, who are called Radicals, Order and preservation are held to be the leading principles of the Conservatives ; while progress and improvement inspire the policy of the Liberals, Both parties alike are equally free to adopt such measures as will secure good and wise government, but they are distinguished by leading general principles sufficiently marked to enable every member to select his own side. The opposition are usually thoroughly organised under a leader, and they make it their ( 26 3 business to criticize all the measures introduced by Government, and the details of its administration. It happens very often that the party in power loses the confidence of the nation, or cannot command a majority in the House, in which case the ministry resigns, and the leading member of the opposition is usually called upon to form a new government, It is to be noted that the party-struggle above described, and the defeats of the Government, go on in the House of Lords as well as in the House of Commons. There are always members of the Government in both Houses. As, however, there is far less business in the House of Lords than in the House of Commons, and as popular passion is less heated, most of the great party contests take place in the House of Commons; and, since the majority of the members of the House of Lords is always ¢ Conservative,” a Liberal Government does not necessarily resign on account of defeats or votes of censure in that House. The task of selecting a member who shall be asked, on a resignation, to form a government is the most important part of the Queen’s personal work at the present day, though it has long been the constitutional practice to resort, first, to the most prominent member of the party which is in opposition to the retiring Government. The members of the retiring Government continue to hold office till their successors are actually appointed. CHAPTER III EARLY HISTORY OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA, The East India Company. The assumption of the government of India by the Crown and the extinction of the East India Company in 1838 was followed by a general reconstruction of the system of government and a revision of the laws relating to it. The present constitution of the executive and legislative departments in India is based mainly upon legislation offected since that year. The previous enactments and administration have thus lost much of their value and importance; but still the general tharacter and historical bearing of the government under the East India Company must necessarily be studied as an introduction to the consideration in detail of the existing organization. The legal history of the East India Company may be roughly divided into three periods, each of which represents a peculiar phase of its existence. There is, first, the period from 1600 A. D. to 1773 A. D., during which the Company traded with India, founded factories, and acquired territories by grant or purchase from the native rulers for the purposes of business. The Company were at this time subordinate to the native government, though they managed their own affairs at the various stations and factories, and exercised some { 28 small legislative and judicial functions under charters ; the Europeans were governed by English law. From 1773 A.D. to 1833 A. D. the East India Company were brought under the more direct control of Parliament by the Regulating Act; the portion of this second period from 1773—1781 was one of great importance, as it witnessed the final struggle between those who wished to see English law and English courts of justice introduced at once into the country and rendered supreme over the executive, and those who considered that such a policy was wholly impracticable. The year 1781 commenced the era of independent Indian legislation; and was marked by the constitution of the Supreme Court; the recognition by Parliament of the provincial courts established by the Company, and of the rights of the people of this country to be governed by their own laws and usages. The third period extends from the year 1834 to 1858, and its special feature is that the East India Company ceased to be traders, and became trustees for the Crown in respect of all the enormous territories which had been acquired in the East; and were controlled by a body of Commissioners appointed by statute. It will be necessary to devote some attention to each of these periods, and to the relations between Parliament and the affairs of the Company which existed during the two-and-a-half centuries covered by them, 29 First Charter of the East India Company. In the year 1600 A. D. Queen Elizabeth granted a charter to a corporation denominated * the Governor and Company of Merchants trading into the East Indies.” The powers and privileges conferred by this charter were limited to a term of fifteen years; but by a further charter granted to the Company by James I. in the year 1609, this limitation was removed. Other charters were subsequently obtained from Charles II., James II., and William and Mary respectively. In the year 1698 William IIL incorporated a second East India Company under the name of the « English Company trading to the East Indies.” But the interests of the two Companies ended in their union in the year 1709, under the terms of an award of arbitrators ; and the right of trading to the eastward of the Cape of Good Hope, together with the government of the forts and settlements possessed by the English in India, became vested in the « United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies” By a subsequent enactment the Company was named the East India Company (3 and 4 Will. IV., cap. 85, Section 111). Down to the year 1773 the history of the government by the English of their Indian possessions is one of military struggle and civil conflict ; the position of the Company was by no means secure, and their supremacy was confined to their ports and settlements { 30 on the coast, at Bengal, Madras, and Bombay. Bengal was the chief presidency, and those of Madras and Bombay were governed in imitation of the policy pursued by the Supreme Government at the chief presidency. During the sixty-five years which elapsed from the union of the two Companies down to the Regulating Act of 1773, great acquisitions of territory were made, and the position of the Company was gradually changed from that of tenants of factories, owing obedience to the Mogal Emperor, to one of practical and independent sovereignty. Territorial Acquisitions. The first possession of the English was the Island of Bombay, ceded to Charles II. in 1661 by the King of Portugal as part of the marriage dowry of the Infanta. Charles II. granted it to the East India Company, who, about the same time, gained possession of some factories on the west coast of India. Somewhat later, factories were established at Madras and other places on the east coast. Last of all, the Company made trading settlements in Bengal, and founded Calcutta, The factories of Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta became the leading factories in their different localities, and exercised control and supervision over the subordinate depts and places in their vicinity. The decline of the Mogal dynasty was very rapid after the death of Aurungzeb in 1707; and it was ( 2 during the feud between the Mahratta and the Mahomedan that the French and English began the work of conquest and annexation. The principal struggle between the French and English commenced in 1750 in Madras, where most of the French possessions were situated, and they ended in the supremacy of the English being established, and in Madras becoming the most important possession of the Company. The struggle in Bengal between the English and the native government continued from 1756 to 1765. It commenced upon the accession of Suraja Daula, who captured Calcutta, but was overthrown by Clive in 1757, with the result that the authority of the Company was established over the whole of Bengal. The powers and duties of Government were, however, carried on by the Nawab of Murshedabad and in the name of the native government. In 1765 the grant of the Diwan: was conferred upon the English by the Emperor Shah Alam, in exchange for an annual payment of twenty-six lakhs of rupees; at the same time all the territories previously held by the East India Company under grants from the Emperor were confirmed to them. The civil and revenue administration was now carried on by the Company through native agency, while the administration of criminal justice was left in the hands of the Nawab, who received an annual grant of fifty-three lakhs of rupees; and who thus became dependent upon the Company. 22) Lepisiative and Judicial Authority at this period. The general character of the position of the East India Company at this time, in regard to their territories other than Bombay, was that the English held them from the native government, and were, strictly speaking, amenable to native laws. They were not, however, in any way interfered with in this respect, and maintained their right to govern themselves and to administer their own laws within their territories, just as if the latter formed part of the British possessions of the Crown. Almost all the charters obtained by the Company from British Sovereigns conferred certain judicial and legislative functions, to be exercised in a manner reasonable in itself and consistent with the statute and common law of England. In some instances express treaty rights were obtained from the native emperors conferring power on the English to govern natives who resided within their ports and settlements; but in most instances the grant of territory, with leave to build forts and factories, was assumed to carry with it the right to administer justice amongst the people residing therein of whatever nationality. The charters granted by Charles IL in 1661 and 1683 not only confirmed the powers previously granted, but authorised the Governor and Council of the various settlements of the Company to administer both civil and criminal justice in the case of all persons / "3 belonging to the Company or who should live under them; and to establish Courts of Justice. Mayor's Courts were established at Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta in 1726; and the Governors and Councils were given civil appellate jurisdiction in minor cases, and criminal jurisdiction as Courts of Session. A further appeal, in certain civil cases, lay to the Privy Council. These Courts and others of a similar character were constituted from time to time by various charters, but reference need only be made to that of 1753, which excepted natives from the civil jurisdiction of Mayor's Courts, and suits between them were directed to be determined among themselves. Lord Clive did much towards organizing the administration and introducing reforms. He prohibited the private trade of the Company's servants, and substituted a liberal system of remuneration; by these means the rapid acquisition of wealth was stopped, and one great motive for oppression and extortion was removed. He also placed the Government of Bengal on a new footing after acquiring the grant of the Diwani, and established more just and equitable relations with the natives. The Regulating Act. The second period commences with the Regulating Act of 1773. All that had been done by Clive down to 1765, and in that and the following 34 year, could not check the misgovernment of the country. The East India Company had to serve two masters, namely, the King of England and the Emperor of India. It was difficult, under all the circumstances, and with the means at the disposal of the Company, to introduce a thoroughly satisfactory government, which should control and check the administration of civil and criminal justice and the collection of the revenue. The form and character of the previous native rulehad to be kept up, for in name it was still maintained. A Residentat the Nawab’s Court, who inspected the management of the Murshedabad Diwan, and an officer of similar position at Patna, maintained an imperfect control over the civil and revenue administration in the provinces ; the country in the neighbourhood of Calcutta being under the more direct supervision of the Company's European servants. In 1770 two revenue councils were appointed, at Murshedabad and Patna, with the view of introducing a more direct and closer supervision of affairs. Mahomedan Criminal Law was in force throughout the country, administered by Mahomedan Courts. About this time certain servants of the Company, ander the title of supervisors, were appointed in various districts for the purpose of controlling the native agency. It was not until 1772, however, under Warren Hastings, that final measures were taken for the internal government of the country by British agency. Collectors of revenue were established in each district, who superintended the Civil Courts also, and heard and disposed of all litigation except that relating to questions of succession to zamizndari and Zalukdard property, which were decided by the Governor in Council. A Criminal Court was also established in each district, consisting of a Kazi, a Mufti, and two Maulvis, superintended by the collector; a Chief Criminal Court being established at Murshedabad. Meanwhile Parliament became aware of the shortcomings and unsatisfactory nature of the administration of the Company's affairs, and in 1772 a committee of investigation was nominated. The result was that Parliament determined to interfere directly with the authority of the Company, and to assume the exercise of sovereign powers. This end was sought to be attained by the Statute £3, Geo. IIL, cap. 63 (1772-1773), which provided that the Government of Bengal should consist of a Governor-General and four counsellors; and subordinated the president and councils of Madras and Bombay to the Government of Bengal. Legislative powers, to make rules and regulations for the good order and civil government of the Company's possessions, were conferred on the Supreme Govern. ment, subject to the consent and approbation of, and to registration by, the Supreme Court. This Supreme Court was intended to be an independent and effectual check upon the executive government. ( 36 The latter was still composed of the Company's servants entirely, but the Supreme Court consisted of Judges appointed by the Crown, and it was made a King’s Court, and not a Company's Court; the Court held jurisdiction over all British subjects, in the provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa ; it consisted of a Chief Justice and (at first) three Jndges; and was constituted by charter framed under the authority of the Regulating Act. The King in Council further retained the right to disallow or alter any rule or regulation framed by the Government in India; and in civil cases an appeal lay to the Privy Council. The intention was to secure to the Crown the supremacy in the whole administration of justice, and to place an effective check upon the affairs of the East India Company. The arrangement, however, was soon found to be impracticable. The Act established in India two independent and rival powers, namely, the Supreme Government, comprising the Governor-General and his Council, and the Supreme Court ; the boundaries between them were altogether undefined, one deriving its authority from the Crown, and the other from the Company. The wording of the statute and charter in regard to the Supreme Court was extremely loose and unsatisfactory; and the immediate result was a conflict of authority which raged for seven years, and which had the effect of paralysing the executive government and of undermining the whole administration. | 7 The Court issued its writs extensively throughout the country, arrested and brought to Calcutta all persons against whom complaints werelodged,— zamindars, farmers, and occupiers of land, whatever their rank or consequence in the country. Revenue defaulters were set at liberty under Aabdeas corpus; the criminal administration under the Nawab was declared to be illegal; the mofussil Civil Courts were held to have no validity; and the Supreme Court, itself modelled upon the Courts of England, introduced the whole system of English law and procedure. The Court exercised large powers independently of the Government, often so as to obstruct it; and had a complete contral over legislation, Such a system could not endure under any circumstances. Although the Courts are independent of Government in England, both are absolutely subordinate to the Legislature, in which, however, the power of Government predominates. To make the Legislature subordinate to the Court, instead of the Court subordinate to the Legislature, and at the same time to direct it to enforce a system of law utterly inapplicable to India, independently of, or in opposition to, the Government, which was at the same time weaksned by divisions purposely created, appears to be most destructive and pernicious policy that wit could devise. Although the judicial service should be independent of the executive, yet it must be 7 \ 18 subordinate to the Legislature, and legislation must be, if power and responsibility are to go together, the unfettered expression of sovereign authority, wherever that authority may reside, or from whatever source it be derived, whether from an electoral body or an absolute prince. The plan of controlling the Company's government by the King’s Court entirely failed. The tribunal came to be regarded by the natives, for whose protection it was established, with the utmost abhorrence. The policy which shaped the Regulating Act was well-intentioned, but it was rashly and ignorantly executed. It had the effect of seriously endangering British power in India. The anarchy which ensued continued until the policy of the Regulating Act was reversed, and Indian society assumed the form which it, more or less closely, retained till the Company and the Mogal Empire vanished. The Amending Act of 1780-81. The dissensions between the executive government and the independent Supreme Court had been so serious that the former had been forced into open opposition to the strictly lawful authority of the latter, in order to carry on the government in the provinces at all ; and it was consequently one of the important features of the act that the members of the government should be indemnified for all such acts and proceedings. 30 They were also in future excluded from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court in regard to their official acts, it being directed that should any complaint be lodged against the government, the Supreme Court should, after causing the production of the necessary papers and evidence, transmit the proceedings to the proper Court in England. Further, the order of the Governor-General in Council was constituted a bar to further proceedings for any acts done thereunder ; this provision operated in regard to all orders not affecting British subjects, over whom the Supreme Court retained its jurisdiction. It was expressly declared by the act that the Supreme Court should have no jurisdiction whatever in matters concerning the revenue, or concerning any acts ordered or done in the collection thereof, according to the practice of the country, or the regulations of the government. [t was further declared that no person should be subject to its jurisdiction by virtue of possessing land or any interest therein in the provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa ; nor did the employment of any person by the Company, or by a European, bring such person generally within such jurisdiclion. Further, no action for wrong or injury should lie in the Supreme Court against any person exercising a judicial office in the country courts for any order, judgment or decree of the said court; nor against any person for any act done by or in virtue of the order of such court, 40 As against natives, inhabitants of Calcutta, the Supreme Court retained its jurisdiction ; but it was provided that in matters of inheritance and succession, as well as in matters of contract and dealing, the Court should be guided by the laws and usages of the parties; that the rights and authorities of fathers and masters of families should be preserved to them in accordance with their civil and religious usages ; and that acts done in accordance with the rule or law of caste, respecting the members of the families, were excluded from the criminal law, The most important features of the act were, however, the recognition by Parliament of the civil and criminal provincial courts, existing independently of the Supreme Court; of the Governor-General and Council, or some Committee thereof, as the chief appellate court of the country ; and the vesting the Council with the power to frame Regulations for those provincial courts, independently of the Supreme Court. This course entirely cut away the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court over natives in the mofussil, and gave a legal status to the administration thereof, comprising the Supreme Government and its courts and offices in the various districts. Thus.the whole policy of the Regulating Act was subverted by the amending act of eight years later ; but the latter act effected a settlement which was practical and workable, whatever its faults ; the Supreme Court was limited in its jurisdiction to European British subjects and the inhabitants of Calcutta ; while the full legislative, judicial and administrative authority over the provinces was vested in the supreme government. The same system took effect in Madras and Bombay as was thus introduced into Bengal. [n Bengal a revised code was issued in the same year as this importantact. Very little legislation had been effected under the Regulating Act; though, under the Actof 1781, a large body of regulations continued to be passed for half a century. Thus the Act of Parliament, the Revised Code, the Parliamentary recognition of the Sudder and Provincial Courts, the grant of legislative authority, apart from the veto of the Supreme Court, the restriction of the powers of that Court, and the declaration of the rights of Hindus and Mahomedans to their own laws and usages, were effected in 1781. Commissioners for the Affairs of India and the Supreme and Local Governments in India. The Statute 33, Geo. III, cap. 52 (1792-93) provided for the appointment of five Commissioners for the Affairs of India: of these, two were to be principal Secretaries of State, a third was the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and two were to be named by the Crown. Three Commissioners formed a quorum; and they were invested with full power to superintend. 4.2 direct and control all matters relating to the civil or military government, or revenues of the territories acquired by the Company in India. The affairs of the Company were administered at this time by their own Board of Directors in England; and by the Governor-General and Council in India, who were nominated by the Directors; by the Statute now referred to the Crown and Parliament appointed a Board of Commissioners, composed mainly of Ministers of the Crown, to control the whole administration of the Company. The Board of Commissioners were given the widest powers of superin. tendence, revision, and control over the Company's affairs, though their action was limited to the Directors in England. The Board of Directors had to nominate a Secret Committee of three of their number to act with the Commissioners. The same statute reconstituted the governments of the three presidencies. The Governor-General and three Counsellors were invested with the entire civil and military government of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa; a Governor and three Counsellors were similarly appointed to the presidencies of Madras and Bombay; but were placed under the superintendence and control of the Government of Bengal. In the year 1800 a statute was passed extend. ing the power of the Supreme Court to the ceded province of Benares, subject to the powers conferred 42 in 1781; and for the constitution of a Supreme Court, on the model of that in Bengal, in Madras, in supersession of the Mayor's Courts. The statutes of most importance passed during the second period of the history of the East India Company were 13, Geo. IIL, cap. 63; 33, Geo. IIT, cap. 52; 37, Geo. III, cap. 142; 39 and 40, Geo. III, cap. 79; and 53, Geo. IIL, cap. 155. The first, second, and last of these statutes continued the East India Company in possession of the British territories in India, by terms of zo years at a time; the constitution and powers of the government were from time to time altered and amended ; provision was made for controlling the Company and its servants, and for the general improvement of the Revenue, Civil, and Judicial Administration, as well as for the proper organization of the army; while large legislative powers were vested in the Supreme Government, which were exercised with considerable effect. The system inaugurated in 1781 retained all its main features intact down to the year 1833. The Company as Trustees. The third phase of Government by the East India Company was inaugurated by the statute 3 and 4, William IV., cap. 85, passed in 1833. By this Act the East India Company surrendered their rights as a trading Company, and the Government 44 was vested in the Company as Trustees for the Crown; the shareholders accepting a fixed dividend on their capital charged upon the revenues in India. The main outlines of the system of Government were not, however, much changed, although the statute legislates for the first time for the Government of the British possessions in India as a whole. St. Helena, which had been held by the Company, was taken over by the Crown under this statute. The superintendence, direction, and control of the whole Civil and Military Government of the whole of the British territories and revenues in India were vested in the Governor-General of India in Council. The Council was thus subordinated to the Governor-General ; extensive powers of legislation were conferred, the necessity for registering enactments in the Supreme Court being altogether abolished. The power to make laws affecting the Supreme Court, and its powers over European British subjects, was subject to the previous sanction of the Directors. ~ Legislation was to be effected by a quorum consisting of the Governor-General and at least three ordinary members of council; while other affairs might be transacted by the Governor-General and one or more of such members; the Governor-General was given a double or casting vote in council. The rights of Parliament to legislate for India were reserved, and its control over Indian legislation preserved by requiring all enactments to be submitted to Parliament, 1g The territories under the Government of Bengal were to be divided into two presidencies, namely, those of Fort William and Agra. The executive government at the various presidencies was to be vested in a Governor and three councillors, to be styled the Governor in Council of the presidencies of Fort William in Bengal, Fort Saint George (Madras), Bombay, and Agra respectively. These Governments were to be subordinate to the Government of India. The Crown reserved the power of removing or dismissing any officer, civil or military, of the Company ; the same power being left to the Company also. The Board of Commissioners for the affairs of India and the Secret Committee of Directors were retained as a check upon the executive government of India. This statute further required the Indian Government to frame laws and regulations for the protection of natives in their persons, opinions, and religions ; the service of the Company was thrown open to British subjects, European or Native, without distinction of creed, place of birth, descent or colour; and instructions were given for the immediate mitigation and amelioration of the state and condition of slaves, and for the extinction of slavery, as soon as practicable. This statute was to remain in force until 1854, and accordingly in 1853 a further Statute 16 and 17 Victoria, cap. 95, was passed, continuing the Government in its existing form until Parliament might otherwise provide. The . 