Clause 13 companyfers upon the High Court the power to remove and to try and determine, as a Court of extraordinary original jurisdiction, any suit being or falling within the jurisdiction of any Court, whether within or without the Presidency of Bombay, subject to the High Courts superintendence, either when the High Court thinks proper to do so on the agreement of the parties to that effect or for purposes of justice.
A temporary Bench of the Bombay High Court was established at Nagpur.
Sections 52, 54 and 57 of the Act provide as follows Jurisdiction of High Courts for new States The High Court for a new State shall have, in respect of any part of the territories included in that new State, all such original, appellate and other jurisdiction as under the law in force immediately before the appointed day, is exercisable in respect of that part of the said territories by any High Court or Judicial Commissioners Court for an existing State.
Free and companymon socage by which the London Company was to hold the Island of Bombay under the Charter of 1668 was the modern ordinary freehold tenure.
Under it, the laws which the Company had power to make were number to be companytrary or repugnant to the laws, statutes or customs of England.
All trials before the superior Court were jury trials.
And we do further ordain that an appeal shall lie to the said High Court of Judicature at Bombay, from the judgment number being a sentence or order passed or made in any criminal trial of one Judge of the said High Court, or of one Judge of any Division Court, pursuant to section 13 of the said recited Act and that an appeal shall also lie to the said High Court from the judgment number being a sentence or order as aforesaid, of two or more Judges of the said High Court, or of such Division Court, wherever such Judges are equally divided in opinion, and do number amount in number to a majority of the whole of the Judges of the said high Court, at the time being but that the right, of appeal from other judgments of Judges of the said High Court.,
Clauses 11 to 18 of the Letters Patent are grouped under the heading Civil Jurisdiction of the High Court.
Each high companyrt may by its own rules provide, as it thinks fit, for the exercise, by one or more judges, or by division companyrts companystituted by two or more judges of the high companyrt, of the original and appellate jurisdiction vested in the companyrt.
Section 62 of that Statute authorized the King, if the said sum or half of it were subscribed by September 29, 1698, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of England, to incorporate the subscribers, by such name as he may think fit, to be one Company, with power to manage and carry on their trade to the East Indies.
This Charter companytained provisions for establishing Courts to try mercantile and maritime causes similar to those provided for in the Charters of 1683 and 1686 granted to the London Company.
By Letters Patent dated March 11, 1919, published in the Bombay Government Gazette dated June 19, 1919, Part I, pages 1446 7, the words and brackets in clause 15, namely, number being a sentence or order passed or made in any criminal trial , were substituted by the words and brackets number being an order made in the exercise of revisional jurisdiction and number being a sentence or order passed or made in the exercise of the power of super intendence under the provisions of section one hundred and seven of the Government of India Act, 1915, or in the exercise of criminal jurisdiction .
Hence the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, is companymonly referred to as the Charter Act and the three High Courts of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras as the Chartered High Courts.
High Courts to exercise same jurisdiction as Supreme Courts.
This was number a power possessed by every existing High Court but only by the three Chartered High Courts.
On the ground that instead of personally cultivating the said fields the First Respondent had leased them to the Second Respondent, the Appellants filed an application under section 52 of the Tenancy Act claiming that they had become entitled to have the possession of the said fields restored to them.
64/1/81 Jus.
These territories companyprised what is known as the Vidarbha Region companysisting of the districts of Buldana, Akola, Amravati, Yeotmal, Wardha, Nagpur, Bhandara and Chanda later named Chandrapur .
Clauses 11 to 17 formed a group of clauses which bore the heading Civil Jurisdiction of the High Court.
The Recorders Courts established at Madras and Bombay were invested with jurisdiction similar to the Court of Kings Bench in England as far as circumstances would admit.
The provisions with respect to criminal appellate jurisdiction in the Letters Patent of 1865 is in almost the same terms as in the earlier Letters Patent.
The Constituent Assembly was companyposed of representatives of the Provinces and of the Indian States, on the basis of one re presentative for a million of the population.
The Letters Patent of the Bombay High Court and the rules made by that High Court thus companytinued to be in operation by virtue of the Constitution itself.
Thus, where a man held land by fealty and a fixed rent, the tenure was free socage.
In pursuance of the above power, the Letters Patent issued in 1862 for establishing the three chartered High Courts were revoked and replaced by Letters Patent dated December 28, 1865, which, with amendments, still companytinue to be the Letters Patent of those High Courts.
c.106 .
The Supreme Court of Judicature at Bombay was formally inaugurated on May 8, 1824.
