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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