46 presidency of Bengal had not, however, been divided as provided by the statute of 1833, the statute having given power to the Company to suspend such action if considered necessary, and this power having been exercised. The statute of 1853 provided that this suspension should continue, the Bengal presidency being controlled by the Governor-General with a Lieutenant-Governor at Agra and another at Calcutta. Power was given to the Company to create new provinces under Lieutenant-Governors as might become necessary. The period now under review is marked by a feature of great importance, both the statutes of 1833 and 1853 appointed persons as Indian Law Commissioners to inquire into the jurisdiction, powers, and rules of the existing courts of justice, and police establishments, and all existing forms of judicial procedure; and into the nature and operation of all laws, whether civil or criminal, written or customary, prevailing in the country ; and to make reports and recommendations for legislation with due regard to caste distinctions, religious usages, and the manners and customs of the people. As will be seen, we are now governed by laws which were originally drafted by these Law Commissioners ; although their deliberations did not bear fruit to any considerable extent until after the extinction of the Government of the East India Company. CHAPTER IV. HISTORY OF LEGISLATION DOWN TO 1861. Exercise of Legislative Authority. The most important exercise of legislative power first occurred in 1772. In that year the President and Council framed certain general regulations for the administration of justice, establishing both Civil and Criminal Courts throughout the lower provinces of Bengal. The Act of 1773 placed the legislative authority under the supervision and subject to the veto of the Supreme Court, but no enactments of importance were passed under it until 1780, when further regulations were framed for the more effectual and regular administration of civil justice ; and in the same year existing regulations were amended and confirmed. Early in 1781 a Revised Code was issued. The Actof 1781 freed the legislature of the Supreme Court, as regards legislation for the Provincial Courts, although registration in the Supreme Court was necessary to bind that Court to recognize such regulations. Thus at this time the legislature had a two-fold power of legislation under two separate Acts; one enabling them to make laws for the settlement of Fort William and places subordinate thereto in conformity with English law, and subject to the assentof the Supreme Court; and the other, under the Act of 1781, by which the Governor-General and Council, or some 48 Committee thereof acted as a Court of Record, and was the ultimate Court of Appeal from the _provincial courts in civil cases, and framed regulations for their guidance, subject to the approval of the Court of Directors, but independently of the Supreme Court, which, however, was not itself bound to recognize such legislation unless the law had been registered by it. This process was only rendered unnecessary in 18 33. Local Legislation. In Madras similar legislative powers were conferred upon the Governor and Council in the year 1800; and in 1807 upon the Governor and Council of Bombay. The registration of laws passed being effected in the Supreme Court at Madras and the Recorder’s Court at Bombay. The Governor-General in Bengal does not appear to have exercised any direct legislative control over the Govérnments of Madras and Bombay at this period ; though he had political control over them under the Act of 1773, and in .revenue and other matters by the Act of 1797. Laws passed by the Councils of Madras and Bombay were submitted to the Governor-General ; but the latter’s Council could only legislate for the Bengal Presidency. In 1813 the legislative power so conferred on the three Councils was extended, and at the same 40 time placed under still greater control. Persons proceeding to India at once became subject to the laws and regulations of the Indian Government. Moreover, powers of taxation were vested in the several legislatures subject to the sanction of the Directors ; all regulations were now required to be laid before Parliament ; the sovereignty of the Crown was asserted; and powers were conferred to make articles of war for native troops. Fave bodies of Statute Law 132 1814. Down to the year 1834 there were five different bodies of Statute Law in force in the Empire :— First, there was the whole body of English Statute Law existing in 1726, so far as it was applicable, and which applied to the presidency towns. Secondly, all English Acts extended to India after that date. Z%:7dly, the regulations from 1793 (including the Revised Code) down to 1834, in force in Bengal. Fourthly, the Regulations of the Madras Council, which spread over the period of thirty-two years, 22z., from 1802 to 1834, and were in force in the Presidency of Fort St, George. Fifthly, the Regulations of the Bombay Code, which began with the Revised Code of 1827, comprising the results of twenty-eight years’ previous legislation, and were also continued till 1834, hav. ing force and validity in the Presidency of Fort Qt. David. { 50 ) In 1833 the attention of Parliament was directed to three leading vices in the frame of the Indian Government. The first was in the nature of the Laws and Regulations; the second was in the illdefined authority and power from which these various Laws and Regulations emanated ; and the third was the anomalous and sometimes conflicting judicatures hy which the laws were administered ; or, in other words, the defects were in the laws themselves, in the authority for making them, and in the manner of executing them. The Judges of the Supreme Court at Calcutta thus expressed themselves in reference to this subject :—¢ In this state of circumstances, no one can pronounce an opinion, or form a judgment, however sound, upon any disputed right of persons, respecting which doubt and confusion may not be raised by those who may choose to call it in question ; for very few of the public or persons in office at home, not even the law officers, can be expected to have so comprehensive and clear a view of the Indian system as to know readily and familiarly the bearings of sach part of it on the rest. There are English Acts of Parliament specially provided for India, and others of which it is doubtful whether they apply to India wholly, or in part, or not at all. There is the English common law and constitution, of which the application is, in many respects, still more obscure and perplexed ; Mahomedan law and nsage ; Hindu law, usage, and scripture ; Charters { =r and Letters Patent of the Crown ; Regulations of the Governments, some made declaredly under Acts of Parliament, particularly authorizing them, and others which are founded, as some say, on the general power of Government entrusted to the Company by Parliament, and as others assert, on their rights as successors of the old Native Government ; some Regulations require registry in the Supreme Court ; others do not ; some have effect generally throughout India; others are peculiar to one presidency or one town. There are commissions of the Governments, and Circular Orders fromthe Nizamut Adawlut and from the Dewanny Adawlut ; treaties of the Crown ; treaties of the Indian Government ; besides inferences drawn at pleasure from general principles or the law of other nations. System of 1834. In this state of things an Act was passed in 1834, giving the widest powers of repeal and legislation to the Supreme Council of the Governor-General, over all persons and Courts of Justice and things, and for all servants of the Government ; and only excepting that Act itself, the British Army and Navy Acts, and subsequent statutes. These powers were of course subject to the control of the Court of Directors; and did not extend to the making of any law or regulation authorizing any Court of Justice, other than a Charter Court, to sentence European British subjects to death. { 52 The local legislatures of the different presidencies were superseded by this statute, and their powers were limited to proposing draft laws to the Supreme Council, Thus there was established one central legislative authority for the whole of India; and the system here introduced continued until 1853. Reforms of 1853. It was provided by the new Act, passed in 1853, that certain Legislative Councillors should be added to the existing Council ; and also that no law or regulation made by the Council should have force, or be promulgated, until it had been assented to by the Governor-General, whether he had or had not been present in Council at the making thereof. Further, it was enacted that no law or regulation made by the Governor-General in Council should be invalid by reason only that the same affected any prerogative of the Crown, provided such law or regulation had received the previous sanction of the Crown. It authorized Her Majesty to appoint a commission in England to consider the recommendations and reports of the Indian Law Commissioners. The effect of the new Act was to enlarge the Council, when acting in its legislative capacity, by the addition of new members, called Legislative Members, of whom two were English Judges of the Calcutta Supreme Court, and the others were r \ 53 appointed severally by the local Governments. At the same time the fourth ordinary Councillor, who held, under the former Act, the corresponding office of legislative member, was made a member in the executive branch as well as in the legislative branch. Consequent upon these changes, discussion became oral instead of in writing ; bills were referred to select committees instead of to a single member ; and legislative business was conducted in public instead of in secret. The system 50 introduced was considered by those who were well versed in it to be an infinite improvemnent upon the former system. Comparison between the Legislatures of 1834 and 1853. Under the former Act the sole power of making laws and regulations 2% India was vested in the Governor-General of India in Council. That vody consisted of the Governor-General and four ordinary members of council ; the Commander-in-Chief, if appointed an extraordinary member of Council, also formed one of the body. Of the four ordinary members, it was directed that three should be appointed from persons in the covenanted service of the East India Company, and the fourth from persons who had never been in the service. The duty of the fourth ordinary member was confined entirely to the subject of legislation. He had no power to sit and vote in the Executive Council, « 54 but only when meetings were held for the purposes of making laws and regulations. It was not necessary that he should be present to form a quorum even at those meetings, although he was particularly charged with the duties of legislation. His concurrence might be wanting to a law, but the law would nevertheless be good ; even his absence at the time of enactment would not vitiate it. Parliament manifestly intended that the whole of his time and attention, and knowledge and ability, should be employed in promoting the due discharge of the legislative functions of the Council. He had no pre-eminent, control over the duties of that department, but he was peculiarly charged with the task of giving shape and connexion to the several laws as they passed, and also with the labour of collecting local information, and with bringing his legal skill to the assistance of the Council in order to effect a sound and rational legislation. By the Act of 1853 the duties which, under the tormer Act, had rested principally on the fourth ordinary member of Council were performed by many. The Governor of each Presidency and the Lieutenant-Governor of each Lieutenant-Governorship was empowered to appoint a Legislative Councillor. The Legislative Councillors so appointed were members of the service of a certain standing ; and, consequently, had passed a conuderable time in India; were conversant with { wo the native languages; and, when selected with reference to their peculiar qualifications for the duties of the office, were necessarily able to bring to bear upon every subject connected with legislation for India much useful knowledge and practical experience; and, in questions peculiarly affecting their respective presidencies, had the advantage of being practically acquainted with local usages, and with the habits and prejudices of the people. The decentralization of the legislatures was, however, again demanded by the presidencies for various reasons; and, in 1861, this was effected in a manner which, while it gave sufficient powers to the local governments, maintained the supremacy and authority of the Central Government over the whole country. CHAPTER V. COVERNMENT UNDER THE CROWN, Transfer of the Government in 1858. The deplorable events which occurred in the year 1857, decided Parliament to resume the direct administration of India in the name of Her Majesty the Queen ; to extinguish the East India Company ; and to alter the form of Government in accordance with the altered state of affairs. 5( The transfer of the Government was accordingly effected by the Statute 21 and 22 Victoria, cap. 106, in August 1858. The period following this step and down to the Ist January, 1877, was one of re-organization and active legislation ; at the latter date the Government had been thoroughly established on a sound legal basis throughout the length and breadth of the land ; the Prince of Wales had visited this country and been enthusiastically received in his Royal prooress by a loyal and contented people ; and Her Majesty the Queen introduced a still closer relation between herself and her Indian subjects and Empire, by adding to her title the proud appellation of Emoress of India. By sections 1 and 2 of the statute the formal transfer of the government was effected ; by sections 3 and 4 a principal Secretary of State ‘was appointed to carry on the Government of India in England in lieu of the Board of Commissioners and of the Board of Directors, or Court of Proprietors of the East India Company, which then ceased to exist. Council of India. A Council, styled the Council of India, consisting of fifteen members, was created to conduct the business transacted in England, relating to the Government of India ; and to advise the Secretary of State for India. The Council was to be divided into Committees charged with special departments of work, Five Members of Council formed a quorum, and the ¥ Secretary of State, or a Vice-President appointed by him, or in their absence a member chosen at the meeting, presided over the deliberations of the Council, The presiding member possessed a casting vote in case of an equality of votes ; but the proceedings recorded in the absence of the Secretary of State, required his sanction ; and he was empowered to act Independently of, and even in opposition to the opinion of the majority, recording his reasons for so doing. All matters requiring secrecy could, moreover, be withheld altogether from the Council by the Secretary of State. The first Members of Council were nominated, seven by election by the out-going Directors of the Company, and eight by the Crown; and vacancies were to be filled up by the Council in the room of those who had been originally elected, and by the Crown in other cases. The members were, for the most part, persons who had resided in India for at least ten years, and who had been in India within ten years preceding their nomination. They were to hold office, like English Judges, during good behaviour, being removable only upon an address of both Houses of Parliament. oo Members of Council were disqualified from sitting in Parliament ; their salary was fixed at £1,200 a year. The constitution of the Council of India was somewhat modified by Statute 32 and 33 Victoria 58 Cap. 97, in 1869, which provided that.all vacancies in the Council should be filled up by the Secretary of State ; that members should be appointed for ten years ; that the Secretary of State might, for special reasons to be recorded by him, extend this term by re-appointment for five years; any member could resign ; and after ten years’ service was eligible for a pension of 4500 a year. It was further provided that, should Parliament desire, at any time, to reduce the number, or otherwise to deal with the constitution of the Council, members who had not served as such, for ten years, could not claim compensation for loss of office, or for any alteration in the terms and conditions under which they held it. By a further Statute 39 Victoria, Cap. 7, passed in 1876, the Secretary of State was empowered to appoint persons, having professional or other peculiar qualifications, to his Council, subject to the condition that not more than three persons, so appointed, should be members at any time ; this provision did not affect the total number of members, or the necessary qualifications of the members coming under the previous Acts. Covernment of India and of the Presidencies. Prior to 1772 the affairs of the East India Combany were administered by a President and Council .t each Presidency. The Regulating Act of that 8G year appointed a Governor-General of Bengal with three Counsellors, placing the President and Councils of Bombay and Madras under the Bengal Government. The Act of 1792 reconstituted the Governments of Bombay and Madras under a Governor and three Counsellors for each Presidency, subordinated generally to the Government of Bengal. Minor enactments affecting the Government were passed in 1800 and 1812. The Governor-General of India in Council was created in 1833 (Statute 3 and 4, William [V, Cap. 85), and the powers of the Government were re-stated, the legislature being given a higher status and being altogether independent of the Supreme Court. The Governors and Councils of Madras and Bombay were reconstituted on the same footing as before, for executive purposes. The Governor-General was, in his own person, Governor of the Bengal Presidency down to this time, and was given power to nominate a Deputy-Governor ; and provision was made for forming Agra into a separate Presidency—a provision never acted upon, as already explained. In 1853 (Statute 16 and 17 Victoria, Cap. 95), in continuing the Government of India to the Company, provision was made for appointing a separate Governor for Bengal ; and, until such appointment was made, for appointing a Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces, instead of a Governor and Council. In the next year, by Statute 17 and 18 Victoria, Cap. 77, the Governor-General in Council was given power to assume the immediate government of any part 60 of the Company's territories, if necessary ; and to declare and limit the extent of the authority of the Governor of Bengal, or of Agra, or of the North-Western Provinces. All powers at any time vested in the Governor in Council, or Governor of the Presi. dency of Bengal, or in or by the Governor-General of India in Council, were vested in the latter. The position of the Governor-General as Governor of Bengal was abolished, and Lieutenant-Governors were appointed for Bengal and the North-Western Provinces, with such powers as might, from time to time, be delegated by the Governor-General. The possible conflict of authority which the position of a Governor in Council towards the Governor-General in Council might involve was thus avoided in regard to those territories which did not fall within the jurisdiction of the Governors of the Madras and Bombav Presidencies. The Statute of 1833 further reconstituted the Governor-General’s Council and strengthened the egislature by adding a legislative Counsellor from sach Province. When, in 1858, the Government was entirely taken over by the Crown, no immediate change was made in the administration in India beyond that everything, as it stood, was transferred to the Queen. All appointments to the office of Governor-General, or Governor, were vested in the Crown as a matter of course : Lieutenant-Governorships being filled up by 67 the Government of India with the previous sanction 5f the Home Government. The legislature of India was re-constituted in 1861 by the Indian Council's Act. This statute, as extended or amended by statutes passed in 186s, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1874, and 1892, forms the basis of the existing Government #7 India, of British Indian territories. It will be as well to name the statutes referred to, and then to give a short resumé of the system they introduced. They were the following: 28 and 20 Victoria, Cap. 17, 1865; 32 and 33 Victoria, Caps. 97 and 98, 1869; 33 Victoria, Cap. 3, 1870; 34 and 33 Victoria, Cap. 34, 1871; 37 and 38 Victoria, Cap. 91, 1874; and 55 and 56 Victoria, Cap. 14. Council of Governor-General. The Governor-General of India is advised generally, both in the executive and legislative departments, by a Council composed of five ordinary members ; this number may be increased to six by appointment by the Queen, and may subsequently be again diminished at her pleasure. Three of these members must be qualified by service under the Government of India for, at least, ten years,. These three members were, by the Act 21 and 22 Victoria, Cap. 106, 1858, appointed by the Secretary of State with the concufrence of a majority of the members of his Council, but by 32 and 33 Victoria, Caps. 97 and 98, their appointment was vested in the 62 Crown. The remaining two are also appointed direct by the Crown, the only condition being that one of them shall be a Barrister or Advocate of Scotland of not less than five years’ standing. The Commanderin-Chief might be constituted an extraordinary member of this Council. Prior to 1861 the number of members had been four ; a fifth was then appointed by the Crown ; the appointment of a sixth was authorized by the Act of 1874. When the Governor-General thinks it expedient to visit any part of India unaccompanied by his Council, he has power to nominate some member as President of the Council ; such member possesses full powers except those of assenting to, or withholding his assent from, or reserving for reference to Her Majesty, any law or regulation framed. The Governor-General may, in such circumstances, alone exercise all or any of the powers which might be exercised by the Governor-General in Council, except those of making laws and regulations. In the absence of the Governor-General or President from any meeting of Council (other than meetings for the purpose of making laws and regulations) owing to indisposition or any other cause, the senior member presides ; but acts made at such meetings require the signature of the Governor-General or President to render them valid. The procedure in case of his refusal to sign is the same as that provided in the cases where the r Governor-General is present and dissents from any measure proposed to or brought before the Council, This procedure was regulated by Statute 33, George 11, Cap. 52, Sections 47 to 51; these provisions were repealed by 3 and 4, William IV., Cap. 85, Section 49, and these, again, were replaced by Statute 33 Victoria, Cap. 3. The provisions of the last mentioned statute (1870), on this subject, are as follows :--Whenever any measure is proposed before the Governor-General of India in Council, whereby the safety, tranquillity, and interests of the British possessions in India, or any part thereof, are, or may be, in the judgment of the Governor-General, essentially affected, and he shall be of opinion either that the measure proposed ought to be adopted and carried into execution, or that it ought to be suspended or rejected, and the majority in Council then present shall dissent from such opinion, the Governor-General may, on his own authority and responsibility, suspend or reject the measure in part or in whole, or adopt and carry it into execution ; but in every such case any two dissentient members may require the whole matter, together with the notification and copies of minutes recorded by Members, to be laid before the Secretary of State for India. The Governor-General possesses the power to frame rules and orders for the more convenient trans. action of business in Council : and any order made { 64 or act done in accordance with such rules or orders (except as to the making of laws and regulations), is deemed to be the order or act of the Governor-General in Council. The place of assembly of the Council is fixed from time to time by the Governor-General in Council, but must be within the territories of India: should it meet within the Presidencies of Madras or Bombay, the Governor of such Presidency becomes an extraordinary member. Vacancies happening among the ordinary Members of Council may, unless a person has been provisionally appointed by the Crown in anticipation of such vacancy, be temporarily filled up by the Governor-General in Council. Such person enjoys the emoluments and privileges of a member regularly appointed ; but he ceases to be a member when one has been duly appointed to fill up the vacancy. Similar provisions are made to supply the place of members incapacitated by any infirmity or otherwise, or absent on leave. A person temporarily appointed, in such circumstances, receives half the salary of the permanent incumbent and half his own salary. Persons so appointed must be eligible for the office, fn the event of a vacancy happening in the office of Governor-General of India, when no provisional successor shall- be in India, the senior Governor, according to date of appointment, acts as Governor-General until a sticcessor arrives. or some person in ( 6% India is duly appointed. Such Governor may, by proclamation, in case of necessity, before taking his seat in Council, notify his assumption of the office, and exercise alone all the powers thereof, except those of legislating. Meanwhile the Council may meet and validly transact business ; the ordinary Member of Council next in rank presiding and carrying on the duties of the office of Governor-General until such proclamation is communicated. The Governor assuming the office of Governor-General may, however, revoke or alter acts done by the Council. The expressions Governor-General tn Counce! and Governor-in-Council, do not necessarily imply that the business transacted was done at a meeting for making laws and regulations, All acts of the Governor-General (or Governor) are held to be done by and with the advice of his ordinary Council ; even where he dissents from his Council, though he is personally responsible for acts done in opposition to his Council, such acts are issued in the name of the Governor-General iz Council, and are signed by the members subject to their written protests, as already explained. Exactly similar provisions were framed for the subordinate Governments at Madras and Bombay. The legislative constitution and powers of these Councils will be treated in the next chapter. New Provinces. Power was given in the Act (Sections 46 and 47) to the Governor-General in Council to fix the limits ( 66 ) of any presidency, division, province, or territory in India, for the purposes of the Act; and further to divide and alter, from time to time, such limits. The power was to be exercised by proclamation, Statute 28 and 29 Victoria, Cap. 17, Sections 2 and 3, gives similar power in regard to the distribution and arrangement of the British Indian possessions in more general terms, and subject to the previous sanction of the Secretary of State. Further modifications of the Indian Councils Act 1861 have, since this manual was first printed, beer enacted by 55 and 56 Victoria, Cap. 14, and for convenience of reference and comparison the whole of the Act, which is very brief, is here inserted ;:— CHAPTER 14. . An Act to amend the Indian Councils Act, 1861. [20th June, 1892.] Be it enacted by the Queen’s most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same as follows: number of Additional Members of Council nominated by the Governor-General under the provisions of section ten of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, shall be such as to him may seem from time to time expedient; but shall not be less: than ten nor move than sixteen : and the number of Addi-{.—(1.) The Provisions for in crease of number of Members of Indian Councils for making laws and regulations. 24 and 25 Vic., ¢. 67. 