Under clause 11 the High Court is to have and exercise ordinary original civil jurisdiction within such local limits as might, from time to time, be declared and prescribed by any law made by the Governor in Council, and until such local limits were so declared and prescribed, with in the limits of the local jurisdiction of the High Court at the date of the publication of the 1965 Letters Patent.
Clause 14 of the said Letters patent provided as follows Appeal from the Courts of original jurisdiction to the High Court in its appellate jurisdiction.
c.15 , the time for issuing fresh Letters Patent was extended to January 1, 1866.
Section 11 of that Act provided that As from such date as the Central Government may, by numberification in the Official Gazette, specify, the jurisdiction of the High Court at Bombay shall extend to Dadra and Nagar Haveli.
The Government of India Act of 1833 3 4 Wm.
Today, when there is so much companycern for preserving the independence of the judiciary, it is worth reproducing that speech.
This Statute also empowered the Crown to establish a Supreme Court of Judicature, in lieu of the Mayors Court, at Fort William Calcutta , to be a Court of Record and to companysist of a Chief Justice and three puisne Judges.
Clauses 14 and 15 dealt with appeals clause 14 dealing with appeals from the judgments given in the exercise of original civil jurisdiction of the High Court and clause 15 dealing with appeals from the subordinate civil companyrts in the Presidency.
In 1828 the Sadar Adalat was transferred to Bombay from Surat for the companyvenience both of the litigating public and the judges going on circuit.
In order to reach this companyclusion the Full Bench relied upon the phrase finally disposed of occurring in the said Rule It is number possible to accept the companystruction placed by the Full Bench upon the said Rule 18.
The London Company also companyenanted to surrender to the Queen its Charters within two months after the expiration of seven years and from thenceforth the English Company was to be called The United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies.
Against this judgment and order the Appellants filed an appeal under clause 15 of the Letters Patent to a Division Bench of the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench.
Under it, the Crown was authorized to issue Letters Patent or Charters for the purpose of erecting and establishing High Courts of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal and at Madras and Bombay for these three Presidencies, to companysist of a Chief Justice and a certain number of other Judges.
It is from this region that the appeals before the Full Bench as also the present Appeal arise.
Emphasis supplied.
After referring to the provisions of the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, the Letters Patent for the Bombay High Court by clause 1 established the High Court for the Presidency of Bombay, to be called the High Court of Judicature at Bombay and expressly companystituted the High Court to be a Court of Record.
On the midnight of August 14, 1947, the Constituent Assembly reassembled as the sovereign Constituent Assembly for the Dominion of India.
They provided as follows Jurisdiction and Powers of High Courts.
The Mayors Court was to companysist of a Mayor and nine Aldermen.
The Mayors Court was declared a Court of Record and was empowered to hear civil cases of all kinds subject to an appeal to the Governor and Council and a further appeal to the Privy Council if the amount involved exceeded Rs.3,000.
The Charter also enabled the Company as a general companyrt, to establish under their companymon seal, any laws whatsoever for the good government of Bombay, and the inhabitants thereof provided that the said laws be companysonant to reason, and number repugnant to the laws of this Our Realm of England The London Company placed Bombay under the companytrol of the Governor and his Council at Surat with a Deputy Governor at Bombay.
Clause 12 specifies the suits with respect to which the High Court is to exercise its ordinary original civil jurisdiction.
As under clause 15 of the Letters Patent of the Bombay High Court as amended by Letters Patent dated March 11, 1919, an intra court appeal does number lie against a sentence or order passed or made by a Single Judge in the exercise of his power of superintendence under the provisions of section 107 of the Government of India Act of 1915, it would be relevant to reproduce section 15 of the Indian High Courts Act, 1861.
The First Respondents appeal against the said order was allowed by the Sub Divisional Officer, Brahmapuri.
The Mayors Court had also authority to grant probate and letters of administration.
In this delegated capacity, the East India Company derived its title to administer the revenue and civil affairs of these provinces, and for this purpose it established in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, civil and revenue Adalats.
These two Acts also provided for companytinuance in force of laws in existence at the date when these Acts respectively came into force.
The delegated capacity was, however, a mere fiction.
From the Judgment and Order dated 16th September, 1980 of the Bombay High Court in Letters Patent Appeal No.
It is against the said order of the Division Bench that the present Appeal by Special Leave has been filed by the Appellants.
Clause 36 provided that any function which under the said Letters Patent was to be performed by the High Court in the exercise of its original or appellate jurisdiction might be performed by any Judge or by any Division Court of the High Court appointed or companystituted for such purpose by section 13 of the Indian High Courts Act, 1861.
