{

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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,