6 tonal Members of Council nominated by the Gover. nors of the Presidencies of Fort St. George and Bombay respectively, under the provisions of section twenty-nine of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, shall (besides the Advocate-General of the Presidency, or officer acting in that capacity) be such as to the said Governors respectively may seem from time to time expedient, but shall not be less than eight nor more than twenty. {2.) It shall be lawful for the Governor-General in Council, by proclamation from time to time, to increase the number of Councillors whom the Lieutenant-Governors of the Bengal Division of the Presi. dency of Fort William and of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh respectively, may nominate for their assistance in making laws and regulations: Provided always, that not more than twenty shall be nominated for the Bengal Division, and not more thiol Seon for the North-Western Provinces and udh. (3.) Any person resident in India may be nomi. nated an Additional Member of Council under sec. tions ten and twenty-nine of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, and this Act, or a Member of the Council of the Lieutenant-Governor of any province to which the provisions of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, touching the making of laws and regulations, have been or are hereafter extended or made applicable. {(4.) The Governor-General in Council may from lime to time, with the approval of the Secretary of State in Council, make regulations as to the conditions under which such nominations, or any of them, shall be made by the Governor-General, Governors, and Lieutenant-Governors respectively, and prescribe the manner in which such regulations shall be carried into effect. { 68 ) 2. Notwithstanding any provision in the Indian Councils Act, 1861, the Governor General of India in Council may from time to time make rules authorising at any meeting of the Governor-General’s Council for the purpose of making laws and regulations the discussion of the annual financial statement of the Governor-General in Council and the asking of questions, but under such conditions and restrictions, as to subject or otherwise, as shall be in the said rules prescribed or declared: And notwithstanding any provisions in the Indian Councils Act, 1861, the Governors in Council of Fort St. George and Bombay respectively, and the Lieutenant-Governor of any province to which the provisions of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, touching the making of laws and regulations, have been or are hereafter extended or made applicable, may from time to time make rules for authorising at any meeting of their respective Councils for the purpose of making laws and regulations the discussion of the annual financial statement of their respective local Governments, and the asking of questions, but under such conditions and restrictions, as to subject or otherwise, as shall in the said rules applicable to such Councils respectively be pres. cribed or declared. But no Member at any such meeting of any Council shall have power to submit or propose any resolution, or to divide the Council in respect of any such financial discussion, or the answer to any question asked under the authority of this Act, or the rules made under this Act: Provided that any rule made under this Act by a Governor in Council, or by a Lieutenant-Governor, shall be submitted for and shall be subject to the sanction of the Gover nor-General in Council, and any rule made under this Act by the Governor-General in Council shall be submitted for, and shall be subject to, the sanction of & .-the Secretary of State in Council : Provided also that rules made under this Act shall not be subject to alteration or amendment at meetings for the purpose of making laws and regulations. 8. Itishereby declared that in the twenty-second section of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, it was and is intended that the words “ Indian territories now under the dominion of Her Ma-. jesty” should be read and con. strued as if the words “or hereafter” were and had at the time of the passing of the said Act been inserted next after the word “now ;” and further, that the Acts third and fourth, William the Fourth, chapter eighty-five, and sixteenth and seventeenth Victoria, chapter ninety-five, respectively, shall be read and construed as if at the date of the enactment thereof respectively it was intended and had been enacted that the said Acts respectively should extend to and include the territories acquired after the dates thereof respectively by the East India Company, and should not be confined to the territories at the dates of the said enactments respectively in the possession and under the government of the said Company. 4. Sections thirteen and thirty-two of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, are hereby repealed, and it is enacted that (1) If any Additional Member of Council or any Member of the Council of a Lieutenant-Governor, appointed under the said Act or this Act, shall be absent ftom India or unable to attend to the duties of his office for a period of two consecutive months, it shall be lawful for the Governor-General, the Governor, or the Lieutenant Governor, to whose Council such - . A Additional Member or Member may have been nominated (as the case may be) to declare, by a notification published in the Government Gazette, that the seat in Council of such person has become vacant. 2.) In the event of a vacancy occurring by the absence from India, inability to attend to duty, death, acceptance of office, or resignation duly accepted, of any such Additional Member or Member of the Council of a Lieutenant-Governor, it shall be lawful for the Governor-General, for the Governor, or for the Lieutenant-governor, as the case may be, to nominate any person as Additional Member or Member, as the case may be, in his place ; and every Member so nomihated shall be summoned to all meetings held for the purpose of making laws and regulations for the term of two years from the date of such nomination: Provided always that it shall not be lawful by such nomination, or by any other nomination made under this Act, to diminish the proportion of non-official members directed by the Indian Councils Act, 1861, to be nominated. 5. The local legislature of any province in India may from time to time, by Acts passed under and subject to the provisions of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, and with the previous sanction of the Governor-General, but not otherwise, repeal or amend as to that province any law or regulation made either before’ or after the passing of this Act by any authority in India other than that local legislature : Provided that an Act or a provision of an Act made by a local legislature, and subsequently assented to by the Governor-General in pursuance of [ Tr the Indian Councils Act, 1861, shall not be deemed invalid by reason only of its requiring the previous sanction of the Governor-General under this section. Definitions, 6. In this Act— The expression “local legislature ” means— (1.) The Governor in Council for the purpose of making laws and regulations of the respective provinces of Fort St. George and Bombay ; and (2.) The Council for the purpose of making laws and regulations of the Lieutenant-Governor of any province to which the provisions of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, touching the making of laws or regulations, have been or are hereafter extended or made applicable : The expression “province” means any presidency, division, province, or territory over which the powers of any local legislature for the time being extend. in this Act shall detract from or Saving of powers diminish the powers of the Govof Governor-General ernor-General in Council at meetin Council. ings for the purpose of making laws and regulations. 8. This Act may be cited as the Indian Coun-Short title cils Act, 1892, and the Indian ’ Councils Act, 1861, and this Act may be cited together as the Indian Councils Acts, 1861 and 1392, ( 72 , CHAPTER VI. THE LEGISLATURES OF INDIA UNDER THE CROWN, Delegation of legislative power. The legislative power of the Government of India is vested in the Governor-General in Council ; but the meetings for the purposes of making laws and regulations are strengthened by the appointment of Additional Members of Council whose functions are limited to legislation, Similar provisions apply to the subordinate legislatures of Madras and Bombay. These Governments first obtained legislative powers in 1800 and 1807, but they were withdrawn in 1833 (3 and 4, William IV, Cap. 85), and were not again conferred until 1861. The Indian Councils Act, 1861, Section 44, empowered the Indian Government to confer certain legislative powers upon the Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, and the Punjab, respectively ; the number of Councillors for the purpose of making laws and regulations being fixed in the proclamation. In 1862 such a Council was formed for Bengal, but hitherto the privilege has been denied to the other provinces. A somewhat peculiar legislative power, to be exercised otherwise than at meetings of Council for the purpose of making laws and regulations, was introduced in 1870, by Statute 33 Vic,, Cap. 3. This Act empowered every Governor of a Presidency in 73 Council, Lieutenant-Governor, or Chief Commissioner, then existing or thereafter created, to propose to the Governor-General in Council (that is, to the Executive Government) drafts of any regulations, together with the reasons for proposing the same, for the peace and good government of any territories under his government: after consideration and approval of such drafts by the Governor-General in Council, and publication in the Gazette of India and local Gazette, they become law subject to the same rules as apply to the Acts passed at meetings of council held for the purpose of making laws and regulations. These powers cannot, however, be exercised by local Governments until the Secretary of State has, by a resolution in council, declared them to be applicable ; the power so conferred may be withdrawn in the same manner. An arrangement somewhat similar had been provided by 3 and 4, Will. IV., in 1833, when the Governors of Madras and Bombay had no legislative powers ; but it seems to have been rather out of place in 1870, when provision had existed for nine years, by which all minor Governments could have legislative powers, of a more regular kind, conferred upon them. It is altogether inapplicable in character to Madras, Bombay, and Bengal, and has never, it is believed, been tried in the North-Western Provinces, Central Provinces, or Punjab, In cases of emergency the Governor-General alone possesses very exceptional legislative authority, Section 23 of the Indian Councils Act provides that L 74 he may, in such cases, for the peace and good government of any part of the country, and subject to the general legislative powers possessed by the Government of India, issue ordinances. Such ordinances have the force of law for a period not exceeding six months, They may, however, be earlier disallowed by the Crown acting through the Secretary of State in Council, or controlled or superseded by some law or regulation made by the Governor-General in Council at a meeting for the purpose of making laws and regulations, held in the ordinary way. One other special feature of the Indian Councils Act, which must be referred to before considering the ordinary mode of legislation, is the general validation of certain laws made for non-regulation provinces, prior to 1861, the legal force of which was doubtful. Section 25 provides that no rule, law or regulation which, prior to the passing of that Act, shall have been made by the Governor-General, or Governor-General in Council, Governor in Council, or Lieutenant-Governor, for or in respect of territories known from time to time as non-regulation provinces, shall be deemed invalid only by reason of the same not having been made in conformity with the provisions of the Statutes 3 and 4, Will. IV, Cap. 85, and 16 and 17 Vic, Cap. 95, or of any other Act of Parliament respecting the constitution and powers of the Council of India, or of the Governor-General, or respecting the powers of such Governors, Governors in Council, or Lieutenant-Governors. This provision was L 75 necessary as, in non-regulation provinces, no legislative authority had been delegated to local Governments ; though they had, in fact, framed rules and regulations as these became imperatively necessary from time to time, sometimes with and sometimes without the sanction of the Governor-General ; while the Governor-General had passed orders and issued rules, in many instances amounting to legislation, without the formal procedure provided for that purpose in the older statutes. This section set at rest many doubtful questions and gave validity to all rules made, prior to 1861, by the various local Governments, while, at the same time, it cleared the field for future and more regular legislative action, The Legislative Council of India. [n addition to the Ordinary and Extraordinary Members of the Council of the Governor-General, the Governor-General was given authority, by Section 10 of the Indian Councils Act, to nominate not less than siz (under the Indian Councils Act, 1892, ten) or more than fwelve (under the Indian Councils Act, 1892, sixteen) persons as Additional Members of Council for the purpose of making laws and regulations. - Additional Members are not entitled to sit and vote at any meetings of council except such as are held for legislative purposes. Not less than /Za/f the number of Additional Members are required to be non-official persons, that is, persons who, at the date of their nomination, are not government servants, Such « 76 members hold office for Zwo years ; they may resign at any time; they may be re-appointed ; and vacancies may be filled up as occasion may require, due regard being had to the proportion of non-official members (under the Indian Councils Act, 1892, “any person vesident in India may be nominated an Additional Member”). Section g of the Act provides that when the council meets for legislative purposes within the province of a Lieutenant-Governor, the latter acts as an Additional Councillor. This is again provided by Statute 33 Vic, Cap. 3, Section 3 (1870), which includes Chief Commissioners ; it says that whenever the Governor-General in Council shall hold a meeting for making laws and regulations at any place within the limits of any territories now or hereafter placed under the administration of a Lieutenant-Governor or Chief Commissioner, the Lieutenant-Governor or Chief Commissioner, respectively, shall be ex-officic an Additional Member of the Council of the Governor-General for that purpose, in excess (if necessary) of the maximum number of twelve (sixteen by the Act of 1892) fixed by the Act of 1861. This constitution of the legislative council superseded the legislative councillors, one for each province, provided in 1853 by 16 and 17 Vic, Cap. 95%. In the absence of the Governor-General and of the President (where nominated,) the Senior Ordinary Member of Council present presides at meetings of the legislative council. The Governor-General, Presijent, or one Ordinary Member, and six or more >ther members (of any class) must be present to enable legislation to proceed at any meeting. In case of an equality of votes, the presiding member has a double or casting vote. The fact that the proportion of nonofficial Additional Members was not complete at any time does not in itself invalidate any law introduced or enacted by the council. The power of appointing the time and place of meeting, and of adjourning meetings, is vested in the Governor-General in Council; he may, however, delegate the power of adjournment to the member at any time presiding. The Governor-General, moreover, was empowered to frame the first rules for the conduct of business at meetings ; subsequent amendments being made at such meetings, subject to the approval of the Governor-General ; and subject to the power of the Secretary of State in Council to veto any such rule. The method of promulgating and authenticating laws and regulations is prescribed by the rules of business so framed, Method of legislating. No business is transacted by the legislative council other than the consideration and enactment of measures introduced into the council for that purpose. The only motions which can be made or entertained at such meetings are such as request Zave fo introduce some measure, or have reference to some measure already before the council. \ 78 No member can, without the previous sanction of the Governor-General, introduce a measure affecting (1) the public debt or public revenues of India, or by which any charge would be imposed on the revenues ; (2) the religion or religious rights and usages of any class of British subjects in India ; (3) the discipline or maintenance of any part of the army and navy ; and (4) the relations of the government with foreign princes or states. The assent of the Governor-General is necessary to render valid any enactment passed by the council ; such assent is necessary whether the Governor-General was or was not present in council at the making of the law or regulation. Should the Governor-General withhold his assent, the law cannot take effect. The Governor-General may #eserve such law or regulation, without giving his assent, for consideration by the Crown, in which case it does not ‘take effect until the Queen’s assent has been communicated by the Secretary of State to the Governor-General, and duly proclaimed by the latter. The Crown has power reserved to it to dzsallow any law or regulation passed by the council and assented to by the Governor-General. Such disallowance annuls the law affected by it from the time that the Governor-General makes known, by proclamation, or by signification to his council, that he has received the notification of the fact. { 70 3 Laws are usually promulgated by publication three several times in the Gazette of. India, and also in the provincial Gazette to which the law may specially apply. Copies of all laws and regulations and ordinances, however they may be passed, must be sent to the Secretary of State for the information of Parliament. Exton? of legislative power. The supreme legislature in India has power to make laws and regulations: — 1 —repealing, amending or altering any laws or regulations in force in India ; »— for all Courts of Justice whatsoever ; 3—for all places and things in British India; a—For all (@) persons whatever, whether British, Native, foreigners or others in British India; (4) British subjects within the dominions of princes or states in India in alliance with Her Majesty, whether in the service of the Government of India or otherwise 28 and 29 Vic, Cap. 17, 1865); Native Indian subjects without and beyond as well as within British Indian territories (32 and 33 Vic, Cap. 98, £869); Ra (4) servants of the Government of India within the dominions of princes or states in alliance with Her Majesty. Such laws control and supersede any laws and regulations in any way repugnant thereto, which may have been passed by any of the subordinate legislatures in India. The supreme legislature in India is, however, prohibited from making laws and regulations repealing or affecting— {—the provisions of the Indian Councils Acts, 1861, 1892 : 2—Statute 3 and 4, William IV, Cap. 83, except Sections 81 to 86, which relate to residence in certain parts of India ; the protection of the natives ; British subjects acquiring lands in India 3—>Statute 16 and 17 Vic, Cap. 95 (unrepealed portions), and 17 and 18 Vic., Cap. 77; 21 and 22 Vic, Cap. 106, and 22 and 23 Vic, Cap. 41 (relating to the Government of India): j—any act enabling the Secretary of State in Council to raise money in England for the Government of India : s—any acts relating to the British Army ; { 8r E. Any act then or thereafter passed by Parliament affecting British India and its inha. bitants ; or affecting the authority of Parliament, the constitution and rights of the East India Company ; the common law of England so far as it may affect the allegiance of any person to the Crown; or the sovereignty and dominion of the Crown over any part of the territories of British India. Subject to the power of disallowance by the Crown, no law affecting the prerogative of the Crown is, on that account, invalid. Local Legislatures. The Governors of the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay are, as has been stated, provided with a council consisting of three ordinary members; but, for the purpose of making laws and regulations, they are empowered to nominate the Advocate-General of the Presidency, and not less than four (eight under the Act of 1892) or more than eight (twenty under the Act of 1892), other persons to be Addztional Members of Council. Half of the number must be non-official (“any person residing in India” under the Act of 1692). The constitution of the council is, mutatis mutandss, subject to similar regulations to those applying to the supreme legislature. First meetings of such councils were appointed by the Governor-General, but all subsequent meetings ( 82 ) were and are fixed by the Governors. The Governors in Council framed the first rules for the conduct of business, subsequent amendments being made at meetings for legislative purposes, subject to the vetoing power of the Governor in Council. The assent of the Governor-General is required in the same manner as in the case of the supreme legislature. The Governor-General also possesses the power of disallowing laws passed by the subordinate legislatures, but must communicate his reasons, in writing, for so doing, to the Governor. After the assent of the Governor-General the acts of the local legislatures are transmitted to the home government and are subject to disallowance by the Crown in the same manner as the acts of the Governor-General of India in Council, Powers of Local Legislatures. The powers of the presidency legislative councils are as follows :— I. To make laws and regulations for the peace and good government of such presidency ; 2. To repeal and amend any laws made by any authority in India prior to 1861, so far as they affect such presidency. But no law or regulation can be made which affects the Indian Councils Act, 1861, or any other act of Parliament in force then or thereafter. Nor can any member introduce any measure affecting the ( 83 revenues of the presidency without the previous sanction of the Governor. Members can only bring forward motions for leave to introduce some measure for legislation, or affecting measures actually before the council. No law or regulation relating to the following subjects can be taken into consideration by local legislatures without the previous sanction of the Governor-General in Council. namelv:— Affecting the public debt of India, or the customs duties, or any other tax or duty now in force or imposed by the authority of the Government of India for the general purposes of such government ; 2. Regulating any of the current coin, or the issue of any bills, notes, or other paper currency; I 3. Regulating the conveyance of letters by the post office, or messages by the electric telegraph within the presidency ; 4. Altering in any way the Indian Penal Code; 5. Affecting the religion or religious rites and usages of any class of British subjects ; 6. Affecting the Army or Navy ; 7. Affecting the law of patent and copyright ; 8. Affecting the relations of government with foreign princes and states. ( 84 ) But no law relating to any of the above purposes which has been passed and assented to by the Governor-General, is invalid merely by reason of its affecting such subjects. Statute 34 and 35 Vic, Cap. 34 (1871) authorises local legislatures to make laws conferring upon magistrates, being justices of the peace, jurisdiction over European British subjects, similar to that which would have been conferred by them over natives in like cases ; past laws in this respect are rendered valid. Where, however, a native would be liable to be sent for trial to a Court of Session, a European is required to be sent to the High Court. The Government of India possesses and has exercised even more extended powers over European British subjects. The Governor-General in Council may, with the previous sanction of the Secretary of State, constitute Councils for provinces under Lieutenant-Governors, by proclamation duly promulgated. The power has been exercised, as already stated, in Bengal only. The proclamation is required to state the time when it shall take effect ; and the number of councillors to be nominated for the purpose of making laws and regulations. One-third of such councillors must be nonofficial persons ; the nomination of members is subject to the sanction of the Governor-General, In the absence of the Lieutenant-Governor, the highest official member presides : some official members must be present at all meetings; and half the members must be present, The provisions regarding a double or ( fs } casting vote, and the exercise of legislative authority, are subject to the same rules as are provided for the two presidencies. Powers of the Crown. Nothing in the Indian Councils Act derogates from, or interferes with, the rights vested in the Crown, or the powers of the Secretary of State for India in Council, save as expressly stated. The validity of all acts done or to be done by the Crown, or by the Secretary of State is preserved. CHAPTER VII THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE. The Privy Council—Its early History. The highest Court of Justice, exercising jurisdiction over India, is the Privy Council, which sits in London and exercises appellate jurisdiction over the courts in India and the colonies. The history of the Privy Council is bound up, to a great extent, with that of Parliament itself. The Privy Council originally consisted of persons selected by the Sovereign to be his advisers ; before the constitutional system of Government was developed, the king was the ultimate source of legislation and justice, and at that time the Privy Council possessed and exercise enormous powers on behalf of the monarch. The leading nobles and landholders early claimed, and, from time to time, asserted, with varying success, the right of themselves, ( 8 ) on behalf of the people, to control the course of legislation and the system of judicial administration. The struggles between the Crown and the people, which continued for several centuries, were marked at various stages by the preponderance of the authority of the Crown, and at such times the authority of the Privy Council was greatly extended, and encroached upon the rights and privileges of the larger council of the nation. The growth of Parliament, of the Court of Chancery, and of the common law courts, tended to restrict the authority of the Privy Council to the discharge of purely executive functions; the popular assemblies and courts tending to assume the right to frame and administer the laws. The period of civil war, known as the War of the Roses, and the period of the Tudor dynasty, were marked by the most enormous usurpation of authority by the Crown and Privy Council. Under the name of the Star Chamber, the Council assumed the power of adjudicating in all causes that might, in example, or consequence, concern the state of the common-wealth. The erection of this chamber was a re-actionary movement against the more feudal principle, which regarded the assembly of nobles, or House of Lords, as the supreme judicial tribunal. It was at this time, namely, under the Tudor Princes, that the Council drew into its own hands, and never afterwards lost the exclusive jurisdiction over appeals from foreign and colonial dependencies of the Crown. In the reign of Charles I., however, the civil and criminal judicial Qn authority of the Star Chamber were abolished, and were declared to have been a usurpation contrary to the laws of the land. After 1688 the authority of the Privy Council, in judicial matters, was limited to (I) committing persons for trial in cases of treason ; (2) hearing appeals from the Ecclesiastical and Admiralty Courts ; and (3) hearing appeals from the colonies and dependencies of the Crown. The later developments of constitutional government have vested the entire executive authority in the Cabinet of Ministers of the Crown ; while the Judicature Acts in 18735 removed their appellate jurisdiction in England to the Supreme Court of Judicature. The only vestige of their authority now remaining is that of hearing appeals, as the Queen’s Court, from India and the colonies. These functions are exercised by a Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The constitution and powers of this Committee may be briefly examined. Constitution of the Privy Council in regard to India, The first occasion, upon which the right of appeal from the judgments of the Courts in India was granted by Royal Charter to the Privy Council, was in 4. D. 1726, The Charter granted by George I, in that year established the Mayors’ Courts in the three presidencies, which gave a right of appeal from those Courts, first to the Governors in Council, and thence to the Privy Council, where the amount in dispute exceeded Rs. 4,000. Both the Acts