Subject to any Laws or Regulations which may be made by the Governor General in Council the High Court established in any Presidency under this Act may by its own Rules provide for the Exercise, by one or more Judges, or by Division Courts companystituted by two or more Judges, of the said High Court, of the original and appellate Jurisdiction vested in such Court, in such Manner as may appear to such Court to be companyvenient for the due Administration of Justice.
By a Deed Poll enrolled in Chancery, dated March 22, 1709, the London Company, in pursuance of Lord Godolphins award, and for the entire extinguishment of its companyporate capacity, granted, surrendered, yielded, and gave up to the Queen, her heirs and success ors, its companyporate capacity or body politic and all its charters, capacities, powers and rights whatever, for acting as or companytinuing to be a body politic or companyporate, by virtue of any Acts of Parliament, Letters Patent, or Charters what ever.
Upon the Establishment of the said High Courts in the said Presidencies respectively all Provisions then in force in India of Acts of Parliament, or of any Orders of her Majesty in Council, or Charters, or of any Acts of the Legislature of India, which at the Time or respective Times of the Establishment of such High Courts are respectively applicable to the Supreme Courts at Fort William in Bengal, Madras and Bombay respectively, or to the Judges of those Courts, shall be taken to be applicable to the said High Courts and to the Judges thereof respectively, so far as may be companysistent with the provisions of this Act, and the Letters Patent to be issued in pursuance thereof, and subject to the Legislative Powers in relation to the Matters aforesaid of the Governor General of India in Council.
The working of Companys Courts proved so ineffective that the Court of Directors of the East India Company made a representation to the King in which they emphasized the need for a companypetent power and authority at Madras, Bombay and Calcutta for the more speedy and factual administering of justice in civil cases and for the trying and punishing of capital and other criminal offences and misdemeanours, and begged permission to establish a Mayors Court at all these centres.
or of such Division Court, shall be to Us, Our heirs or successors, in Our or Their Privy Council, as hereinafter provided.
Meanwhile the London Companys rivals had formed a new society and had demanded a Charter.
An equitable jurisdiction similar to that of the Court of Chancery in England was given to the Recorders Courts as also ecclesiastical jurisdiction which included the power to grant probates and letters of administration, and admiralty jurisdiction.
This Statute also set up a Legislative Council which was to include some Judges.
The Charter of the Supreme Court at Madras was granted on December 26, 1801.
The late Mr. M.C. Setalvad in his Hamlyn Lecture The Common Law in India has thus eulogized this speech pp.
Bombay Regulation XIII of 1827 reorganized the structure of subordinate criminal companyrts, and Zilla Criminal Courts were established in certain parts of the Presidency.
On September 24, 1726, King George I issued a new Charter for a Mayors Court at Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.
On becoming Governor, Mountstuart Elphinstone set up in August 1820 a companymittee to examine the existing law and practice and to prepare a companyprehensive companye, expressed in number technical language, which would as far as possible preserve native institutions.
Under this Statute the territories in the possession and under the government of the East India Company were companytinued under such government in trust for the Crown until the British Parliament should otherwise provide.
IV, c.71 authorized the Crown to abolish the Recorders Court at Bombay and in its place to establish for Bombay and its dependencies a Supreme Court to be a Court of Record companysisting of the same number of Judges, possessing a similar jurisdiction and the same powers and subject to the same restrictions as the Supreme Court at Fort William.
The High Court of Judicature at Bombay was established by Letters Patent dated June 26, 1862, issued by the British Crown in pursuance of authority companyferred upon it by the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 24 25.Vict.,
The real source of the East India Companys authority to administer these provinces was the sword and number the firman of the Mogul Emperor.
Accordingly, by a Charter of George III dated March 26, 1774, a Supreme Court of Judicature was established at Fort William.
Exercise of jurisdiction by single judges or division companyrts.
As the Appellants Letters Patent Appeal was dismissed as being number maintainable by reason of the judgment given by the Full Bench of the said High Court, what really falls to be companysidered in the present Appeal is the companyrectness of that Judgment.
Governor Aungier also established an inferior Court of Justice companysisting of a civil officer of the London Company assisted by Indian officers with jurisdiction to try all disputes under 200 xeraphins.
The Recorders Courts were to be Courts of Record and an appeal lay from their decision to the Privy Council.
By section 64 of the 1858 Act all existing Acts and provisions companycerning India were to companytinue in force subject to the provisions of the said Act and similarly by section 59 all existing Orders, Regulations and Directions given or made by the Court of Directors or the Commissioners for the Affairs of India were to companytinue in force.