of Parla. r 88 ment and Charter, creating the Supreme Court of Bengal, reserved a similar right of appeal to the Sovereign in Council. The same right was also reserved in reference to the Recorder’s Courts and the Supreme Courts of Madras and Bombay. The Council was empowered to refuse or admit the appeal, and to reform, correct, or vary such decision, according to the Royal pleasure. When the Government of Bengal was, in 1781, given the power of a Sudder Court over the provincial courts in civil cases, an appeal in cases of over Rs. 50,000 was allowed to the Privy Council. The Supreme Court framed its own rules for the admission of such appeals, with the approval of the Crown; while Regulation XVI. of 1797 provided similar rules for such appeals from the Sudder Court, the limit of time being fixed at six months. In 1818 a similar right was reserved in regard to the Sudder Courts of Madras and Bombay. {n criminal cases of felony, no right of appeal was recognised without the leave of the court below. A permanent Judicial Committee of the Privy Council for determining appeals was first constituted by 3 and 4, William IV, Cap. 41, in 1833. By this statute the President of the Privy Council, the Lord Chancellor, the holder of the great Seal, the Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench, the Master of the Rolls Court, the Vice-Chancellor, the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas and the Chief Baron of the ( 8g Exchequer or other Judges, being members of thé Council, were placed upon the Committee. All appeals, or applications in prize suits, admiralty, and other Courts beyond the United Kingdom, were referred to this Committee. This judicial committee proceeded to judgment in the form of reports or recommendations to the Crown; a majority of the members present gave the decision ; evidence could be taken orally, or by written depositions ; a Registrar and officers were appointed and procedure prescribed. Power was given to the Committee to refer issues for trial to other Courts ; and the powers exercised over India by the courts of law at Westminster, under previous acts, in regard to the taking of evidence in India, were conferred upon it. It was further provided that two persons who had held office as judges in India or the colonies, might be made privy councillors and empowered to sit on the judicial committee as paid members. Four members formed a quorum. In 1838, an order was made in Council limiting appeals from the Supreme Courts in India, in point of time, to six months from the date of the judgment, and in point of value, to Rs. 10.000. Statute 6 and 7 Vic, Cap. 38, passed in 1843, made some further provisions in regard to appeals preferred to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. It laid down that appeals might, by a special order of the Crown, be heard by not less than three members of the Committee ; the power to make ( go interlocutory orders and decrees ; to administer oaths and affirmations ; and to exercise generally any or all the powers of the courts appealed from. Several other alterations were made, the principal being that which empowered the Committee to make rules, orders, and regulations respecting the practice and mode of proceeding on appeals. An Act of 1844 (7 and 8 Vic, Cap.69) empowered the Judicial Committee to call for the judges’ notes of evidence, grounds of decision, and the like, in appeals before them, and to make general rules or regulations in this behalf. Statute 8 and 9 Vic, Cap. 30, passed in 1845, provided that all appeals to the Privy Council, admitted by the Sudder Courts, should be taken to be abandoned and withdrawn, unless the parties took proceedings in England within two years after the arrival of the papers in England. In 1871 further provision was made for the des-~ patch of business by the Judicial Committee, by empowering the Crown to appoint four persons who had held office as judges of the superior Courts at Westminster or as Chief Justice of the High Courts of Bengal, Madras or Bombay, or of the late Supreme Court of Bengal. These appointments could only be made, and vacancies filled, within the two years next succeeding, it being then in contemplation to pass the Judicature Acts, which in 1875 took away the jurisdiction of the Committee over all English Courts. from which, at that time, it received appeals. a1 Law regulating Appeals to Privy Council. In 1863, an Act was passed by the Government of India regulating the admission of appeals to the Privy Council. It provided that such appeals should be admitted, where the subject-matter in dispute amounted to, or exceeded, Rs. 10,000, or when the Court which pronounced judgment declared the case to be a fit one for appeal. An appeal might also be made {from an interlocutory judgment. But the power given in the Act is expressed to be subject to such rules and orders as are in force, or shall subsequently be passed by the Queen in Council, It also expressly declares that nothing in the Act contained shall be understood to bar the full and unqualified exercise of Her Majesty’s pleasure upon all appeals to Her, either in rejecting any She may consider inadmissible, or in receiving any She may judge admissible. The Charters of the High Courts give a right of appeal to suitors in any matter not being of criminal jurisdiction, from any final judgment, decree, or order of those Courts made on appeal; and from any final judgment, decree, or order made in the exercise of original jurisdiction by a majority of the full number of Judges, or of any Division Court from which an appeal does not lie to the High Court itself. The right so conferred is subject to the proviso that the sum or matter in dispute is of the amount or value of not less than Rs. 10,000, or that such judgment, decree, or order, shall involve directly or indirectly ( 92 J some claim, demand, or question to or respecting property amounting to or of the value of not less than Rs. 10,000; or from any other final judgment, decree, or order made either on appeal or otherwise when the High Court shall declare that the case is a fit one for appeal. The High Courts may, under the Charter, grant leave to appeal to the Privy Council from any preliminary or interlocutory judgment, decree, order, or sentence in any matter not being of criminal jurisdiction. Further, a power of appeal is given in criminal cases, subject to the order of the High Court, in cases in their original criminal jurisdiction, and in any case in which points of law may have been reserved for the opinion of the High Court. The High Courts are directed by their Charter, in all cases of appeal, to transmit to the Privy Council copies of all the proceedings of the judgment, decrees, and other orders made. The High Courts are also bound to execute the judgments and orders of the Privy Council, The Superior Courts in India—Early History. The administration of justice by the East India Company, during the earlier years of its existence, was confined mainly to its ports, settlements, and factories, and to its own servants and followers. The Company held its possessions from the native governments, who possessed nominal sovereignty over it. { 93 ) But, as has been already stated, it obtained permission, or assumed the right to frame and administer its own laws; and exercised its functions under Charters obtained from the Crown of England, which seems to have considered itself in a position to control the Company in its judicial arrangements from an early period. The Charter of 1601 empowered the Governor and Company to frame laws for its good government, and for the advancement and continuance of its trade, and to enforce them by penal provisions. The Charter of 1609 renewed these powers subject to the condition that the laws and penalties imposed should be reasonable and in harmony with the law of England. The Charters of 1661 and 1669, relating to the cession of the Island of Bombay, contained similar provisions. In 1683 a Charter of Charles II. authorized the establishment of Courts of Judicature at such places as the Company might appoint. In 1726 Mayors’ Courts were established for the settlements at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, for the trial of civil causes. These courts were composed of a Mayor and nine Aldermen, seven of whom were required to be European British subjects. From these courts an appeal lay, in cases the value of which was under Rs. 4,000, to the Governorand Council; and in higher cases, to the Privy Council. The government court also had powers in criminal matters, The constitution of these courts was amended in 1753, when Courts of Request were also established for petty cases up to Rs, 20. The chief feature ( 93 of this Charter was that the courts were limited in their civil jurisdiction to persons who were not natives, unless by consent of parties. Up to this time Madras was the most important of the Company’s settlements, but the subjugation of Bengal and the grant of the Diwan? at once gave Bengal the first place. Accordingly, in 1772, the Supreme Court of Judicature was first established at Calcutta in Bengal with very extensive powers, especially over all European British subjects. In the provinces the civil administration was administered by native agency under more or less supervision of Europeans, while criminal justice was carried on by the Nawab of Murshedabad. Later History. The year 1781 saw the Supreme Court’s authority restricted ; its original jurisdiction over natives was confined to the presidency town, while the provincial courts were given a legal status by parliamentary recognition, being placed under the control of the Government as the final Appellate Court or Sudder Adawlat. The struggle between the dual authorities created by the regulating act have already been referred to; they ceased in 1781 altogether ; while in that year the principle that natives should be governed by their own laws and usages was finally established. But a somewhat similar struggle now commenced between the Civil and Revenue Courts in the mofussal, The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was appointed ( 05 Judge of the Sudder Court, and he at once proceeded to assert the right of the civil courts to revise in regular suits the proceedings of the revenue courts, and to be independent of them. The grounds for this view were that the revenue authority was an exercise of executive power; and that, if the regulations for assessing and collecting the public revenue were infringed, the revenue officers themselves must be the aggressors; and that individuals who had been wronged by them in one capacity could never hope for redress from them in another. The civil courts seem to have exercised separate jurisdiction until 1786, although the Governor-General in Council resumed the superintendence of the Sudder Dewani Court shortly after it had been placed under the Chief Justice. In 1787 the administration of both civil and criminal justice, as well as that of the revenue, were again joined together in the person of the collectors of districts, under the Sudder Court at Calcutta. In 1793 Lord Cornwallis strongly objected to the system of placing the administration of civil justice under revenue collectors, While he considered that collectors should be armed with power to enforce their demands, their abuse of this power could only be prevented by courts of justice ready to punish and remove oppression and exaction. He considered that the fiscal and judicial systems should be separated, and accordingly established separate civil courts, ( ob All questions between Government and ‘the landholders respecting the assessment and collection of the revenue, and disputed claims between the latter and their ryots, or other persons concerned in the collection of their rents, being left to the civil courts. The preamble to Regulation I1 of 1793 laid down the principle that the revenue officers must be deprived of their judicial powers; that all financial claims of the public, when disputed under the Regulations, must be subjected to the cognizance of Courts of Judicature, superintended by Judges who, from their official situations and the nature of their trusts, shall not only be wholly uninterested in the result of their decisions, but bound to decide impartially between the public and proprietors of land, and also between the latter and their tenants, The collectors of the revenue must not only be divested of the power of deciding upon their own acts, but rendered amenable for them to the Courts of Judicature, and must collect the public dues subject to a personal prosecution for every exaction exceeding the amount which they are authorized to demand on behalf of the public, and for every deviation from the regulations prescribed for the collection of it. Although this policy was at once given effect, constant attempts were successfully made, in later times, in the interests of the executive, to depart from it. At the present day the law in force through ( oy * J a large portion of the Presidency of Bengal directly violates the principles and policy here laid down Indeed the systems followed in the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, the Punjab, and elsewhere, are distinctly opposed to a principle, the justice of which cannot be questioned. The separation is more efficient in the North-Western Provinces than in the other Provinces named ; though by no means carried to a complete separation even there ; for many matters relating to the rights of individuals are disposed of by Revenue Courts. The Punjab Courts Act of 1884 makes a show of effecting some such separation in this Province, but, so far, the results are merely nominal In 1801 the Sudder Dewani Adawlat was composed of three Civilian Judges, while Civil Courts had been established in all the districts of Bengal. In 1811, the Sudder Court consisted of a Chief Judge, and as many Puisne Judges as the Supreme Government might appoint. In 1831 a Sudder Dewani Adawlat was established in the North-Western Provinces with similar powers. Four, and later six superior Provincial Courts were established in the provinces, over the district. and city courts of Sudder A mins and Munsifs. In 1831 the system was amended, and the powers of the lower courts were extended ; and the principle of introducing good native agency in. im: portant judicial positions was recognized. ( of The ‘revenue officers were gradually regaining all their authority during this period. In 1794 courts were empowered to refer to the collectors all cases which, before the new system, were cognizable by them, and upon their reports the Judges decided. In 1794 and 1799 the revenue officers obtained power to dispose in a summary way of all questions relating to matters affecting the land revenue system, their decisions being subject to contest by regular suit. In 1831 the power of the civil court was limited to revising summary decisions of revenue officers solely on the ground of the case not being of a nature cognizable as a summary suit ; in cognizable cases the summary decision could not be contested in a civil court; and thus, under the cover of summary procedure, the collectors regained almost the whole of their lost power in rent and revenue cases. The principle laid down in 1787 was not, however, openly contested until 1857, when a Bill was introduced into the legislative council of India with a view to enlarge and define the jurisdiction of collectors with respect to summary suits for arrears or exactions of rent, and generally with respect to the law regulating the relations of landlord and tenant. The collector was considered to be the person most deeply interested in promoting this branch of the administration. of civil justice, being best acquainted with the fiscal state of the district; with the tenures prevailing in it, and with the character of the landlords. The Bill gave to the revenue ( 99 officers exclusively the primary cognizance of all cases of ejectment, cancelment of leases for arrears ot rent, enhancement of rent, and right of demanding patias and habuliats. It was passed in 1859. -Ten years later, in lower Bengal only, the jurisdiction to hear and determine cases of this nature was re-transferred to the civil courts. Madras and Bombay. The Mayors’ Courts in Madras and Bombay existed till the year 1797, when they were replaced, not by Supreme Courts, but by Recorders’ Courts (Statute 37, George III, Cap. 142). These consisted of the Mayor, three Aldermen, and a Recorder, being, in fact, the old Mayors’ Courts, with the addition of a Recorder to each Court, who was to be appointed by the Crown. They had full Civil, Criminal. Ecclesiastical and Admiralty jurisdiction. They were empowered to establish rules of practice and process, and they were to be Courts of Oyer and Terminer and Goal Delivery for Fort St. George and Bombay. They had power to try all suits which by authority of Parliament could be tried in the Mayors’ Courts. Theif jurisdiction extended over British subjects resident within the British territories, then or thereafter to be rendered subject to the Governments of Madras and Bombay, respectively, or within the territories of Native Princes in alliance with those Governments. { 100 Restrictions corresponding to those imposed by Parliament in 1781 on the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court at Calcutta were made applicable to these courts. The new courts did not last long. That at Madras existed for two years and was then abolished, er Supreme Court being established in its stead. The powers vested in the Recorder's Court were transferred to the new Supreme Court which was granted the like jurisdiction, and was made subject to the same restrictions as the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal. This new Charter was granted in December 1801. The Recorder's Court at Bombay existed till 1823, when a Supreme Court of Judicature was established in its stead, and was invested with the same powers and authorities as the Supreme Court of Calcutta, with a similar jurisdiction and subject to the same limitations, restrictions. and control. There were some slight differences in the Charters of the courts. The Bombay Court was prohibited from interfering in any matter concerning the revenue, even wit/in the town of Bombay. The Bombay and Madras Courts could not compel natives to appear before them except under circumstances which would have justified their being compelled to appear in a native court, thus further securing to natives their own laws. © ( 101 It may here be mentioned that it was only in 1862 (25 and 26 Vic, Cap. 20) that it was enacted that writs of Habeas Corpus should not be issued by Courts in England to the colonies and foreign dominions where established courts existed. The High Courts and Chief Court. The year 1862 saw High Courts established at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, under the Statute 24 and 25 Vic, Cap. 104 (1861) and Charters; these Charters were renewed in 1865. A similar High Court was established in 1866 in the North-Western Provinces, under the reserved powers conferred by Section 16 of the Act of 1861 upon the Crown. This court was in all respects similar to the other High Courts. These courts combined the jurisdictions of the Supreme Court and of the Sudder Criminal and Civil Courts. The work of systematizing the administration of justice had long been before the Indian Law Commissioners for India, and between 1859 and 1862 the Codes of Civil and Criminal Procedure and the Penal Code, prepared by the Commission, became the law of the land. The High Courts consist of a Chief Justice and as many Judges, not exceeding fifteen, as the Crown may appoint; they are selected from— Barristers (or Advocates of Scotland) of not less than five years’ standing : {( 102 ) Civil Servarits of not less than 10 years’ standing, who shall have been Zila Judges for three years or more : Persons who have held Judicial office not inferior to that of Principal Sudder Amin, or Judge of a Small Cause Court for a period of not less than five years : Pleaders of the High Court of not less than ten years’ standing. ~ One-third of the Judges must be Barristers, and one-third Covenanted Civilians. They hold office during the Queen’s pleasure. The High Courts superintend all subordinate courts in their respective jurisdictions, and have power to frame rules of practice for them subject to the legislative control of the Supreme Government. In the Punjaba Chief Court was established very much on the model of the High Courts, by the Indian Legislature, in 1866. The Judges are appointed by the Governor-General, but the powers of the Court are almost as wide as those of the High Courts. It consists of three Judges (five at present). In certain cases affecting the revenue administration, Act XVI of 1887 has provided a special jurisdiction to be exercised by Revenue Courts ; a similar jurisdiction to that of the Chief Court in these cases being exercised by the Financial Commissioner, ( 103 y The High Courts still retain the special features of the Supreme Court in regard to the presidency town ; but they form the sole ultimate appeal courts in the country, except as to the Punjab, where the Chief Court exercises that function. Legislation subsequent to 1862 has reconstituted all the Civil and Criminal Courts of the country, while uniform laws of procedure are carried into effect throughout it, and the judicial administration is superintended by the five superior courts and by no other authority. CHAPTER VIII. TERRITORIAL SUB-DIVISIONS. Presidencies and Provinces. The first settlements at Surat in 4. D. 1613 ; at Fort St. George, 1640; and at Fort William in Bengal, 1698, were established in complete independence of one another as factories and agencies of the Company. Each settlement was governed internally by a president and board. In the course of time clusters of factories, agencies, and settlements grew up around each of these centres of the Company's trade, and in these the place where the governing body resided came to be called the presidency town. In this way arose what are now termed the three presidencies. The ( 104 ) Bengal Presidency became the most important of these ; and the whole of the acquisitions of the Company soon became so large that a central government had to be formed, and, accordingly, the supreme supervision and control were vested in the government of the Bengal Presidency, and a Governor-General and Council were appointed in 1773. Twenty years later, the settlements at Madras and Bombay, respectively, were placed under a Governor and Council. As territories were acquired they were attached to the presidency from which they could be most easily governed, and to which they were most closely situated. Up to quite a recent date this method of deal~ ing with new territories was the only one which was recognized by law. But without this authority it soon happened that large areas of territory were conquered or ceded to the British Government, and were not definitely attached to any particular territory, and with regard to these it was doubtful whether the whole presidency law applied. In 1800 a Statute, 39 and 40, Geo. III., Cap. 79, was passed, empowering the Company to declare what places should be subject to either presidency, and in pursuance of this power certain territories were annexed to the various presidencies; - - - ( 103 In 1833 the Act 3 and 4, William IV., Cap. 85, was passed, under which it was proposed to divide the enormous presidency of Bengal into two presidencies, namely, those of Fort William and Agra. But this scheme was abandoned, and by an Act 5 and 6, William IV., Cap. 52, passed in 1835, the provisions on this head were suspended, and a Lieutenant-Governorship of the North-Western Provinces was created. Subsequently, in 1853, Statute 16 and 17 Vic, Cap. 95, provided for relieving the Governor-General, who was at that time also Governor of Bengal, of his local functions, and for appointing a separate Governor, or, until he was appointed, a Lieutenant-Governor for that presidency; thus was constituted the Lieutenant-Governorship of the province of Bengal. So far as the territory actually attached to the presidency of Bengal was concerned this arrangement disposed of it, but there were still districts and areas which had never been attached to any presidency at all; such were the Saugor and Narbada territories acquired in 1817-1818; Coorg, 1834; Nagpur, 1852; the Punjab, 1849; and Peg, 1852. Under the power conferred by the Act of 1853, of creating Lieutenant-Governorships, the Punjab was so dealt with ; and by the Statute 17 and 8 Vic., Cap. 77, a general provision was made for the . 106 government of such territories, or parts of territories, as it might not be advisable to include in any presidency or Lieutenant-Governorship. With the sanction of the Secretary of State, the Governor-General in Council is €mpowered by proclamation to take territories unprovided for by the provincial arrangement, or not included in the presidencies, under his own immediate authority, or otherwise to provide for their administration, Under this Act the local administrations under Chief Commissioners were constituted, the term “local administrations » distinguishing them from local governments. In these cases the Government of India is also the local government, and the Chief Commissioner simply administers under the orders of the local government. By this arrangement provision is made for al] the various territories, however scattered or separated from the presidencies or larger provinces. By an Indian Act, passed in 1832, the Governor-General relieved himself of the detailed work of administering these smaller territories by delegating certain of his powers to Chief Commissioners, but since then by the General Clauses Act, Section 2, Clause 10, (I of 1868) these Chief Commissioners are included within the term « local government,” and, unless where an express provision exists to the contrary, a Chief Commissioner is as much a local government as a Lieutenant-Governoy. T7097 The powers of the Governor-General in India have been put on a satisfactory basis with regard to the adjustment of territories by Section 46 of the Indian Councils Act, 1861, Statute 24 and 25 Vic., Cap. 67, which empowers him to create provinces and Lieutenant-Governorships, and to fix the limits of presidencies, provinces, and territories in India, and to alter those limits; an Act of 1865, 28 Vic., Cap. 17, provides for the apportioning or reapportioning existing territories among the existing Lieutenant-Governorships or Governorships. Acts XXI of 1836 and VI of 1867, passed by the Indian legislature, contain provisions regarding minor divisions of territories, such as creating new districts or altering the boundaries of existing districts. The present Constitution of Provinces. The existing division of Indian territories not forming part of the older presidencies, is due to the Acts of 1853, 1854, and 1861.* The Punjab, which had before been a Chief Commissionership, was created into a province under a Lieutenant-Governor mn 1859. Oudh was annexed in 1856 and taken under direct management as a Chief Commissionership. In 1877 the then Chief Commissioner was appointed to be Lieutenant-Governor of the North-West Provinces, and this practically, to some extent, amalgamated the two provinces, without, however, destroying any special administrative features of either. Powell's Revenue Manual, Cap. L 108 ) By Resolution (Foreign Department) No. gof 2nd November, 1861, the Chief Commissionership of the Central Provinces was constituted. This province was made up of the Saugor and Narbada territories and the Nagpur province ; some other districts being afterwards added. The notification contains a long history of the administration of these provinces. British Burma was constituted a Chief Commissionership on its present footing in 1862. As in the case of the Central Provinces, the Resolution gives a history of the previous administration ; it recites that there had been three separate Commissioners of Arracan, Pegu, and Tenasserim, respectively ; the first had been under Bengal, the others directly under the Government of India ; it was now desirable to unite them inder one Chief Commissioner. Berar (the Hyderabad Assigned Districts) is governed by British officers in virtue of the treaties of 1853 and 1860. By the first treaty Berar and some other territories were assigned for the payment of interest on the debt due to the East India Company for the support of the Hyderabad contingent force, and for some other purposes. The assignment was subject to an annual account of receipts and expenses. By the treaty of 1860 the debt was declared cancelled ; certain of the territories assigned under the frst treaty were restored, and Berar alone retained (within the general limits it now occupies, but including certain talugas inside the boundaries which were before exempt from management). No account is now rendered to the Nizam, but the British Government pays to him any surplus it may have in hand after meeting the cost of administration, the cost of the troops of the Contingent, and certain allowances and pensions specified in the treaty. The district of Ajmere and the Merwara parganas were constituted a Chief Commissionership, the Governor-General’s Agent for Rajputana being ex-officio Chief Commissioner 100 The latest change has been to create Assam into a separate Chief Commissionership, it being taken under the direct orders of the Governor-General under the provisions of the Act of 1854. The Nown-Regulation Provinces. The reason why all provinces and territories were not at once annexed to the larger presidencies was two-fold :— Frrstly—It would have made the territories attached to the Bengal Presidency inconveniently large and straggling, and the administration could not have been conveniently carried on, Secondly. —By the statute of 1800, new territories annexed to presidencies would at once have come under the regulation law of the presidency to which they were attached, and this would have been inconvenient in many ways. Certain systems of revenue administration had grown up in the presidencies which were not applicable to newlyacquired territories. The latter were more backward than the older territories, and new problems and customs had to be dealt with, It was, therefore, deemed advisable to form these territories into distinct provinces, and to extend only such of the regulations as were at once applicable, gradually applying others as the new territories developed, and at the same time providing new laws more suited to the wants of the new terri-“ories. II0o Accordingly, the Punjab, Pegu, Oudh, the Central Provinces, and the other local administrations referred to, did not come under the regulation law as a whole, and were not attached to any presidency, and were distinguished by the title of Non-Regulation; and these provinces and districts, which are so called non-regulation, at present comprise the larger portion of the British possessions in India. The present distinction between the regulation and non-regulation is not very great. There is some difference in the constitution and salaries of the administrative services. The Act 33, Geo. III., 1793, required that covenanted civil servants of a presidency should be appointed to the higher offices of the administration in such presidency ; but as the non-regulation provinces were not attached to a presidency, this rule did not apply, and persons outside the covenanted service became admissible to the administrative service ; and thus we find in the nonregulation provinces the administration composed of militarv, civilian, and uncovenanted officers. There is a distinction in the nature of the duties performed by the administrative staff ; while in the regulation proviness the civil judicial work is separated from the revenue and criminal business, the same staff performs civil, criminal, revenue, and administrative functions in those classed as non-regulation. 11 Scheduled Districts.® As regards the extent and nature of the law in force, the old distinction of *‘ regulation” and “non-regulation” has virtually lost its meaning. Many of the old regulations have been repealed or superseded, and some of those that remain have been expressly declared to apply to the non-regulation provinces. Not only so, but all the more important branches of legislation,—Civil and Criminal Procedure, Land Revenue, Stamps, Excise, Irrigation, the Law of Contract, the Criminal Law,—have been provided for either by general Acts which apply to all the provinces at large, or by special Acts containing local details, but resembling each other in principle. But there is still a practical distinction of another kind to be mentioned, which is of importance, and likely long to be mainrained. There are portions of the older regulation provinces, and also portions of the newer non-regulation provinces themselves, which are “extra regulation” in a perfectly valid and current sense. These are now spoken of as the “scheduled districts,” under the Act (XIV of 1874) passed to place them on an intellirible basis as regards the laws in force in them. The list may be summarised as follows :— Scheduled Districts, Bengal. I.—The Jalpaiglri and Datjiling Divisions. IT.—The Hill Tracts of Chittagong. [II.—The Sontdl Parganas. IV.—The Chutid Ndgpur Division, V.—The Mah4l of Angil (in Orissa). [Bénki has recently been excluded and now forms part of the ordinary Pari district.) Powell’s Revenue Manual, Cap. I, pp. 37—40. 112 North- Western Provinces. [.—The Jhdnsi Division, comprising the districts of Jhansi, Taldun, and Lalitpur, II.—The Province of Kumdon and Gharwal, 1II.—The Tardi Parganas, comprising Bézpur, Kdshipur, Taspur, Rudarpur, Gadarpur, Kilpiri, Ndnak Math4, and Bilherd, [V.—In the Mirzapur district— (1) The tappas of Agori Khis and South Kon in the pargana of Agori. (2) The tappa of British Singrauli in the pargana of Singrauli. (3) The tappas of Phulwé, Dudhi, and Barh{4 in the pargana of Bichipdr. (4) The portion lying to the south of the Kaimur range. V.—The Family Domains of the Mahardja of Benares. VI.—The tract of country known as Jaunsir-Biwar in the Dera Tin district. LPanjdb. The districts of Hazira, Peshawar, Kohdt, Band, Dera-Ismdil-Khin., Dera-Ghazi-Khdn, Lahanl, and Spiti, Central Provinces. Certain zamindéris of Chhattisgarh and Chdnda, and the Chhindward jaglrdari estates. The Chief Commissionership of Ajmere and Merwira. The Chief Commissionership of Assam. British Burma. The Hill Tracts of Arracan. Madras. Certain estates in Ganjam, Vizagapatam, and Godavari district (besides the Laccadive Islands). Bombay. Sind, the Panch Mahdls (attached to the Kair4 Collectorate), Aden, and certain villages of Mehwissi Chiefs. Coorg. The whole province (Chief Commissionership). ( 113 The districts are called “ Scheduled” because they are noted in the “ Schedules” of Act XIV of 1874. None of the Acts of a general character passed before 1874, the local application of which is settled by Act XV of this same year, apply directly to the Scheduled districts ; it is left to the Local Government to define by notification in each case— (a) what laws are no! in force (so as to remove doubts in case it might be supposed that some law was in force) ; (8) what laws are in force ‘c) and to extend Acts or parts of Acts to the districts in question. Of course all Acts passed since 1874 themselves define to yhat territories they extend, so that there can be no further 1oubt on the matter. Regulations under 33 Vic., Cap. 3. In order to provide a still more elastic and adaptable method of making rules which have legal validity, for provinces, in an elementary stage of progress, the Act 33 Vic, Cap. 3 71870), provides that certain territories may at any time be jeclared by the Secretary of State to be territories for which it 's desirable that special Regulations (other than the Acts of the Legislature) should be made. The districts so declared (if not already under Act X1V) become “Scheduled” whenever such declaration is made, so that there is in fact a power of creating new scheduled districts in addition to those in that Act. The Regulations regarding Hazara in the Panjéb, the Sontdl Pargaaas in Bengal, regarding Assam, Ajmere and the Hill Tracts 5f Arracan, &c,, are all under this law. {( 114 ) CHAPTER IX. THE CIVIL ADMINISTRATION. Its Orpanszation. The duties of the civil administration of British India are principally connected with the collection of the revenue, the maintenance of order, the dispensation of justice, the spread of education, and the development of public works. For the purposes of the civil administration each presidency or province is divided into dstricts, which form the units of administration. The districts are sub-divided into tahsils or parganas for purposes of internal management; and for certain purposes chiefly connected with the land revenue system, there is a still further distribution into circles or groups of villages, such as the tuppa or sulka and the zal, The districts are grouped into divisions varying with the requirements of the different centralized departments or of administrative or judicial convenience, The larger divisions, comprising districts and divisions, are the presidencies, provinces, and administrations constituting local governments, the whole of which are subordinate to the Government of India. \ “15 The designations of the local governments give some indication of the degree of delegation of authority which they possess. The Governors and Councils of the presidencies of Bombay and Madras possess a higher official status and wider powers than the Lieutenant-Governor of a province ; while the latter is similarly situated with regard to the Chief Commissioner of an administration in which the Governor-General of India in Council is held to be the local government acting through the Chief Commissioner. The General Clauses Act has, however, as already stated, removed much of the distinction between the various forms of local governments which exist, so far as their legal aspect is conserned. The delegation of authority to the local governments and administrations is governed by the provisions of various laws as well as by executive arrangement. Zhe District The head-quarters of the district are fixed at the principal town within its boundaries, and here reside the chief officials, European and native, with their establishments, who represent the government, and form the medium of communication between it and the people, \ 116 The number of districts in the various provinces is as follows :— Regulation, Non-Regulation. Bengal ver Assam A. North-Western Provinces ... Oudh ver Punjab co Central Provinces Bombay we Madras Burma Berar Coorg ws Ajmere (Merwara) 25 ed "a 14 19 19 [1 6 12 32 19 3 I3 The average size of a district varies considerably in the different provinces. Some of the Madras districts contain more than 12,000 square miles. In Bengal and the North-Western Provinces they vary from 1,200 to 6,000 square miles. The average population of a district in Madras, Bengal, and the North-Western Provinces, is about one million ; three-fourths of a million in Bombay; and half a million in the Punjab and Central Provinces. i 11% ¥ The head of the district is termed the collector and magistrate in the regulation provinces, and deputy commissioner in the non-regulation districts. At one time the magistrate and collector was also the civil judge of his district ; this post is now held by a separate officer; at a more distant period the functions of magistrate and collector were themselves held by different persons. The chief duties of the chief officer of the district are the maintenance of order and the administration of the revenue system, and the collection of the land revenue and taxes of all kinds, His duties in regard to the land revenue vary according to the nature of the tenures under which the land is held, and relate primarily to the collection of that portion of the rent which is reserved to the Government as the superior landlord. In Bengal and part of the N orth-Western Provinces, the land has been leased in perpetuity, in large estates, at fixed rents, under what is known as the permanent settlement, which was effected in the time of Lord Cornwallis. Here the ordinary duties of the collector are confined to the collection of the revenue from the lessees on fixed dates, usually two for each crop ; half the revenue being recovered immediately before, and half immediately after the harvesting of each crop. In the rest of the North-Western Provinces and Punjab, the assessment is settled from time to time for periods varying from ten to thirty years; here the persons PR engaged with are much more numerous, and the estates held by them much smaller than is the case in Bengal, and, generally speaking, the community of each village engages for the revenue of its own lands, The village headmen are primarily responsible for the collection of the revenue from the co-sharers. In Madras, where the ryotwari system prevails, the settlement is annual, and separate leases are granted each year to the ryots. The collector or deputy commissioner is the custodian of the records relating to the land revenue system of the district, in which are recorded all the particulars regarding the landed rights of the people. For the purposes of collecting the revenue he is armed with certain judicial powers which usually extend to the adjudication of claims which may arise between the enants, holding from government, who are recognized as proprietors, and their under-tenants who hold from them (see Act XVI of 1887.) He also superintends the partition of estates, regulates the distribution of the government assessment, and registers and assesses all variations in the rent-roll. He is further required to assume the direct management of minors’ estates where they consist of revenue-paying land; and in this capacity he constitutes what is called the Court of Wards. The collector or deputy commissioner is also required to receive and collect, as well as to assess 119 and adjust, all other forms of taxes, such as the excise, the income tax, license tax, the local rates, and so forth. He is also the government treasurer, as well as the banker for different public departments which keep their money in his treasury and make payments by cheques on him. He is usually president of the districts board which is charged with local administration connected with sanitation, education, maintenance of the district roads, and other works of a similar nature. In some parts of India he has the charge of large tanks which supply water for agriculture, and sees that they are repaired and maintained in proper condition. As a magistrate, the same officer generally represents the government, superintends the police, and maintains order. His court is the principal criminal court for the punishment of crimes within his district. He is provided with one or more covenanted and uncovenanted assistants. In the regulation provinces the senior of these is called the joint magistrate and collector, the other assistants, if covenanted, are called assistant, and if uncovenanted, deputy magistrates and collectors. In the Punjab and elsewhere, where the nonregulation system is in force, the deputy commissioner is provided with a staff of assistant and extra assistant commissioners, of whom the assistant commissioners are, for the most part, members of the covenanted civil service. For administrative { A ( 120 purposes the district is sub-divided into tahsils in upper India, and talugs in Madras and Bombay. The number of these tahsils or talugs in each district varies with the size of the district, and ranges from four to eight. An officer, styled the tahsildar or talugdar, is appointed to the charge of each, and is the deputy qf the collector or magistrate. For civil judicial purposes there is more generally a separate organization by which munsifs are attached to the sub-divisions. In Bengal, where the land is held in larger holdings, the districts are not divided into tahsils, but there are sub-divisions or outposts, each under an assistant commissioner or deputy collector. With regard to the police, the general arrangement is, that the police force of each district is placed under the control of a superintendent and a staff of inspectors. The organization of the body is left to the Police Department, while, in the matter of preservation of order and repression of crime, the district superintendent is directly subordinate to the magistrate of the district. The District Jail is usually in charge of a medical officer under the general responsibility of the magistrate, and in this jail the prisoners undergoing short sentences are confined ; those undergoing more than two or three years’ imprisonment are sent to the Central Jails, of which there are a cerfain number in each province, and the organization 121 of which is not under the district officer, but under the Jail department. Prisoners under long sentences of penal servitude are usually sent to the Andaman Islands, [t is part of the collector's duty to superintend the excise system of the district, and also the sale and custody of stamps. The channel of communication between the go vernment and the district officers varies in different provinces. In some there is a commissioner to a certain number of districts through whom the revenue business passes, as well as all administra. tive and executive correspondence. In Madras, the collectors correspond, in revenue matters, directly with the Board of Revenue. In Bengal and the North-Western Provinces there is a Board of Revenue, as well as a staff of commissioners, each in charge of a division comprising five or six districts. In the Punjab there are similarly commissioners to groups of districts. Where this system prevails, the commissioner usually resides at the most central or important district within his division. : When commissioners were first appointed in Bengal, in 1829, they were judicial as well as revenue officers; their criminal jurisdiction wag that of a quarter sessions. These duties were eventually transferred to the district judges (or district and sessions judges) in those Provinces : Un the title of district judge is hardly appropriate, inasmuch as these officers are usually the judges of more than one district, or in other words of a judicial division. In the Punjab, until recently, there were ten divisions, in each of which the commissioner was a civil and criminal judge, as well as the divisional revenue officer. This has recently been altered, and the number of administrative divisions has been reduced to six, while separate judicial divisions have been created, and the work of civil and criminal justice has been made over to a separate staff of divisional and sessions judges (there are seven civil and ten sessions divisions). The judicial agency of this province, stated in more detail, consists, on the civil side, of (1) the munsifs of three grades; (2) the subordinate judges of two grades; (3) the district judges; (4) the divisional courts, and (5) the chief court. On the criminal side there are the magistrate of the district (deputy commissioner), magistrates of the first, second, and third classes (assistant and extra assistant commissioners and tahsildars); the sessions judge; and the chief court. The Central Departments. ft remains to mention briefly the chief administrative departments of government, which are under central direction, and which do not follow the district organization. Ten There are six great revenue and finance departments organized under the Government of India and local governments ; these are the sea customs, inland customs, opium, mint, stamps, and accounts departments, Three departments relate to the imperial communications of the country, namely, the post office, the telegraphs and the state railways, while public order is maintained by the police department, which is centrally organized, though subordinated to the district authorities for certain purposes. The cause of progress and civilization is represented by the education and public works departments; while the forest department is entrusted with the duty of conserving and developing the forest tracts. Some reference may be made to each of these except the Police, which hag already been mentinned. I. Sea Cusfoms.—The sea customs are collected at the ports, and principally at the large ports of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. The collectors at the three presidency towns are chosen from the covenanted civil service; the subordinate establishments are uncovenanted officers in various grades. 2. Inland Customs.—The inland customs relate to the collection of duties upon salt and sugar, Until quite recently there was a Very extensive barrier and line of customs patrols extending across v2.0 the North-Western Provinces, Central Provinces, and the Punjab, for the purpose of levying the duty on the import of salt to the east of the line from the mines of the Punjab and salt lakes of Rajputana, and on the export of sugar from the east of the barrier to the west. The head officer of this department was a covenanted civil servant, while his assistants, inspectors, and patrols were uncovenanted officers. The great salt barrier formed one of the most extraordinary phenomena of British rule in India, and has now disappeared. The actual localities producing salt are now encircled and guarded, and the tax is levied before the salt leaves the circle of manufacture. In Madras the manufacture of sea-salt is a government monopoly, and is conducted by special establishments maintained for the purpose. In Bombay the manufacture is left to private individuals, and an excise is levied on the out-turn. The mines of the Punjab are worked by government, and the out-turn is disposed of subject to the duty. The provincial control of these establishments rests with the chief revenue authority of the province. 3. Opium.—A large part of the Indian revenue is derived from opium. A very large quantity of this drug is consumed in India, and enormous exports are made to China. This drug is grown 125 in some of the mediatised states of Central India, and is sent to Bombay for exportation under a heavy transit duty. In Bengal the growth of opium is a government monopoly. No cultivator is allowed to grow the poppy, except under special license, and he is required to sell his crop to the government agent. There are two factories at which the raw opium is worked up, and packed in a form fit for exportation ; the opium is then sent to Calcutta, and there sold by auction to the highest bidders. The management of this branch of the revenue employs a considerable staff of officials. The opium-growing countries are mapped out into districts, each under a superintendent (styled deputy agent), who determines the area of ground to be planted by each cultivator consenting to, or desirous of, growing opuim; inspects the crops while on the ground, and makes the needful advances, without the aid of which no Indian peasant can bring his crop to market; receives the crop when ripe; settles with the cultivator, and forwards the raw drug to the factory. The very large price obtainable for opium under this system of monopoly, compared with the cost of production, of course renders a great degree of supervision necessary on the part of the deputy agents, to ensure that all the opium produced is brought to the factory. They are chosen from the covenanted civil service ; all the other appointments are filled by uncovenanted officers. .-1. Mint—There are two mints in India, at Calcutta and Bombay, the masters of which are officers of the central government, and directly under the orders of the financial department. 5. Stamps—A superintendent of stamps is stationed at each of the presidency towns, where the reserve of stamps is maintained for the supply of the district depéts. In some provinces there is also a local superintendent of stamps, whose duty it is to maintain the observance of the Stamp Act throughout the province. 6. Accounts.—An accountant-general and suitable staff is appointed to each local government for purposes of financial check and audit. The department is altogether imperial. 7. Post Office.—The Post Office is not organised provincially, but is controlled directly by the Government of India. The head of the department is a director-general; and India is, for postal purposes, mapped out into divisions, each under a postmaster-general, who, although styled postmaster-general of Bengal, Madras, Punjab, &c., exercise departmental control over countries by no means conterminous with the limits of those provinces. Under them are inspecting postmasters of circles. The head of this department has usually been chosen from the civil service as have heen some of the postmaster-generals. The rest * om of the employés belong to the uncovenanted service ; the inspectors are usually Europeans. 8. Zelegraph.—The telegraph department is also retained under the direct management of the Supreme Government. At the head is a directorgeneral, usually an officer of engineers; and the country is divided, for telegraphic purposes, into circles, each under a superintendent ; these circles are further sub-divided into districts, the officer in charge of each of which is responsible for the working of the different stations within it. Under the head of the station, or telegraph master, as he is styled, is a staff of signallers. The superior posts in the telegraph department now form a separate service, which is entered by competitive examination passed in London. a. Railways.—The system of state railways is now fast extending ; these railways are entirely officered by government employés, the leading officials in each railway being taken from the royal or civil engineer services. In the case of the few remaining guaranteed lines the government appoints an officer to watch over its interests. 10. Education.—The department of education has long received the earnest attention of government. Its charter is the Secretary of State's despatch of 1854; its object is to teach the masses the three R’s, in order that they may be raised to a point of intelligence which will, at any rate, & — mw qualify them to manage their own affairs, and to take an interest in those of their country. But the government goes further and encourages the higher education by maintaining or aiding colleges at many places in India, and by providing four Universities to foster it. The school system, the college system, and the Universities may be briefly examined. The school system consists of three chief sections : the first of these includes the primary schools, which are divided into lower and upper. This section comprises the entire village school system, whether maintained or aided by government; and leads up to the middle school examination—an examination which marks the boundary line of the educational work which the government considers itself bound to provide for the country. All that the government may provide beyond that may be regarded as work of supererogation, and as being temporarily provided, in order to encourage and develop private effort; it will be withdrawn when such effort has reached a certain stage of development, The second section of the system consists in the course between the middle school and matriculation tests, and is chiefly represented by the government district schools at the larger towns; instruction in English is largely encouraged at this stage. At the matriculation begins the college 129 course, carried on with a view to qualify for degrees under the regulations of the Universities ; this con stitutes the third section of the educational system; The Universities of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay are on the model of the London University, and are mere examining bodies. They are government institutions, but are believed to be self-supporting at the present time; their income being derived from examination fees. The Punjab University professes to be a literary and teaching; as well as an examining body, and its chief chagacteristics are that its sympathies lean towards. the indigenous rather than the state educational system, and that its aim is to encourage the study of the Oriental classics, and to develop the verna--culars of the country as media for the education of the masses. The Punjab University has an income of Rs. 60,000 a year, besides a government grant of Rs, 21,000. 11. The Public Works Department. —This great department deals chiefly with the— construction and maintenance of roads and railways ; sxtension of the network of irrigation channels so necessary in a country liable to drought and possessing large arid regions ; construction and maintenance of public buildings, &-c, [ 136 It is recruited from the corps of military (royal) engineers, and by civil engineers taken from the government engineering colleges in England and India, known, respectively, as Cooper's Hill and the Rurki College. The bulk of admissions are from Cooper's Hill, the Rurki College being intended for natives of India, who obtain a proportion of the appointments. 12. ZForests.