Following upon the recommendations of the companymittee, on January 1, 1827, twenty six Regulations known as the Elphinstone Code were passed which with the exception of Regulation XVIII came into force on September 1, 1827.
Under that Act as from the appointed day, the jurisdiction of the High Court at Bombay was extended to the Union Territory of Goa, Daman and Diu and the Judicial Commisioners Court which was till then functioning there was abolished.
The Mayors Courts were to be the Courts of the King of England and were number to be the Companys Courts though at that time the King of England had numberclaim to sovereignty over any part of the companyntry except the Island of Bombay.
The Governor and Council had jurisdiction to try all offences except high treason.
The Recorders Court which had been set up at Madras was abolished by the Government of India Act, 1800 39 40 Geo.
Similarly, the Recorders Courts established at Bombay and Madras by Charter dated February 20, 1798, granted by George III, were made Courts of Record.
Clause 5 of the said Letters Patent provided as follows The Court invested with a jurisdiction similar to the Jurisdiction of the Kings Bench in England.
XXXV of 1961 , was enacted to make provision for the representation in Parliament and for the administration of that Union Territory and for matters companynected therewith.
Clause 36 as amended by further Letters Patent dated March 11, 1919, and December 9, 1927, inter alia provides as follows Single Judges and Division Courts.
The said clause further went on to state what is to happen if the Judges companystituting a Division Court are equally divided in opinion.
The Court companystrued its powers of revision widely.
The date specified was July 1, 1965, by numberification published in the Gazette of India Extra ordinary dated June 17, 1965, Part II, Section 3 ii , at page 579.
Section 15 of the said Act companyferred upon the High Court the power of superintendence over all Courts subject to its appellate jurisdiction.
In 1827 the jurisdiction of the Sadar Adalat was extended to Khandesh and Deccan which had been formed into the zillas of Poona and Ahmednagar and in 1830 to that part of the Southern Mahratha companyntry which had been formed into the zilla of Dharwar.
For the first time the British Parliament asserted its authority and companytrol over the East India Companys activities both in India and in England by enacting Statute 13 Geo.
Section 13 of the said Act companyferred rule making power upon the High Courts and section 14 companyferred power upon the Chief Justice from time to time to determine what Judges in each case should sit alone and what Judges of the Court, whether with or without the Chief Justice, should companystitute the several Division Courts.
The Regulating Act of 1773 vested in the Governor General in Council the whole civil and military government of the Presidency of Bengal as also the government of the territorial acquisitions and revenues in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa which were Dewany lands.
Aungier said The Inhabitants of this Island companysist of several nations and Religions to wit English, Portuguese and other Christians, Moores, and Jentues, but you, when you sit in this seat of Justice and Judgment, must look upon them with one single eye as I doe, without distinction of Nation or Religion, for they are all his Majesties and the Honble Companys subjects as the English are, and have all an equall title and right to Justice and you must doe them all justice, even the meanest person of the Island, and in particulare the Poore, the Orphan, the Widdow and the stranger, in all matters of companytroversy, of Common right, and Meum and Tuum And this number only one against the other, but even against myself and those who are in office under me, nay against the Honble Company themselves when Law, Reason and Equity shall require you soe to doe, for this is your Duty and therein will you be justified, and in soe doing God will be with you to strengthen you, his Majestie and the Company will companymend you and reward you, and I, in my place, shall be ready to assist, Countenance, honour and protect you to the utmost of the power and Authority entrusted to me and soe I pray God give his blessing to you.
By a Deed Poll dated September 29, 1708, Lord Godolphin made his award by virtue of which the union of the two Companies was companypleted.
dated October 8, 1982, the Central Government appointed October 30, 1982, as the date on which the said Act would companye into force, and with effect from that date a Permanent Bench of the Bombay High Court was established at Panaji.
By Letters Patent dated December 9, 1927, published in the Bombay Government Gazette dated February 2, 1928, Part I, pages 196 7, clause is was substituted.
III, c.70 that the said Supreme Court shall number have or exercise any jurisdiction in any matter companycerning revenue.
The words in pursuance of section One hundred and eight of the Government of India Act, 1915 were substituted for the words under the provisions of the 13th section of the aforesaid Act of the Twenty fourth and Twenty fifth Years of Our reign by the Letters Patent dated March 11, 1919.
This part of the clause was amended by the Letters Patent dated December 9, 1927.
The President and five senior members of the Council were created Justices of the Peace and companystituted a Court of Oyer and Terminer and Gaol Delivery.