—The management of the extensive forest tracts in various parts of India has, until lately, been conducted on no settled plan except in one or two provinces. But, within the last few years, the rapid progress of the denudation of the forests, arising out of the great demand for timber for railway purposes, and for export to Europe, has attracted attention, and active measures have now been taken to secure the proper management of this important item of the state property. To every province which contains any forest. tracts worth preserving, a conservator of forests has been appointed, with a staff of assistants. The greater part of the forest tracts are state property, which, under the denomination of waste land, has never been alienated ; but leases have also been taken of those forests which belong to private individuals, or to the chiefs, of native states, and are conveniently situated for working, so that the whole are now directly under government management; and active measures are being taken, by strict conservancy and planting l 121 operations, to repair the waste of previous years, and to maintain a constant supply of timber fit for use. In most parts the timber is felled and brought to market by the officers of the department, but, in some provinces, licenses are granted to private individuals to fell and carry away timber, under specified regulations and conditions. ———— CHAPTER X¥* THE PRINCIPAL SERVICES, The Indian Civil Service. The principal division of the services is into the military and civil services; the civil servants of government are sub-divided into two great branches, consisting of the covenanted and the uncovenanted services. The members of the Indian civil service proper are, for the most part, selected by competition in England, and appointed under covenant with the secretary of state for India; they constitute the chief governing body of the country, and occupy almost all the more important posts throughout British India. Those civil servants of the government who do not belong to the army or the Indian civil service proper, are broadly designated as the uncovenanted service. * This chapter is taken fr i é a from Chesney’s Indian Poli : ix, x, and xiii. y ! olity, Chapters 132 The distinction has lost much of its meaning at the present time, as, on the one hand, a portion of the Indian civil service is now thrown open to natives of India and the East under statutory provisions which dispense alike with the competition and the covenant; while, on the other hand, arrangements have now been made for recruiting the establishment of civil engineers, and the superior grades of the educational, forest, and telegraph departments, by competition or otherwise, and after special training in England. These gentlemen are, many of them, drafted into the services referred to under covenants. As distinguished from the military service, all servants of the government belong to the civil service; but these servants enter the service under different conditions, and belong to different departments. Applying the term “civil service” in a narrower sense, it excludes all the scientific and special departments and services, and designates those servants who are employed in the civil administration, whether judicial or executive, and who belong to the superior or gazetted grades. The term * Indian civil service” is used in even a narrower sense still, however, and designates only the covenanted civilians admitted after competition in England. The Indian civil service, using the phrase in the narrowest sense, will be first referred to. With a few exceptions, all superior posts in the ( T22 administration are, as has been stated, filled from this service. The offices of governor-general and governor of Madras and Bombay have been sometimes held by members of this service, but are more often reserved for politicians appointed direct by the Crown. The chief justices of the four high courts are usually selected and appointed by the Crown from the English bar. The lieutenantgovernors, chief commissioners, councillors, a third of the judges of the high courts, two of the three judges of the chief court, the civil secretaries, and the heads of most of the civil departments, are covenanted civilians. The divisional and district officers are, in regulation provinces, wholly, and in non-regulation provinces largely, filled by members of this service. The constant aim of the government, since the establishment of a proper system of administration under Lord Cornwallis, has been to improve the Indian civil service, and thus to ensure good district administration. * Unless the district administration be good, no amount of efficiency in the governors, and the upper grades of the public service, will avail to make the British Government in India a properlyfulfilled trust, and a blessing to the people ; while, on the other hand, if the staff of district officers is * Chesney's Indian Polity, p. 210. ( 134 3; thoroughly efficient, there will always be an abundant supply, from that source, of men qualified for the superior posts. The other departments of the state are, comparatively, of quite secondary importance. The all-important requirement in the government of India is that the people of the country, and especially the rural classes (who in that agricultural country form the great majority of the population), besides being lightly taxed, should have security of life and property, and liberty to pursue their occupations unmolested. These conditions imply that the law should be readily available, and impartially and intelligently applied; that the peace of the country should be maintained; above all—and this is one of the most difficult things to ensure in such a country — that the guardians of the public should themselves be restrained from oppression. This is the duty which is set before the district officials in India. That the task of governing under the given conditions should be at all possible,—that a single magistrate, with one or two deputies, should be able to maintain a decent administration, and to impress the reality of government over a territory as large, in some cases, as a European kingdom, and generally more densely peopled than are European countries, is only possible at all through the extraordinary docility of the people. But this very readiness to be governed creates, in itself, one of the greatest difficulties in the way of good { 135 } government. Deference to authority tends to degenerate into servility among all who surround the holders of power. The Indian civil service has, during the last century, acquired a position, unique in the history of the world, for general efficiency and uprightness. * The Indian civil service took its rise from the establishment of merchants and agents employed in buying or selling the company’s wares. For many years after the company had come to be governors of territories, as well as traders, the members of the service continued to be ranked in the grades and styled by the titles of senior and junior merchants, factors, and writers. In the first instance, the nominal salaries paid to civil servants were very small, and their emoluments were almost wholly derived from the profits of private trade. The results of such an arrangement may be imagined. Lord Cornwallis applied the remedy by fixing the salaries at a sufficiently high figure to place the members beyond the influence of temptation. This was followed by an immediate improve. ment in every direction. ‘When the change from merchants to rulers took place, the necessity for providing tests of qualification for admission was not at once recognized, * Chesney’s Indian Polity, p. 217%. 6 13 ) principally because the directors exercised patronage which they feared they might lose. The first step taken to educate the young civil servants for their duties, was the establishment of a college at Calcutta, at which the civilians for all the three presidencies were required to undergo a course of study in law and the classical and Oriental languages. The course was almost immediately afterwards restricted to instruction in the Vernacular and in Sanscrit and Arabic; and might be gone through at Calcutta, Madras, or Bombay, In 1806 Haileybury College was established in England for the edycation of persons nominated by the directors to the civil service. Any one who was nominated to Haileybury was practically sure of obtaining an appointment, whatever his abilities might be. Notwithstanding the defects of the system, the civil service attained a high standard for public character and intelligence. *The real cause of its excellence at that time as well as now, is to be found in the admirable school which is afforded by its special duties. The Indian civilian, immediately upon his arrival in the country, is placed In a situation calculated to call forth, in an Chesney’s Indian Polity, Pp. 221 and 222. ii ¥37 extraordinary degree, all his best qualities. His duties as a magistrate, judge, and administrator, begin almost from the day of his admission to the service, and are prosecuted throughout his career on a scale, and to an extent, far exceeding what is attained by any other service in the world. The ever-present need for the practice of industry, zeal, and self-control; for affording in himself an example to others of public virtue ; the constantlyfelt want for, and immediate value of, professional knowledge ; the enormous effect of personal influence; the vastness of the scale on which he is working ; the very impossibility of doing all that has to be done,—all these conditions are calculated in an eminent degree to educate the Indian civilian to a high standard of energy and intelligence; while the heavy responsibilities placed on him, and the extensive power which he wields, form in themselves a training of incomparable value, by inducing a confidence, quickness of resource, and readiness to undertake responsibility, which are most necessary qualities for a successful adminis. trator. And, if further inducement were needed, it was to be found in the large number of high appointments,—as commissioners, judges of appeal, diplomatic agents, councillors, and gover. nors,—to which the distinguished civilians were certain of succeeding. The Indian civil service contains an extraordinary number of prizes, and no blanks. 138 Y i * As to the nomination system, its defects need hardly be stated. Among every body of men chosen by chance—be the chance one of throwing dice, or of relationship to another set of men themselves in no way specially gifted—there must always be found some, in whom the power of indolence or deficiency of intelligence will be too strong to overcome. Had such men been always retained in subordinate posts, the evil would have been reduced to a minimum ; but, although promotion long by seniority had been abandoned, the traditions of the service still required that every man should be raised at least to the charge of a district, and eventually to a judgeship. The nomination system was abolished by the charter of 1853, which provided that appointments to the civil service should be thrown open to unrestricted open competition. The constitution of the service is now based upon 21 and 22 Vic, Cap. 106, Section 32, and regulations framed thereunder. The age at which civilians were admitted to the service under the statutory provisions of 1793 (33 Geo. IIL, Cap. 52, Section 60), was not under 15 or more than z2 years. The maximum limit was raised to 23 years by 7 Will. IV, and Vic. Cap. 70, Section 5. Quite recently the limit of age has been reduced to 19 ¥ Chesney’s Indian Polity, p. 223. ( I30 for the open competition, under regulations framed by the secretary of state. Under the Act of 1793 the rule of promotion by seniority was made absolute in the civil service ; and it was also prescribed that vacancies should be filled up from the members of the service in the presidency in which the vacancy occurred. In 1861 it was found necessary to abrogate these rules and to validate appointments made in opposition to them. The Statute 24 and 25 Vic, Cap. 54 (1861) reserved the following offices to the covenanted civil servants :— (1) secretaries, junior secretaries, and undersecretaries to the several governments in India (except in the military, marine, and public works departments); accountant-general (now called comptroller-general) ; (2) in the regulation provinces, the Jollowing judicial offices: civil and sessions judge, or chief judicial officers of districts ; additional and assistant judges; magistrates or chief magisterial officers ; joint magistrates; assistant magistrates (3) the following revenue offices: members of boards of revenue in the presidencies of Bengal and Madras: secretaries to the [ 140 ¥ boards; commissioners of revenue in the regulation provinces; collectors of districts in those provinces; deputy or subordinate collectors where combined with the office of joint magistrate in those provinces; assistant collectors ; salt agents ; controllers of salt chowkies; commissioners of customs, salt, and opium ; opium agents. The act permits other persons to be provisionally appointed to these offices where necessary, subject to the approval of the secretary of state, and does not apply to the appointments of governors, lieutenant-governors, and judges of the high courts. All other appointments may be filled up without regard to the qualifications, conditions, and restrictions prescribed by the Act of 1793. In practice, however, the secretary of state appears to have prohibited the filling up of the higher appointments in non-regulation provinces by uncovenanted officers without his previous sanction, The Statutory Civil Service. The appointment of natives of India to offices reserved to the civil service has been legalized by 33 Vic, Cap. 3, Section 6; umder this section natives of India are defined “to include any person born and domiciled within the dominions of Her var Majesty in India, of parents habitually resident in India, and not established there for temporary purposes only.” The governor-general in council is empowered to define and limit, from time to time, the qualification of natives of India thus expressed, subject to the sanction of the secretary of state in council, and to being laid before parliament. The rules of admission are prescribed by the governor-general in council with the sanction of the secretary of state. It is apparently intended to reserve one-sixth of the appointments made to the civil service to persons selected and appointed under the authority of this statute. Miistary Officers in Civil Employ. In all the non-regulation provinces military officers are appointed to the civil administration in considerable numbers, The services of these officers are permanently transferred to civil employ, and they belong to the army only for the purpose of enjoying the privileges of rank, leave, and pension secured to them in their own service. Many eminent civil administrators have belonged to this class. The Uncovenanted Service. The Indian civil service and the army form the main sources from which the members of the civil administration are obtained for all important duties throughout the country; but from the 142 earliest times a very large subordinate agency has been maintained to aid in carrying out the details of government business, and to fill the subordinate judicial and executive posts in the administration. This agency has, under the influence of various circumstances, extended to such a degree that a very large portion of the real work is done by it. The agency locally obtained, whether native or European, is much more economical than that which is imported, and hence there has been a tendency to confine the latter to the superior and more important posts, supplementing it with officers locally obtained. The general business has grown so rapidly that a very large subordinate judicial and executive agency has had to be employed, in addition to the vast body of clerks and ministerial officers. Most of the departments outside the civil administration are officered by persons engaged in the country. Excluding the commissioned and covenanted officers of the army and civil service, respectively, and the covenanted officers engaged in England for the public works, forest, telegraph, education, and other departments, the whole body of government employés in receipt of a salary of Rs. 10 a month and upwards, are termed ‘‘ uncovenanted,” and are said to belong to the “uncovenanted service.” The term embraces alike such of the judges of the high and chief courts as are not covenanted civilians, and petty clerks and officials in the courts and offices. With [ 142 some few exceptions (in favour of uncovenanted judges and certain officers holding high appointments) the members of the uncovenanted service are all on precisely the same footing as regards appointment, leave, and pension. * The gradual expansion of the uncovenanted service, from a body of subordinate clerks to a great administrative service, filling all the posts in many of the departments of the state, and of whom the leading members are in receipt of higher emoluments than military men in India can obtain in the ordinary course of their career, appears not to have been ever fully recognised. All such appoint ments (with a few special exceptions) were indeed illegal until 1861, when by an Act of Parliament all offices in India, with certain exceptions, were thrown open to all persons, under prescribed conditions of fitness and qualifications. It is unnecessary to give here any details of the judicial, revenue, and administrative services of any particular province; enough has been said to give some idea of the general nature of the whole body of civil officers of government. The Army. “The first establishment of the Indian Army of the East India Company may be considered to * Chesney’s Indian Polity, p. 250. t Chesney’s Indian Polity, p. 275. 144 date from the year 1748, when a small force of sepoys and Europeans was enrolled at Madras. In 1757 a similar force was raised in Bengal. The Sepoys were commanded by English officers ; the English force comprised infantry and artillery, The company’s authority to raise forces was the charter of 1753. By the year 1772 the force consisted of 3,500 Europeans and 24,000 natives, with more than 600 officers, in Bengal; 3,000 Europeans, 16,000 natives, and 600 officers, in Madras; and 2,500 Europeans, 3,500 natives, and 200 officers, in Bombay. The first regiment of the British Army sent to India was the 39th Foot, which arrived in Madras in 1754; this was followed by two other regiments in 1759. From 1763 to 1779 India was without royal troops. The Indian Army gradually increased down to 1796, when it was re-organized on a system which continued in force down to 1861. After the Mahratta war had been brought to an end, the forces were reduced to a permanent peace footing and stood at 24,500 Europeans and 1,30,000 natives. In addition to these there were various local forces, and, in 1857, the army stood at about 2,80,000, all told. of whom about 45,000 were Europeans. Since the Mutiny large police forces have been organized provincially, the native army has been much reduced, and the English army increased. <4x The Indian army is now composed entirely of natives ; the European troops are all provided from the regular British army. The native army is officered from the British army; a sufficient number of the officers of which are allowed to enter the Indian staff corps, the members of which are attached to native regiments, or enter civil or political employ. The British troops are governed by the annual Army Act passed by Parliament; the Indian troops, by Acts V of 1869 and V of 1875. A volunteer force is enrolled under Act XX of 1860. These Acts all contain provisions for the maintenance of discipline, the most important of which are termed the articles of war. CHAPTER XI FINANCE AND REVENUE.* General The financial administration of a country forms the basis of the fabric of the government. Good government, military defence, progressive administration, political and diplomatic management, material improvement, moral advancement, and the spread of civilization would be impossible, if the equilibrium # Based on India in 1880, Chapters xiii and xxvii. and other authorities. 14.” 3 between income and expenditure were permanently lost, and if national insolvency impended. The rate of a nation’s progress must largely depend upon the means at the disposal of its government, as well as upon the enlightened principles by which the latter is influenced. In comparison to its area and population, India must be regarded as a poor country; that is, the average wealth of the population is low. This is partly owing to past centuries of misrule ; no stronger proof of this statement is needed than a reference to the advance in material prosperity which has taken place since the introduction of a settled, strong, and civilized government under the auspices of the British nation. Never was conquest followed by such beneficent results as that of India by the British, At one bound the people of India were removed from the influences of anarchy and tyranny, and received the blessings of an administration, such as their conquerors only secured to themselves after many centuries of struggle and gradual progress. Before the year 1859 budget estimates of the finances of British India were not regularly prepared for publication; but the introduction of direct government, under the British Crown, was followed by that of a national system of finance. Since 1859 yearly accounts have been published ; and are, in accordance with statute law, annually presented to parliament, Information is thus afforded to all of B47 the general welfare of the Indian empire ; and parliament is enabled to control its financial arrangements, The Receipts and the Revenue. The receipts have risen from 420,000,000 in 1839-40, to £40,000,000 in 1859-60, and £68,000,000 in 1830. The expenditure has all along very nearly kept up with the receipts. A large portion of the receipts here shown are, however, really nominal, The receipts shown are the gross receipts ; but on the debit side are shown the cost of collection and of maintaining many large departments whose expenditure equals their income. To take a couple of examples, the postal and telegraph departments may be mentioned. A large portion of their receipts. consist of the value of work done on the government service. Official correspondence carried by the post, and official messages sent by telegraph, are charged for by these departments against the departments concerned. The cost is thus credited to the postal or telegraph department, and debited to the departments employing them. A large portion of the receipts thus represent financial adjustment merely, While the government possesses a large revenue proper, it has also large receipts which must be shown on the same side of the account as the revenue. There would be danger in having two accounts, or in allowing the financial authorities to decide what items should be included or excluded, and whether headings of revenue should be exhibited gross or net. ( 148 J The rule is that on the receipt side all bona fide receipts, from whatever source, shall be fully exhibited, also all items of revenue gross, no abatement being made for expenses; and that all bona fide charges, for whatever purpose, whether for defence or administration, for concerns managed by the state, or for the raising of the revenue itself, should be exhibited on the expenditure side. The revenue, as distinguished from the revenue and receipts, has been estimated as follows :— Land ... 21 millions sterling. Tributes iC. Excise Assessed T Customs Salt Opium Stamps Total do. This was the revenue in 1880, Chief Source of Income. The chief source of income possessed by the British government is the land, Strange, as it may seem, we find in India—a country which has for ages been subjected to the worst form of arbitrary rule— the. widest recognition of one of the broadest ( 149 communistic principles, namely, that the land belongs, in the first instance, to the nation, and not to the individual ; and that the government represents the nation. The government is, in this sense, regarded as the superior owner of the whole of the land within the confines of the territories under its sway, and the peasantry are regarded primarily as tenants of the government, Under native rule this principle has been, and, in some places, is still so firmly established that no other landed proprietors exist ; the peasantry are, in fact, as well as in theory, no more than tenants hereditary tenants perhaps——but still tenants, The British government has dealt differently with the country. It has defined and limited the national rights in the land, and has recognized a distinct peasant proprietary body. It has limited its demand for rent to the lowest figure, and has resigned all other proprietary rights wherever the land has long been occupied by a definite class of tenants with hereditary rights, The property is held to be hypothecated to government for the discharge of this rent. The amount of this rent has, in Bengal, been fixed in perpetuity ; in other parts of India it is revised periodically, about every 20 or 30 years, The holders from government have thus become proprietors, subject only to the government demand ; and they have below them tenants of various classes paying rent to them, For purposes of distinction the rent paid to government is termed the revenue. ( 150 | There can be no doubt that the cultivators of the soil are as much, if not more, interested in possessing an enlightened and stable government than the rest of the population, and they may have to pay taxes in order to maintain it. This, however, is an obligation distinct from that which they are under to pay ent for the land they hold from the nation. In Bengal, a fatuous policy compounded all government demands for a fixed permanent revenue assessment. In other provinces the demands were combined in the assessment for a fixed term. More recently the different character of the two liabilities has been better recognized, and local and other rates and cesses are being introduced in addition to the revenue. The distinction should be borne in mind. Rent is the amount paid for the use, or the privilege of cultivating the land, whether it is paid to the nation as landlord, or to individual owners. Taxes are the contribution required from all alike, according to their position and advantages, for the support of a settled government. In certain cases the government occupies the position of superior as well as inferior landlord, and the occupants are still mere tenants, either at will or with occupancy rights. Here the government is entitled to—(1), the revenue as superior landlord ; (2), the rent as inferior landlord ; (3), taxes for the maintenance of government. The wise landlord should be content to take only a little on the principle of leaving a good margin to { 151 the cultivator, to make up for bad seasons or family troubles; and should encourage him to improve instead of impoverishing the land by giving him some fixity of tenure, or fair compensation for improve. ments if the land is taken away from him. It is on this principle that the British government acts-in its revenue administration ; and it attempts to induce the landowners under it to follow the same rule with regard to their tenants, who form the bulk of the cultivating classes, Incidence of Taxation. Of the total revenue proper as above shewn, only 36} millions are really paid by the people of British India ; of the remainder, 61 millions are paid by the Chinese, and £ million by the native states, The sum of 36} millions distributed over the 190 millions in British India, would give an average of 3s, od. per head per annum, which will doubtless appear very small. But this is by no means the real incidence, *The landowner pays for land revenue, an amount ranging from Rs. 3 to Rs. 7 per cent. on the gross produce of his lands, and a further fraction by way of provincial rates, If he goes to law he may contribute something to stamps; if he drinks, to excise; and if he prefers English to native cloth, to customs; but when he has paid his land revenue * India in 1880, p. 2435, extract from remarks by Mr. IH. S. Cunningham. L 152 his only imperative tax is 7d. per annum for salt. The owner of personal property, though a millionaire, may, under like conditions of abstinence from the luxuries of drink, litigation, and English cloth, contribute nothing but the 72. for salt to the expenses of the state. The artizan’s position is the same, The trader, when he has paid his 74. on salt, and, if his gains are over £50 per annum, his licence tax, may go free of further taxation. The only imperative tax on the agricultural labourer is the annual 7d. per salt. This of course refers to imperial taxation and not to local and municipal rates, such as octroi ; still it shows how very lightly all are taxed and how many, who should be heavily taxed, go free, Principles of Taxation. * The four great laws of taxation may be thus stated :— First.—That the people of a country should be taxed or give their support to the government in proportion to their ability to do so, The rich should give much ; the poor little. Secondly—That the taxes which each person has to pay should be definite and certain in amount, —that is to say, should not be changeable without long notice or at the will of any person, * The Laws of Wealth, by Horace Bell. ————" 152 /iirdly.—That taxes should be levied in such a manner as to be most convenient to those who have to pay them both as to time and the manner of payment. ourthly—That the taxes should be of such a nature as to yield as much as possible to the state from what is taken from the tax-payer. To this might be added a fifth law for countries such as India, wZz., that taxation should be levied and spent for the benefit of the people only, and not for the pleasure or profit of the rulers. Let us see what these laws mean. The first law seems an obviously just one. The rich man needs protection for himself and his goods, and can afford to pay well for this. The poor man has little that needs protection, and, consequently, should be made lo pay less than the rich man The second law is also clearly right. No man can manage his business properly if he is uncertain as to what he may have to. pay. Besides, if taxes are not fixed, and made known to every one, the tax-payer is at the mercy of the officials who take the taxes, and they are too often men who oppress the poor. The third law requires some explanation. It should, for instance, be more convenient and reasons able to require the payment of a tax when the payer is likely to have money at hand than when he has not. It would, taking the example of a cultivator, ( 154 be more reasonable to require the payment of his taxes at or after harvest time than before, Again, as to the manner of taking a tax, it will be more convenient if, for instance, there is a tax on spirits, to raise this tax from the shop-keeper than to require the payment of the tax from every person direct as he buys his small purchase. A tax levied equally on everybody, or a head tax, would lead to much expense and much trouble to every one, but by putting a small tax on salt, which every one uses, the head tax is raised without dispute and with the greatest convenience. The fourth law implies that it is both unwise and unjust to levy any tax which costs so much for collecting it, that only a small balance is left after all to the state. This would be the case if, for instance, a tax was levied on the people according to the size of the houses they occupied. It would be necessary for this to keep up an immense number of measurers and clerks to record the sizes of all the houses each year, and the cost of all this would absorb probably all or nearly all of the money that would be obtained from the tax, while the people would thus be put to great inconvenience and get no benefit from it. The fifth law would require no comment in Europe, and especially in England, where the people are thoroughly aware of their rights, where the first condition of existence of the government is that it exists only at the will and for the benefit of the 155 people of the country, and where taxes are only levied on this understanding. In India and many other countries in the world the people have as yet to learn much of the duties both of the ruler and the ruled. The Government of India has set an example to native states by granting in British India considerable powers of taxation and self-government to the people in all local matters. They are permitted to fix the character and amount of the taxes to be paid in their own districts and towns, and have a considerable voice, through their representatives, in determining the purposes for which this money is to be spent, Provincial Services. An arrangement was commenced in 1872, known by the designation of “Provincial Services,” whereby certain sums are allotted by the Government of India to the several local governments in the empire, for certain services, such as education, prisons, police, roads, civil buildings, &c. The primary object of the arrangement is this, that the various local governments should have resources at their disposal for these purposes, of which resources the most and the best must be made, and which may be supplemented by any legitimate means that can be devised locally, on the understanding that no further demand is to be made upon the general treasury on these accounts, Another object is, that a peremptory limit should be * India in 1880, PD. 452. { 156 set to.expenditure from the imperial finances on these several departments, which are the very departments in which expenditure may be advocated with a moral pressure most hard to resist. This system has worked well financially and otherwise. By decentralizing some of the financial arrangements, local governments have been encouraged to exercise greater control over expenditure, while the absolute control given to them, within certain limits, has enabled them to spend the money to the greatest advantage. An extension of the system would be beneficial. The contracts are usually made for periods of five years. The Public Debt. Large sums of money are required from time to time for extensive public works ; and, occasionally, to meet the cost of famines or of wars undertaken for the protection of the Indian empire, or in its interests. A very large part of the sums in question is spent on productive public works, like canals and railways, which not only repay the interest on the outlay or even more, but which increase the produce or open up the trade, and so assist the material progress of the country. It would be unfair as well as impossible to meet such charges from current revenue. The works are constructed, or the wars are fought, for the lasting benefit of the empire, and it is only fair that the cost should be spread out over a series of years, or, in the case of remunerative works, that the principal sum should remain invested in them. It is. moreover, 18% convenient to the public to be able to invest their surplus wealth in government securities, the government utilizing the money and paying low interest upon it, while there is no better sign of public confidence in a government, than in the power of the latter to raise money at reasonable rates ; and, again, it adds to the security of the government, inasmuch as all those holding its paper are interested in its stability. The public debt of India is already very high, but is nothing in comparison with the resources of the country, or with the rates of progress in railways, canals, and public works, which has prevailed during the short period of British rule. The public debt of India amounts in all to about 250 millions sterling, including 98 millions outlay on guaranteed railways. The annual charges on account of it represent 13 millions ; the income from productive works, in which much of it is invested, is about 8 millions ; and the net charge 5 millions. The national debt proper* (excluding guaranteed railways) was ‘1514 millions sterling in March 1880: of this, 37 millions had been spent on remunerative public works, which already partially, and will, eventually, entirely repay the interest on outlay. The real debt is thus 114 millions on account of wars and famines, and this represents less than three years’ income. The rate of interest, allowed has been gradually reduced from 5 to 4 per cent. * India in 1880, p. 461 . 158 J A system of currency notes and savings banks gives the government the command of a further large sum on favourable terms. The average annual balance at credit upon the financial operations is one million. CHAPTER XII. ALLIED AND PROTECTED STATES. Extent of independence. India is, geographically speaking, a peninsula bounded by the Himalayan range of mountains along the north-eastern and north-western frontiers, and by the sea on the south-east and south-west. The island of Ceylon is under a separate government, as are also the territories belonging to Great Britain, known as the Straits Settlements. The provinces of Assam and Burma, which adjoin on the eastern boundary, are under the government of India. The states of Khelat, Afghanistan, Kashmir, the smaller hill states along the Himalayan range, Nipal, Sikkim, Manipur, Bhutan, Siam and Mandalay, are contiguous to British possessions along the inland boundary. Within the peninsula itself the territories under the sway of native rulers are very extensive. These states do not all stand in the same relation to the British empire, but possess different degrees of independence. It would not be possible to give here an exhaustive account of the relations of these various states with the British covernment. Speaking ( 150 generally, however, they may be grouped under four heads, namely, those which are— (1) actually independent; (2) termed independent; (3) tributary to, in subordinate alliance with, or controlled by the British government; (4) tributary or subordinate to larger states, which themselves fall under head (3), but whose integrity is guaranteed by the British government; sometimes these have been termed mediatized states. The states which may be regarded as actually independent, are those which stand on an altogether equal footing with the British government, and in this sense the Chinese empire on our northern boundary and Afghanistan exhaust the list. The most independent of the remaining states are those of Nipal and Siam, and after these come the leading protected states. The general characteristics of all the protected states are, that their foreign relations are altogether controlled by the British government, while they are left to manage their own home administration ; the individual rulers are liable to removal for gross misgovernment or misconduct, but the integrity of the state is maintained, and a successor is selected from the family ; and the dissolution of the reigning line is prevented by the recognition of the power of adoption. The minor states are not allowed to inflict capital 160 punishment “without the sanction of the British authorities. All disputes and disturbances are referred to the arbitrament of the sovereign power. The mediatized states are guaranteed in a similar position towards the superior state, to which they are related, by the British government. Afghanistan. The kingdom of Afghanistan is recognized as independent, and maintains political relations with the British government under treaties and alliances which have been made from time to time. With every desire not to interfere, however, the British government have been twice, within half a century, forced to assert their practical supremacy in Afghanistan by military occupation ; but on each occasion the throne has been given up to a representative of the ruling dynasty upon the British government’s own terms. The neighbourhood of Russia, on the other side of Afghanistan, renders it imperative that the British government should have a large share in the management of the Amir’s relations with foreign powers. The British government are only interested in maintaining the integrity of the Afghan kingdom, in order that it may form an independent and neutral zone lying between Russian conquest in Central Asia and India, No advantage would be gained to India by any further extension of supremacy beyond the mountain ranges which form the natural boundary of the Indian empire. ( 161 ) Khelat. The state of Khelat and Baluchistan was, until quite recently, left entirely to its own devices ; and had never been interfered with. At the invitation of the ruling chief or Khan the government of India have placed an agent at Quetta, and have, by mutual arrangement, quartered troops there. The independence of the Khan of Khelat is otherwise maintained. North-Western Frontier. The British policy on the north-western frontier extends only to strengthening and protecting the natural frontier line, and is not aggressive ; where it goes so far as to extend the =gis of its protection to Afghanistan and Khelat, it does so at their request and in their interests, and, moreover, at some considerable sacrifice; for it undertakes pecuniary and political obligations, which are demanded more in the interests of those outlying states themselves than in those of the integrity of the Indian empire, The results of the recent Afghan wars, and of the two conferences with the rulers of Afghanistan, will satisfy all of the impartiality and moderation of the British policy. Kashmiy The state of Kashmir formed part of the terri: tories ceded to the British, after the Sikh war, by the treaty of 1846. By a treaty made in the same year all the hill country between the Indus and the Ravi, including Chamba, and excluding Lahou! was ( 162 made over to Raja Gulab Singh as a reward for his services, on payment of 75 lakhs of rupees. Maharaja Gulab Singh began life as a horseman in a troop commanded by Jemadar Khushal Singh, and became governor of the principality of Jammu under Sikh rule. He extended his authority into Ladakh. The territories granted to him by the British became the present state of Kashmir. Subsequently, the portion of Chamba territory lying east of the Ravi was taken by the British in exchange for the taluka of Lukhimpura; and in 1847, Budrwar was resigned to the Maharaja, and the rest of the Chamba territory was resigned by him, The Maharaja is an honoured tributary of the British government, and his authority extends over an area of some 68,000 square miles, and over a population of close upon 2,000,000 souls. His revenue amounts to about Rs. 8,500,000; a British officer is attached to the state, but it is independent so far as internal administration is concerned. Its foreign relations are entirely controlled by the sovereign power. Hill States. Following along the Himalayan boundary there sxists a chain of protected hill states, varying greatly as to their area and the extent of their autonomy. Previous to the Nipal war in 1841, the Goorkhas had extended their conquests westwards as far as the Sutlej. By a treaty made in 1815 the Nipal govern- 163 ment resigned their territories west of Kali, and the British were left in possession of the whole tract of hills from the Gogra to ‘the Sutlej. The hill territories between the Ravi and the Bias, and the Bias and the Sutlej, fell into the hands of the British after the Sikh war. The boundary line of the British territories thus extends to that of the Chinese empire. These territories are covered with clusters of small tributary protected states, forming miniature principalities which are left independent in regard to internal administration, subject to the conditions that— (1) capital sentences require the confirmation of the British authorities, and (2) in. case of misconduct on the part of the chief or misgovernment, the chief may be deposed and another chosen from the family. They very generally possess the power of adoption. In the event of minorities the British government assume the administration during the legal incapacity of the chief, In some cases a tribute is fixed. West of the Sutlej lie the Chamba, Mandi, and Suket states. The Chamba principality came into the possession of the British in 1846-47 as already pointed out J it was at once handed over to Raja Siri Singh, and to his male heirs, subject to the condition that if under any of the rajas misgovernment should exist, ( 164 the government may depose the raja, and place on the throne any other of the family. The raja possesses the power of adoption. The area is 3,216 square miles; the population 140,000 souls, and the revenue over Rs. 200,000 a year. The reigning family is of ancient Hindu Rajput lineage. The same remarks are applicable to Mandi and Suket, the statistics regarding which are— Mandi: area 1,200, population 135,000, revenue Rs. 400,000. Suket: area 420, population 50,000, revenue Rs. 70,000. States east of the Suiles. Many hill states are interspersed along the hill tract as far as the borders of Nipal. The hill rajas were, for the most part, restored by the British government to the position they occupied before their subjugation by the Goorkhas, The chiefs are allowed to govern their own territories, but capital sentences require the confirmation of the British authorities before being carried out. These states are thus under closer political supervision than some of the larger states to which reference has been made. Siymur. The largest of these hill states is Sirmur or Nahan, whose territories extend over 1,000 square miles, comprising a population of about 1,00.000 souls ; » the revenue is about Rs. 3,00,000. The smallest of the series is Beia. the area of which is four square miles, 165 ) Smaller States. The following table gives the remainder of those in the Puniab :— Area in 5q. miles, 450 256 20 Lid 0 Population. Revenue. Bilaspur Nalagarh Bushahr Keonthal Theog Koti Ghoont Madan Ratech Bhagal Baghat Jubbul Bhajji Kumbharsen Kothar Dhami Bulsan Milogh Beja Tiroj Kunhiar Sangri ~ Mungal 0 Durkote 700 These little princes are mostly of ancient Rajput lineage, 1,00,000 90,000 50,000 60,000 3,000 6,000 1,000 1,600 200 60,000 8,000 30,000 23,000 10,000 5,000 8,000 7,000 10,000 1,000 6,000 4,000 1,000 700 600 ( 166 y Beyond the Punjab Frontier on the east comes the state of Garhwal, which occupies a position similar to the hill states already mentioned. Border Tribes. Along the frontier line from Khelat to Peshawar, there exists a series of border tribes, practically independent alike of British and Afghan rule. This border land extends for a distance of about 8co miles. These unruly neighbours give much trouble, and are constantly raiding into British territory. They are kept in check, or punished from time to time by military expeditions by way of reprisal. Where they conduct themselves with propriety, and render assistance to the British government, they are granted allowances, These congeries of tribes of barbarians need not be described. Some of the leading tribes are the Yusufzais, Judoons, Momands, Afreedis, Orukzais, Wazeeris, Pathans, and Beluches. Each of these is sub-divided into numerous clans practically independent of one another. They live in a difficult and poor country, the permanent occunation of which would be expensive and useless. Nipal. Still further east is the independent state of Nipal extending from near Naini-Tal on the one side to Darjeeling on the other. A British resident maintains political relations between the two governments; but the country is closed against all other interference. ( 167 } Relations with the British commenced in 1767 when, owing to Goorkha invasions under Raja Pirthi Narain, the Nawar Raja of Katmandhu asked for British aid, A commercial treaty was made in 1792. The residency was first established in 1801, but from 1804 to 1816 all political relations were closed. In that year the British government, having proved victorious in war, obtained the treaty of Segowlie, The area is supposed to be 54,000 square miles, the population two or three millions, and the revenue Rs. 10,000,000 a vear. It is a curious feature of the moderation of the British that they have submitted to the territories of Afghanistan, Nipal and, to some extent, Kashmir, being practically closed to British subjects. These states have political relations and alliances with the British government, and yet they rigorously exclude British subjects from their dominions.” Such a state of things could not exist in Europe even between really independent nations ; and no other government but our own would tolerate it anywhere, Stkkim, Bhutan. and Sian. Beyond Nipal there is the tributary and protected state of Sikkim, and the independent state of Bhutan ; then another cluster of hill tribes on the borders of Assam; then the independent states of Upper Burma and Siam ; and, lastly, the Malayan peninsula and eastern archipelago, 168 States within the plains of India. Within the peninsula of India there exists a very large number of protected states, which are more of less independent. These are all tributary to, in subordinate alliance with, or controlled by, the British government, They are none of them independent in the sense that Afghanistan and Nipal are independent. They are surrounded by British territories and acknowledge the Empress of India as their suzerain. [n regard to internal affairs they are not interfered with, except in the event of gross tyranny and misrule ; and even then the integrity of the state is maintained, and a successor is selected from the reigning family. To prevent the dissolution of the reigning family, the right of adoption has been largely recognized ; the proclamation of 1858 secured their rights in this respect. Regarding the protected states as a whole they have, in round numbers, a population of fifty million of souls, and an area of half a million square miles, From a political point of view they form an important factor of the Indian empire. Sir Richard Temple, in his work fudia in 1880,* remarks as follows — The Native States supply some of the unavoidable defi-~iencies of a foreign rule, among a people with whom a versarile fancy, a passion for external display, and a spirit of veneration for visible glories, are often predominant. The citizens # India in 1880, p. 62, ¢f seq. 16qQ and the country-folk gaze with the glistening eyes, eager looks. and intense admiration, upon the glitter of chivalric pageantry and the pomp of eastern royalty. The middle and upper classes regard the regal or feudal spectacles with an enthusiastic pride which constitutes the nearest approach to patriotism of which they are, as yet, capable. It is noteworthy that these sentiments are felt as much by the Natives, who are British subjects, as by those who are subjects of the Native States. Considerateness and graciousness, on the part of the British Government towards the Native States, are popular in the British dominions. Harshness or undue severity, on the part of the British Government towards the Native States, would be unpopular in the British territories, and would excite unfavourable comment among the educated Natives aspecially. The British Government wisely seizes every opportunily of educating under its own auspices, young Native princes. Several sovereigns, now reigning, have in their youth been hus educated. In the next generation, almost every prince will have been educated after the European method, either by private tuition in the palace, or at institutions established for youths of princely degree. * * The Native sovereigns and their advisers are skilful in raising the utmost amount of revenue with the least possible rouble to the people. The average rate of revenue per head >f the population will generally be found higher in the Native States than in the British territories. This will be regarded by the admirers of the Native rule as a proof of its superiority. lt is partly due to the greater flexibility of the Native system, which quality is ofien more profitable to the exchequer thay the rigidity of the British method. But it should he accepted ag v proof that, at least according to an Oriental standard, the British taxation 1s mild and moderate L 190 |) Many of the Native States, notably the Protected Sikh States, the Rajputana States, some of the Central India States, the Baroda State, and others have been greatly enriched by the British railways which pass through their territories ; no demand having been made upon them by the British Government on that account. Some Native sovereigns, as the Nizam, Scindia, and Holkar, have furnished funds for the construction of railways in their dominions. On the other hand, it is to be remembered that the Rajput States made great concessions to the wishes of the British Government respecting customs arrangements with which the railways were connected. In cases where British canals have passed through Native States, such as the new canal from the Sutlej, a contribution has been ziven by the States. In civil expenditure, the Native States are for the most part careful and economical. They shew a politic profusion in all that relates to the functions of the priesthood, the religious observances, and the popular festivals. In their military expenditure they sometimes persist in an extravagance which is injurious to the common weal. They generally employ a large number of untrained men, where a much smaller number of well-disciplined men would suffice, The principal states may be briefly noticed. Hyderabad under the Nizam is the most important of the Muhammadan states in India, The first Nizam was appointed in 1713 by the Delhi Court, ind the name merely represented a governorship of the Deccan. In the intrigues and general anarchy preceding the fall of the Moghal and the rise of the British empire in India, many adventurers arose to independent power, to be in their turn absorbed by 171 others more powerful than they. The British government, for the most part, recognized and crystallized the state of things existing on its attaining supremacy. Those, therefore, who were fortunate enough to have attained to power at the moment of change have in many instances become confirmed in the territories under their sway, The Peshwa, the Nizam, Scindia, and Holkar, and many others, arose to eminence and position in this way from small beginnings. Those who were foolish =nough to resist the British at the time, or to raise disturbances after the British ascended to power, were crushed. The Nizam’s government was among those which rightly gauged the change which had come over the land, and the state of Hyderabad has developed and flourished exceedingly. Sir Salar Jung, one of the most enlightened native ministers, controlled its destinies for over twenty-five years, and raised it to its present eminence as one of the best governed of native states. The Hyderabad territory covers an area of 98,000 square miles, and contains a population of nearly eleven millions. The revenue is stated at over 400 lakhs of rupees. A resident is attached to the Nizam’s court. Mysore and Coorg are large and important states in Southern India, which are well governed and flourishing. The Central India States of Holkat and Scindia also belong to the first order. A British agent of the 172 sovernor-general is appointed for the central India group of states, and is located at Indore; and each important state, with the minor states adjoining, is provided with a political agent, such are the Gwalior, Indore, Bhopal, and Western Malwa Agencies. The cluster of states, which extend over Rajputana, cover a very large area and are among the most ancient in the country. Several British agencies carry on political relations with groups of these states under the governor-general's agent for the whole of them, such are Meywar, Jeypore, Marwar, Haraoti, the Eastern States Agency, the Ulwar Agency, &c. zach dealing with several states, [n the Central India States we find a peculiar arrangement of minor or mediatized states who recognize the sovereign right of a larger state, just as the latter recognizes that of the British government. In other words, we have states within states. The relations of these minor subordinate states with the larger feudatories have been arranged by the British government on lines similar to those existing between the superior states and the sovereign power. Thus in the Gwalior agency the states of Anyhera, Narwar, Bhadoura, Khaltoun, Sirsee, Ragogarh, Sheopore, are tributary to Scindia. Some of the smaller states were, at the introduction of British rule, found to be thus tributary to Scindia, Holkar or the Puars, and sometimes to all three. 173 In the Indore agency Pithari, Baglee, Karodia, Patharea, Dhungong, Singhana, Bai, Mayne, Dhawra, Kanjura, Kaytha, &c., are of this character. : In the Baroda agency we have the chiefs of Koorwar and Mahomedgarh directly dependant upon the British government, and Basowala, Tuppa, Rajgarh, Nursingarh, Kilcheepore, Larawat, Pathara, and other mediatized or guaranteed chiefs, Protected Sikh States.