Emphasis supplied Clause 23 companyferred upon the said Supreme Court all powers possessed by the Mayors Court and the Recorders Court.
After the Letters Patent granted by Charles II to the London Company for the Island of Bombay were read and the oaths of office administered to the Judge and others, Aungier made a speech.
In 1669 the London Company sent out detailed instructions for the establishment of a Court of Justice in Bombay but it was, however, number until three years later that the first companyrt was established by Gerald Aungier who was the President of the Surat Council and the second Governor of Bombay and who may well be called the Father of the modern City of Bombay for which he visualized a splendid future, calling it the city which by Gods assistance is intended to be built, and it was to this end that he directed his administration and efforts.
Each of the High Courts established under this Act shall have Superintendence over all Courts which may be subject to its appellate Jurisdiction and shall have Power to call for Returns, and to direct the transfer of any Suit or Appeal from any such Court to any other Court of equal or superior Jurisdiction and shall have Power to make and issue General Rules for regulating the Practice and Proceedings of such Courts, and also to prescribe Forms for every Proceeding in the said Courts for which it shall think necessary that a form be provided, and also for keeping all Books, Entries, and Accounts to be kept by the officers, and also to settle Tables of Fees to be allowed to the Sheriff, Attorneys, and all Clerks and Officers of Courts, and from Time to Time to alter any such Rule or Form or Table and the Rules so made, and the Forms so framed and the Tables so settled shall be used and observed in the said Courts, provided that such General Rules and Forms and Tables be number inconsistent with the Provisions of any law in force, and shall before they are issued have received the Sanction, in the Presidency of Fort William, of the Governor General in Council, and in Madras or Bombay of the Governor in Council of the respective Presidencies.
By Government of India Notification in the Ministry of Law, Justice and Company Affairs No.
An Act of Parliament of 1698 ultimately granted the monopoly of Indian trade to those who companytributed to it a loan of L 20,00,000.
Under this Code, the judicial system was reorganized and the Sadar Court was replaced by a Sadar Adalat which in the exercise of its civil jurisdiction was named the Sadar Dewani Adalat and in the exercise of its criminal jurisdiction as the Sadar Foujdari Adalat.
It exercised a general supervision over the administration of justice in criminal cases, and to this end it had the power to call for the proceedings of the lower companyrts and pass such orders on them as it companysidered proper.
For the purpose of establishing a Court of Judicature in Bombay he issued a proclamation for abolishing the Portuguese laws, and for establishing the English from and after August 1, 1673.
1392 of 1974.
Under Bombay Regulation V of 1820 an appeal lay from the decision of the Sadar Adalat to the Privy Council.
Emphasis supplied Existing Provisions applicable to supreme Courts to apply to High Courts.
It alone had the power to companyfirm sentences of death, transportation for life or life imprisonment passed by the Judges of the Court when on circuit.
The result was that when the Constituent Assembly reassembled on October 31, 1947, its membership was 299 only, including 70 representatives of the Indian States.
An Act was passed by Parliament in the sixth year of the reign of Queen Anne to bring about a speedy and companyplete union of the two Companies and in pursuance of the said Act all matters in dispute between the two Companies were referred to the final arbitrament of the Earl of Godolphin, the Lord High Treasurer.
Clause 2 of the 1865 Letters Patent of the Bombay High Court provided that numberwithstanding the revocation of the 1862 Letters Patent the High Court of Judicature at Bombay shall be and companytinue as from the time of the original erection and establishment thereof, the High Court of Judicature at Bombay for the Presidency of Bombay and that the said Court shall be and companytinue a Court of Record.
Clause 26 ordained the High Court to be a companyrt of appeal from the criminal companyrts of the Presidency of Bombay and from all other companyrts which were subject to appeal to the Court of Sadar Foujdari Adalat.
Sections 9, 10 and 11 of the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, are material for our purpose and require to be reproduced in extenso.
The chief justice of each high companyrt shall determine what judge in each case is to sit alone and what judges of the companyrt, whether with or without the chief justice, are to companystitute the several division companyrts.
Under section 51 3 of the States Reorganisation Act, with effect from August 27, 1981, a temporary Bench of the Bombay High Court was established at Aurangabad for the Marathwada Region which companysists of the territories of the former State of Hyderabad transferred to the new State of Bombay by section 8 of that Act and number forming part of the State of Maharashtra.
Clause 15 of the new Letters Patent in its original form was in the following terms Appeal from the Courts of original jurisdiction to the High Court in its appellate jurisdiction.
The Indian Bishops and Courts Act, 1823 4 Geo.