* The group of principalities styled the Protected Sikh States, intervening between Delhi and the Punjab, were snatched by the British from the jaws of Ranjit Singh, when he threatened to devour all his neighbours. They remembered their deliverers, who in turn were menaced with destruction at the outburst of the mutinies in 1857, and were among the very first to appear in arms on the British side against the mutineers. They declared that their swords should be drawn for that power under whose wing they had nestled for fifty years. In the chronicles of feudal chivalry there is not a brighter example of fidelity on the part of feudatories towards their liege, than that exhibited by some of these States—Pattiala, Jhind, and Nabba—towards the British suzerain in the darkest days of 1857. Ties, destined doubtless to be indissoluble, were then formed between them. Subsequently these States have derived prosperity from the public works, railways and canals, of the British Government, and have consolidated their civil administration after the fashion of the Punjab territory, with which their own territories are so greatly intermingled. They maintain military forces adequate but not excessive, ~omposed of those martial elements in which the valley of the * India in 4880. 1. BQ. of sen. 174 Sutlej abounds. Their situation, on the national highway of Northern India, is a commanding one. If there be any Native States in which the administration is really comparable with British rule, they are here. Rajasthan. A large congeries of States is formed under the name of Rajputana or Rajasthan, of which the principal are Udeypur, Jeypur, and Jodhpur. These Rajput chiefs have, next to the Brahmins, the purest blood in India. In antiquity of descent they rank peerless among the Native sovereigns ; the pink and Rower of Indian heraldry is acknowledged to be with them. During the war of the mutinies they were steadfast in their allegiance to a supremacy in their eyes so beneficent. They retain to this day, more than any other Native States, the original image of Hindu polity, untouched by the defacing fingers of modern change. Their administration, partly patriarchal partly baronial, has a rough and rude efficiency. . Mahratia States. The Mahratta sovereigns in Central India, Scindia, and Holkar, bear rule over alien clans and vassals, which difficult task they perform with much considerate circumspection and a fair degree of success. The Mabhratta, however, in Central India, has but a slight hold on the local Rajput chiefs and the indigenous tribes. Baroda. Bhopal, and Pannalt. The Baroda State comprises some of the richest territories in the empire. The State of Bhopal is well governed by a Native Princess, the head of a Muhammadan family whose loyal allegiance to the British Government has been conclusively proved. Among the princes of Bundelkhand, the Raja of Pannah is known as an enlightened ruler, and as a man of broad sympashies. His territory is still famous for its diamond mines. 1758 Bahawalpur. The State of Bahawalpur, on the bank of the Sutlej, was carefully administered by the British Government during the minority of the Nawab, who, after having been duly educated in the western manner, was placed in full charge of his territories. Travancore. The kingdom of Travancore, in the south, has an area, very fertile, of coast and mountain, endowed with the choicest gifts of nature and possessing various commercial advantages. It includes many coffee plantations. Kolhapur. The State of Kolhapur, in the Bombay presidency, owes to successful and careful native management its present prosperity. South Mahratia States. In Western India there are several States of the South Mahratta country which are at present in a auiet and orderly condition, Kalhiawar. The condition of the cluster of States which form the Kathiawar peninsula, has been greatly ameliorated of late years, and order has been substituted for disorder. In some departments, such as the land revenue, these States adhere to their old ways; but in other branches they adopt all the improved methods of the time, and are thriving apace. The same happy account may be given of the neighbouring State of Cutch. Lesser States. There are many Lesser States in Western India, Pahlanpur, Radhanpur, the Mahi Kanta, the Rewa Kanta and others, all ip a satisfactory condition at present. In some of them, however, rouble has in former times arisen, and might acain arise 176 Mysore, The placing of the Mysore State under the administration of the Raja on his coming of age has had a good effect on native opinion throughout the empire, and has been viewed with satisfaction by the native sovereigns and chiefs. The British Government has managed the State for many years with all the advantages of an enlightened system, and has striven to train up a class of native administrators to assist the young Raja in managing his country. It contended in 1877 and 1878, zealously and humanely but without adequate success, against a severe famine, which afflicted this territory, and was protracted beyond all precedent in the records of misfortune. It also advanced large sums of money to this State during that terrible hime. The object in view has been to take a brief survey of the enormous territories which are not under the direct sway of the British empire, but which are under its protection. The larger states possess full powers of internal administration and possess the dignity of a resident or connection with a British agency. The smaller states are more closely supervised, and do not possess the independent powers of life and death over their subjects. All are required to conform to the general principles of enlightened government ; and actual misgovernment is punished. European British subjects are not subject to the criminal courts of these states, but to the political agencies of the British Government. Many pay tribute in one shape or another, In none have the chiefs the control over their relations with foreign governments, These states maintain considerable armies. APPENDIX 1, Diaovam giving a Conspectus of the Legislatures. [Legislature of 1834, (3 & 4 William 1V., Cap. 8). Governor - General and Council of three, with a fourth Member (a lawyer) for {egislative duty aly. Legislature of 1853, 16 & 1x7 Vic, Cap. og). Tovernor - General and Council of four (all four being on the Executive Council): nlon The Chief Justice of Bengal, One Judge, and One ‘‘ Legislative Member ** appoint ed by each Governor and Lieute. nant.Governor. Legislature of 1861 (24 & 25 Vie,. Can. 67). '4) Governor-General and Council of five) “* Ordinary > Members— Lh {Three of them officials and two non-offi-{ 5 | 8 cials—usually one “Legal Member” § © Z and one *‘ Financial Member’) ; & ta Pa and as re ©F *¢ Extraordinary *> Members— 5 35 (1) Commander-in.Chief (if appointed), | a% (2) Governor of Madras or Bombay, ¢x- eg * officio when Council sits in his territories; to whick is added 'B) For legislative purposes only (no vote on other matters), “ Additional Members — (Not more than twelve nor less than six, one. half to be non-official), and Qf Jf SE “ee ta eo eS — a — Changes introduced in amendment of Indian “ouncil Act, 1861, by 55 & 56 Vic, Cap. ra (1802). The number of Addi. tional Members shall not be Jess than ten nox nore than sixteen. (1) Lieutenant.Governor, (2) Chief Commissioner, ex-officio (and without reference to maximum of r2) when the Council sits for makine laws in their territories. No local Legislative Councils at Madras, Bombav. or Fort William. Legislative Coun- Legislative Coun. Legislative Coun. cil. Bengal. cls of Bombay «ils for other Pro. and Madras, vinces. re sme? ee ee ae Act directs Gover. Constituted by the Act allows Gover. nor-General to Act itself. nor.General to appoint (done appoint. One has january 17th, 1862}. been appointed for the North-Western Provinces and Oudh. ee ee eee me te ee er rr Their “ Acts! require the assent of the Governor-General, "he number of Addi: donal Members of Souncil nominated bY he Governors of the residencies of Fort Ste Seorge and Bombay, ‘espectively, shall be a0t less than eight not nore than twenty (beides the Advocate Seneral of the Presi lency or officer acting + that canaCity. lny person resident in India may be nominat-3d an Additional Menmser of Council, or 2 Member of the Council of a Lieutenant-Gover=AY. The Governor-General in Council may by proclamation increase the number of Councillors whom the Lieutenant-Governors of the Ben. zal Division of the residency of Fort Wil. liam, and the North. West Provinces and Dudh, respectively, may nominate. Pro. sided that not more -han twenty shall be rominated for Bengal a Sa for the North.West Provinc © 1 Oudh. es APPENDIX II. MAGNA CHARTA. A SUMMARY OF THE CHARTER. Magna Charta contains, in addition to the preamble, sixty-three clauses inserted without much regard to orderly arrangement. Its chief provisions may be conveniently grouped and summarised as follows :— Commencing with the declaration that the Church of Clause I. Liberties England shall be free (‘quod Angliof the Church. cana ecclesia libera sit’) with all her rights and liberties inviolate, and expressly confirming the freedom of election which he had already granted by separate charter, John grants to all the freemen of the kingdom (‘words,’ remarks Sir Edward Coke, ‘which extend also to villeins, for they are accounted free against all men, saving against the lords ’), the underwritten liberties : L.—Feudal Obligations. 2, 3. The beir (if of age) shall pay only the ancient . relief '—viz., in the case of an earl or Ret. baron, rool; of a knight, ro0s.; of one holding less than a knight's fee, less in proportion. A minor, who is in ward, shall have his inheritance, on coming of age, without relief or fine. 4, 5. Guardians shall take only reasonable fruits and profits, without destruction or waste; Wardships. g and shall keep up the estate in proper sondition during the wardship. iv 6. Heirs shall be married without disparagement, Hw their near blood relations having notice arriage. beforehand. 7, 8. A widow shall receive freely, within forty days i of her husband’s death, her dowry Hits, and inheritance; and shall have her quarantine (forty days’ residence) in the family mansion. She shall not be forced to re-marry ; but if she wish to do so. must obtain the lord’s consent. 15. The King shall not empower mesne lords to exact other than the three ordinary Aidsof mesne lords. 435 to ransom the lord's person, to knight his eldest son, and once to marry his eldest daughter,—and these of reasonable amount. 16. No one shall be compelled to render more than the due service for a knight's fee or other free tenement, 29. No knight shall be compelled to pay for castleguard, if he be willing to perform the Cust onary, service in person, or (on reasonable excuse) by a proper deputy; and whilst on service in the army, he shall be free from the duty of castle-guard. 32. The King shall not hold the lands of convicted felons except for a year and a day, at Lads of felons the expiration of which time the lands shall be given up to the lords of the fees. 37. The King shall not have the wardship of land Wardship of lands held in chivalry of a mesne lord, by held of mesne lords. reason of the sub-tenant also holding other land of the King, either in fee-farm, socage, burgage, or petit-serjeanty ; nor the wardship of such fee-farm unless it owe military service. 43. The tenants of baronies escheated to the Crown shall only pay the same relief and Escheated baronies. 3 . perform the same services as if the lands were still held of a mesne lord. 46. Barons who have founded abbeys shall have Abbeys of private the custody of them when vacant. foundation. Ul.— Administration of Law and Justice. 17. Common Pleas shall not follow the King’s court, Common Pleas. but be held in some certain place, 18, 19. The recognitions of Novel disseisin, Mort } d’ancester, and Darrein Presentment Assizes. shall only be held in the court of the county where the lands in question lie. The King, or in his absence the chief justice, shall send two justices into each county four times a year, who, with four knights to be chosen by the county court, shall hold such assizes. If all the matters cannot be determined on the day appointed for each county, a sufficient number of knights and freeholders present at the assizes shall stay to decide them. 20. A freeman shall only be amerced, for a small ‘ offence after the manner of the offence, aa for a great crime according to the heinousness of it, saving to him his contenement ; and, after the same manner, a merchant saving his merchandise, and a villein saving his wainage ; the amercements in aj} cases to be assessed by the oath of honest men of the neighbourhood, l vi 21. Earls and barons shall not be amerced but by their peers, and according to the degree of the offence. 22. No clerk shall be amerced for his lay tenement except according to the proportions aforesaid, and not according to the value of his ecclesiastical benefice. 24. No sheriff, constable, coroner, or bailiff of the Fleas of the Crown. King shall hold pleas of the Crown. 34. The writ called Praecipe shall not in future be Writ of Praecipe in 155ued 0 as to cause a freeman to lose capile. his Court. 36. The writ of inquest of life or limb shall be given ) Writ De odio et gratis, and not denied. Yl 38. No bailiff for the future shall put anyone to his law Wager of law. (ad legem) upon fis own bare saying, without credible witnesses to prove it, 42. In future anyone may leave the kingdom and “Ne exeat regno’ Yeturn at will, unless in time of war, restrained. when he may be restrained ‘for some short space for the common good of the kingdom. Prisoners, outlaws, and alien enemies are excepted, and foreign merchants shall be dealt with as provided in the 41st clause (infra, p. viii). 44. Persons dwelling without [the limits of a] forest shall not in future be compelled to Forest courts. attend the King’s forest courts upon common summons, unless they be impleaded or be pledges for others attached for something concerning the forest. + 45. Justices, constables, sherifts, and tailifts shall Judges to be skilled Oly be appointed of ‘such as know in the law. the law and mean duly to observe it.’ 54. No one shall be taken or imprisoned on the Appeal by ewoman appeal of a woman except for the for death of her husnd death of her husband. NL. — Fundamental Principles of the Constitution. 12. No scutage or aid shall be imposed unless per No scutageor extrn- ~~ COMMUNE concilium vegni, except in the prdinary aid fo be three cases of ransoming the King's imposed except by the . . i common council of the ~ Person, making his eldest son a knight, nation. and once for marrying his eldest daughter ; and for these the aids shall be reasonable. In like manner it shall be concerning the aids of the city of London, 14. In order to take the common counsel of the Method of summons ~~ Dation in the imposition of aids (other to the national council. than the three regular feudal aids) and of scutage, the King shall cause to be summoned the archbishops, bishops, earls, and greater barons, by writ directed to each severally, and all other tenants in capite by a general writ addressed to the sheriff of each shire; a certain day and place shall be named for their meeting, of which forty days’ notice shall be given ; in all letters of summons the cause of summons shall be specified ; and the consent of those present on the appointed day shall bind those who, though summoned, shall not have attended. 39. No FREE MAN SHALL BE TAKEN OR IMPRISONED, » . OR DISSEISED, OR OUTLAWED, OR EXILED, Predicts ian ins OR ANYWAYS DESTROYED; NOR WILL WE GO UPON HIM, NOR WILL WE SEND UPON HIM, UNLESS BY THE LAWFUL JUDGMENT OF HIS PEERS, OR BY THE LAW OF THE LAND. viii) 40. To NONE WILL WE SELL, TO NONE WILL WE DENY No sale, denial or OR DELAY, RIGHT OR JUSTICE. delay of justice. 1V.—Cities, Boroughs, and Commerce. 13. The City of London shall have all its ancient liber-Liberties of Lone ties and free customs, and so of ail don, &c. other cities, boroughs, towns, and ports. 33. All wears (‘kydelli’) in the Thames and Medway and throughout England shall be put down, except on the sea-coast. 35. There shall be one standard of measures and Uniformity of ©ORe standard of weights throughout weights and measures. the kingdom. 41. All merchants shall have liberty safely to enter, . to dwell and travel in, and to depart EotelSth thst chest from, England, for the purposes of commerce, without being subjected to any evil tolls, but only to the ancient and allowed customs, except in time of war. On the breaking out of war, merchants of the hostile State who may be in England shall be attached, without damage to their bodies or goods, until it be known how our merchants are treated in such hostile State; and if ours be safe, the others shall be safe also. V.— Purveyance and other Royal Exaclions. 28. No constable or other royal bailiff shall take any man’s corn or other chattels without Purveyance. . . immediate payment, unless the seller voluntarily give credit. 30, 31. Nor shall the King, his sheriffs or bailiffs, take any horses or carriages of freemen for carriage, or any man’s timber for castles or other uses, unless by consent of the owner. 23. Neither a town nor any man shall be distrained to make bridges or banks, unless anciently and of right bound to do so. Bridoes. 25. Counties, hundreds, wapentakes, and trethings Ferm of counties, Shall stand at the ancient ferms,” with-&e. out any increase, except the manors of the royal demesne. 9. Land or rent shall not be seized for any debt due Debts due to the to the Crown, so long as the chattels Crown of the debtor will suffice; sureties shall not be distrained while the principal debtor is capable of payment, and if they have to pay, they shall be indemnified out of the lands and rents of their principal. 10, 11. Debts due to the Jews are to bear no interest during the minority of the heir of a And 3.2% Jit, deceased debtor ; the widow shall have her dower, and pay nothing of the debt; and the children shall be provided with necessaries before payment of the debt out of the residue. 26. On the death of a tenant in capite of a lay fee, indebted to the Crown, the sheriff or other bailiff may attach the chattels of the deceased found upon his lay fee, to the value of the debt, by the view of lawful men; and nothing shall be removed until the whole debt be paid, the surplus being left to the executors to fulfil the testament of the deceased. If nothing be found due to the King, all the chattels shall go to the use of the deceased, saving to his wife and children their reasonable shares. By clause 60, to which reference has already been Ser apticntiin made, all the foregoing rights and liberties granted to the King’s vassals are expressly extended to the whole nation, The Charter Enacting words Concludes: ‘63. Wherefore we will wd oath. and firmly enjoin that the Church of England be free, and that all men in our kingdom have and bold the aforesaid liberties, rights, and concessions, well and in peace, freely aud quietly, fully and wholly, to them and their heirs, of us and our heirs, in all things and places for ever as aforesaid.” This is followed by the oath to be taken by the King and the barons, mutually to observe all the articles of the Charter, in good faith and without evasion. Clauses 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59 Temporary provi- and 62 have been omitted from this sions. summary, as being mainly of a special and temporary character, but may be found in full in the Latin text. They relate principally to the reform of the forests, the surrender of charters and hostages placed in the King’s hands as securities, the dismissal of his foreign servants and mercenary troops, the rights of the Welsh and of the King of Scots, and the grant of a general political amnesty. There remains only the 61st clause, by which means Mode of enforcing Were provided for enforcing the due the Charter. observance of the Charter. The question, how should the compact between the King and his people be enforced, was at once difficult and pressing. The King was left in possession of the regal power and dignity ; sxperience had shown the ease with which former sovereigns had broken their most solemn written engagements; and the insincerity of John was notorious, At this period there were no effective constitutional checks against the King; and so a rude device was hit upon, in its nature really impracticable, by which John granted, in effect, to all his subjects a qualified liberty of rebellion. The whole The twenty-five baronage were to elect a council of “onservators. twenty-five barons charged to take care with all their might that the provisions of the Charter were carried into effect. If the King or any of his officers should violate the Charter in the smallest particular, these barons, or four of their number, were to complain to the King, or in his absence to the Justiciar, and demand instant redress. If no redress be given within forty days, ‘the said five-and-twenty barons, together with the commonalty The national unity Of the whole land (communa totius “ecognised. ferree) shall distrain and distress us in all possible ways, by seizing our castles, lands, possessions and in any other manner they can, till the grievance is redressed according to their pleasure, saving harmless our own person and the persons of our queen and children ; and when it is redressed they shall obey us as before, And any person whatsoever in the land may swear that he will obey the orders of the five-and-twenty barons aforesaid in the execution of the premises, and will distress us, jointly with them, to the utmost of his power; and we publicly and freely give liberty to anyone that shall please to swear this, and never will hinder any person from taking the same oath, As to all those in the land who wil} not of their own ‘accord swear to join the five-and-twenty barons in distraining and distressing us, we will issue orders to make them take the same cath ag aforesaid? x11 APPENDIX III. PROVISIONS OF THE HABEAS CORPUS ACT, 1679. It enacts: —(1) That on complaint and request in Provisions of the writing by or on behalf of any peison Habeas Corpus Act, committed and charged with any crime 1679. (unless committed for treason or felony plainly expressed in the warrant; or as accessory or on suspicion of being accessory before the fact to any petit treason or felony; or upon suspicion of such petit treason plainly expressed in the warrant ; or unless he is convicted or charged in execution by legal process) the Lord Chan. cellor or any of the judges in vacation, upon viewing a copy of the warrant, or affidavit that a copy is denied, shall (unless the party has neglected for two whole terms after his imprisonment to apply to any court for his enlargement) award a habeas corpus for such prisoner, returnable immediately before himself or any other of the judges. And upon service thereof the officer in whose custody the prisoner is shall bring him before the said Lord Chancellor or other judge, with the return of such writ and the tue cause of the commitment; and thereupon, within two days after the party shall be brought before them, the said Lord Chancellor or other judge shall discharge the prisoner, if bailable, upon giving security in any sum according to their discretion, having regard to his quality and the nature of his offence, to appear and answer to the accusation in the proper course of judicature, (2) That such writs shall be endorsed as granted in pursuance of this Act, and signed by the person awarding the same. (3) That the writ shall [ xiii) be returned, and the prisoner brought up, within a limited time according to the distance, not exceeding in any case twenty days after service of the writ. (4) That officers and keepers neglecting or refusing to make due returns, or not delivering to the prisoner or his agent within six hours after demand a true copy of the warrant of commitment, or shifting the custody of the prisoner from one to another without sufficient reason or authority (specified in section 8 of the Act), shall for the first offence forfeit £ 100, and for the second offence £200, to the party grieved and be disabled to hold his office. (5) That no person once delivered by habeas corpus shall be re-committed for the same offence, on penalty to the party of £500, (6) That every person committed for treason or felony shall, if he requires it, the first week of the next term, or the first day of the next session of ayer and fevminer, be indicted in that term or session, or else admitted to bail, unless it appear, upon sath made, that the King’s witnesses cannot be produced at that time; and if acquitted, or not indicted and tried in the second term or session, he shall be discharged from his imprisonment for such imputed oftence ; but that no person, after the assizes shall be open for the county in which he is detained, shall be removed from the common gaol by habeas corpus till after the assizes are ended, but shall be left to the justice of the judges of assize. (7) That any such prisoner may move for and obtain his kabeas corpus as well out of the Chancery or Exchequer as out of the King’s Bench or Common Pleas; and the Lord Chancellor or judges denying the same, on view of the copy of the warrant, or oath that such copy is refused, shall forfeit severally to the party grieved the sum of £500. (8) That this writ of habeas corpus shall run into the Counties Palatine. the Xiv Cinque Ports, and other privileged places, and the islands of Jersey and Guernsey. (9) That no inhabitant of Engfand (except persons contracting, or convicts praying, to be transported, or having committed some capital offence in the place to which they are sent) shall be sent prisoner to Scotland, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, Tangier,* or any places beyond the seas within or without the King’s dominions, on pain that the party committing, his advisers, aiders, and assistants, shall forfeit to the party aggrieved a sum not less than £500, to be recovered with treble costs ; shall be disabled to bear any office of trust or profit ; shall incur the penalties of praemunive ; and shall be incapable of receiving the King’s pardon for any of the said forfeitures, losses, or disabilities. t The fortress of Tangier in Africa (together with the island of Bombay) was acquired by Charles I1., in 1662, as a portion with his wife Katherine of Braganza, It was abandoned in 1683. 4+ 21 Car. IL. c. 2; and see Stephen, Comm. (5th ed.) iv, 25. “rap APPENDIX 1V. THE BILL OF RIGHTS, The Bill of Rights was an act declaring the rights and liberties of the subject and settling the succession of the Crown. The Houses of Lords and Commons presented this, in the form of a demand, to William and Mary, who had to accept it as a condition of their reign. The main points in this declaration are the following :— 1. That the pretended power of suspending of laws, or the execution of laws, by regal authority, without consent of Parliament, is illegal. That the pretended power of dispensing with laws, or the execution of laws by regal authority, as it hath been assumed and exercised of late, is illegal, That the commission for erecting the late Court of Commissioners for Ecclesiastical Causes, and all other commissions and courts of like nature, are illegal and pernicious. [hat levying money for or to the use of the Crown by pretence and prerogative, without grant of Parliament, for longer time or in other manner than the same is or shall be granted. is illegal. 5 S That it is the right of the subjects to petition the King, and all commitments and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal. That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament, is against law. . XVI, 7. That the subjects which are Protestants may have arms for their defence suitable to their conditions, and as allowed by law, That election of members of Parliament ought to be free. 3. [O. [ 1. [2. (3. That the freedom of speech, and debates or proceedings in Parliament, ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament, That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed; nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. That jurors ought to be duly impanelled and returned; and jurors, which pass upon men in trials for high treason, ought to be freeholders. That all grants and promises of fines and forfeitures of particular persons before conviction, are illegal and void. And that for redress of all grievances, and for the amending, strengthening, and preserving of the laws, Parliament ought to be held frequently. The succession to the Crown was secured to the issue »f Mary ; in default of her issue to the Princess Anne of Denmark and her issue ; in default thereof to the heirs of William, [It was provided that the King or Queen should >elong to the Protestant religion, and should forfeit their right if they joined the Roman Catholic Church, THE END. Pioneer Press, Allahabad,