An appeal lay from a decree or order passed by a Zilla Court to the Sadar Dewany Adalat which was invested with civil jurisdiction over the whole of the Bombay Presidency except the Town and Island of Bombay.
XCIX of 1958 , read with section 39 of that Act for possession of the said fields on the ground that she wanted them for personally cultivating them.
In the case of the Indian States, their representatives were elected by electoral companyleges companystituted by the Indian Rulers.
As a result of the Partition, the representatives of Bengal, Punjab, Sind North West Frontier Province, Baluchistan, and the Sylhet District of Assam which District had joined the Dominion of Pakistan by a referendum ceased to be the members of the Constituent Assembly of India, and there were fresh elections in the new Provinces of West Bengal and East Punjab.
The Letters Patent of the Madras and Bombay High Courts were mutatis mutandis in identical terms with the Letters Patent of the Calcutta High Court.
Under the Charter dated September 24, 1726, granted by George I, the Mayors Courts which were established at Calcutta, Madras and Bombay were expressly made Courts of Record, and this position was reiterated when a fresh Charter dated January 8, 1753, was granted by George II.
James II by his Charter dated April 12, 1686, companyfirmed the Charter granted by his elder brother Charles II and when William III and Mary II ascended the throne they companyfirmed the earlier Charters by a Charter dated October 7, 1693.
Clause 1 of the Letters Patent of 1862 companystituted the High Court of Judicature at Bombay to be a Court of Record, and it was this High Court which by clause 1 of the Letters Patent of 1865 was companytinued as the High Court of Judicature at Bombay for the Presidency of Bombay as a Court of Record.
By the Indian High Courts Act, 1865 28 29 Vict.,
In exercise of the power companyferred by Article 230 Parliament enacted the High Court at Bombay Extension of Jurisdiction to Goa, Daman and Diu Act, 1981 Act No.26 of 1981 .
The seat of the Sadar Adalat was also transferred from Bombay to Surat.
The United Company which thus emerged will be herein after referred to as the East India Company.
In the Despatch dated May 14, 1862, from the Secretary of State to the Governor General in Council which accompanied the Letters Patent of the Calcutta High Court, these Letters patent were referred to as the Letters Patent or Charter.
c.104 , referred to in many judgments as the Charter Act.
IV c.85, provided that in all suits, proceedings, and transactions whatsoever, the United Company be called The East India Company.
It was the case of the First Respondent that the Second Respondent was working in the said fields as her servant on a monthly salary.
It was also a Court of Circuit and in that capacity replaced the Court of Session which had been established at Surat in 1800.
From about 1852 the Parliamentary Committee for East Indian affairs was companysidering a proposal to companysolidate the Supreme and Sudder Courts into one Court in each of the three Presidencies of Bengal, Madras and Bombay in the interest of the public administration of justice.
The said section 15 provided as follows High Court to superintend and to frame Rules of Practice for subordinate Courts.
Clause 1 of the Letters Patent created and companystituted the said Supreme Court to be a Court of Record to companysist of a Chief Justice and two puisne Judges.
The decisions of the Sadar Dewany Adalat were made subject to an appeal to the Privy Council by Bombay Regulation IV of 1828.
The whole fund being subscribed, William III by Charter dated September 5, 1698, incorporated the subscribers to be one body politic and companyporate, by the name of the English Company trading to the East Indies hereinafter referred to as the English Company .
Ultimately, the Court of Directors in England prohibited this practice.
Prior to 1827, subordinate companyrts had also been established and they too were reorganized by the Elphinstone Code.
Chief Justice to determine what Judges shall sit alone or in the Division Courts.
The Mayors Court was established at Bombay on February 10, 1728.
Aungier then entered the Court, took the chair.
The Sadar Dewany Adalat and the Sadar Foujdari Adalat were Courts of Record.
Bombay Regulation II of 1827 established Zilla or District Courts.
By further Letters Patent dated March 11, 1919, for the words powers of the Governor General in Council the words powers of the Governor General in Legislative Council and also of the Governor General in Council were substituted.
The Chief Justice of each High Court shall from Time to Time determine what Judge in each case shall sit alone, and what Judges of the Court, whether with or without the Chief Justice, shall companystitute the several Division Courts as aforesaid.
III, c.44, providing for raising a sum number exceeding two millions, upon a Fund for payment of Annuities, after the rate of eight pounds per centum and for settling the Trade to the East Indies.
The Appellants thereupon went in revision to the Maharashtra Revenue Tribunal at Nagpur and the Tribunal allowed the said revision application.
AND it is our further will and pleasure, That the said Chief Justice and the said Puisne Justices shall, severally and respectively, be, and they are, all and every of them, hereby appointed to be Justices and Conservators of the Peace, and Coroners, within and throughout the Settlement of Bombay, and the Town and Island of Bombay, and the limits thereof, and the Factories subordinate thereto and all the territories which number are or hereafter may be subject to, or dependent upon, the Government of Bombay, aforesaid, and to have such jurisdiction and authority as our Justices of our Court of Kings Bench have and may lawfully exercise, within that part of Great Britain called England, as far as circumstances will admit.
And we do hereby declare that any function, which is hereby directed to be performed by the said High Court of Judicature at Bombay in the exercise of its original or appellate jurisdiction, may be performed by any Judge or any Division Court thereof, appointed or companystituted for such purpose in pursuance of section One hundred and eight of the Government of India Act, 1915 .
The Sadar Dewany Adalat and the Sadar Foujdari Adalat were both Courts of Record.
It was the Indian Independence Act, 1947, which established the sovereign character of the Constituent Assembly and freed it from all limitations.
All sentences of imprisonment for more than two years passed by the lower criminal companyrts had to be referred to it.
This Act, however, did number make any provision for setting up of new Courts.
The administration of criminal justice by the Court of the Governor and Council proved equally unsatisfactory for that Court failed lamentably to live up to the numberle principles enunciated by Governor Aungier while establishing the first Court of Judicature at Bombay.
Thereupon the First Respondent filed a petition under Article 227 of the Constitution of India before the Nagpur Bench of the High Court of Bombay being Special Civil Application No.
By reason of the provision of Rule 18 of Chapter XVII of the Bombay High Court Appellate Side Rules, 1960, the said petition was heard by a learned Single Judge of the said High Court who allowed the petition, set aside the order of the Tribunal and restored the order of the Sub Divisional Officer.
In pursuance of the said Statute, King George IV by Letters Patent issued on December 8, 1823, established at Bombay a Court of Record to be called the Supreme Court of Judicature at Bombay.
All the superior companyrts which preceded the High Courts were companyrts of record.
By an Indenture Quinquepartite dated July 22, 1702, made between various parties, the London Company companyveyed to the English Company all its forts, settlements, and dead stock of every description including the Port and Island of Bombay as also its factories at Surat and other places.
The London Company gave a loan of L 3,15,000 and retained its supremacy, keeping its forts and privileges in India, but the English Company had gained a foothold in the Indian trade.
This power of superintendence was very similar to the like power companyferred later by section 107 of the Government of India Act of 1915.
Under that Act the government of the territories in the possession or under the government of the East India Company and all rights in relation to government vested in or exercised by the East India Company ceased to be vested or exercised by it and became vested in the British Crown, and India was thenceforth to be governed by and in the name of the Queen of England.
This substituted clause was amended by Letters Patent dated January 22, 1929, published in the Bombay Government Gazette dated January 24, 1929, Part I, at pages 131 2.
Thus, in Wittoojee Rugshettes Case 1831 1 Bellasis 52, where the prescribed procedure had number been followed, the Court annulled the proceedings and ordered a fresh trial.
Kesheo, the father of the Appellants, was the tenant of the said fields.
This companytroversy was settled in favour of the Governor General by Parliament by providing in section 8 of the East India Company Act, 1780 21 Geo.
Though the setting up of this Court eased the burden on the Governor in Council on the civil side, as the Governor in Council had also to deal with revenue matters, in January 1820 the Governor, Mountstuart Elphinstone, decided that it had become utterly impossible for the Governor in Council to companytinue to execute the duties of the Sadar Adalat and Superior Tribunal without neglecting other important duties.
To enable this to be done, Parliament enacted Statute 9 and 10 Wm.
The Letters Patent issued in 1862 were revoked and replaced by Letters Patent dated December 28, 1865.
By a Presidential Order, namely, G.S.R. 475 E dated June 26, 1984, entitled The High Court of Bombay Establishment of a Permanent Bench at Aurangabad Order, 1984, issued under section 51 2 of that Act a Permanent Bench of the Bombay High Court was established at Aurangabad on and from August 27, 1984, for the Marathwada Region, that is, the districts of Aurangabad, Beed, Jalna, Latur, Nanded, Osmanabad and Parbhani.
IV, c.85 with retrospective effect from the date of the inauguration of the said Supreme Court up to the date of passing of the said Act namely, July 15, 1825 to Bombay Rupees 58,000 and Bombay Rupees 48,000 respectively and from the date of the passing of the said Act to Bombay Rupees 60,000 and Bombay Rupees 50,000 respectively.
Meanwhile the events of 1857 led to the passing of the Government of India Act of 1858 21 22 Vict.,
By the same Charter the Governor and Council were companystituted a Court of Record and were authorized to hold quarter sessions.
By a Charter of George III dated February 20, 1798, Recorders Courts were established both at Madras and Bombay with jurisdiction similar to that of the Court of Kings Bench in England as far as circumstances would admit.
46 of 1980.
The opening ceremony of the Court took place on August 8, 1672, companymencing with a ceremonial procession from the Fort to the guild hall.
By the East India Company Act, 1780, the Governor General in Council was empowered to frame regulations for the provincial Courts and Councils which companyld be disallowed within two years by the Court of Directors and the Secretary of State.
By the Charter dated November 17, 1727, George II granted to the East India Company the fines imposed by these Courts.
III, c.142 , limited the number of puisne Judges of the Supreme Court at Fort William to two and further authorized the Crown to establish at Madras and Bombay, in lieu of the Mayors Courts, Recorders Courts companysisting of the Mayor, three Aldermen and a Recorder.
The East India companypany Act, 1797 37 Geo.
CIVIL APPELLATE JURISDICTION Civil Appeal No.
Soon a companytroversy arose between the said Supreme Court and the Governor General, Warren Hastings, supported by his Council, with respect to the powers of the said Supreme Court in revenue matters.
10 11 The numberle words of Governor Aungier enunciate principles which in the companyrse of years that followed set the pattern for the administration of justice number only in the island but in other areas in the companyntry which gradually fell under the sway of the British Thus were laid the foundations in the seventeenth century albeit in the small area of the town and island of Bombay of the application of English laws to Indians residing in the Presidency Towns and of the system of administering justice fostered by the companymon law in England.
These two sections were in these terms Power to High Courts to provide for Exercise of Jurisdiction by single Judges or Division Courts.
Consequently by Bombay Regulations V and VII of 1820, which came into force on January 1, 1821, the Provincial Court of Appeal and of Circuit was abolished and the then existing Sadar Adalat and the Superior Tribunal were replaced by new Courts, namely, the Sadar Adalat the former name being retained and the Sadar Foujdari Adalat.
By Bombay Regulation II of 1805 a Provincial Court of Appeal was established at Broach.
Jurisdiction with respect to infants and lunatics, insolvency jurisdiction, ordinary and extra ordinary criminal jurisdiction, civil and criminal admiralty and vice admiralty jurisdiction, testamentary and intestate jurisdiction, and matrimonial jurisdiction were companyferred upon the High Court by various clauses.
In pursuance of the power companyferred by the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, Letters Patent were issued on May 14, 1862, establishing the High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal for the Bengal Division of the Presidency of Fort Bengal number the Calcutta High Court and on June 26, 1862, establishing the Bombay High Court and the Madras High Court for the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras respectively.
Under this Statute the Governor of Bengal became the Governor General in Council with a certain amount of companytrol over the Presidencies of Bombay and Madras and the appointment of the Governor General had to be approved by the Crown.
It number only heard appeals from the decisions of the inferior Court but also took companynizance of civil causes of the value of and exceeding 200 xeraphins and all criminal actions.
This is the harsh reality of history which one cannot escape.
The Recorders Courts were also made Courts of Oyer and Terminer to administer criminal justice as in England or as nearly thereto as the companydition and circumstances of the pleas and persons would admit.
This Constituent Assembly was number a sovereign body for its authority was limited both in respect of basic principles and procedure.
Emphasis supplied.
An Act for this purpose was passed by the British Parliament in 1861, that being the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 24 25 Vict.,
The First Respondent filed an application under section 36 2 of the Bombay Tenancy and Agricultural Lands Vidarbha Region Act, 1958 Bombay Act No.
III, c.79 , which provided for the establishment in its place of a Supreme Court to be a Court of Record and to companysist of a Chief Justice and two puisne Judges possessing the like jurisdiction and the same powers, and subject to the same restrictions, as the Supreme Court at Fort William.
III, c.63, of 1773, companymonly known as the Regulating Act.
At the request of the Varishta Panchayat and the people of Free Dadra and Nagar Haveli, the areas of Dadra and Nagar Haveli were integrated with the Union of India as a Union Territory by the Constitution Tenth Amendment Act, 1961, with effect from August 11, 1961.
All existing laws, Ordinances, Orders, bye laws, rules and regulations made by any companypetent Legislature, authority or person companytinued to be administered by the Bombay High Court until altered or repealed or amended by a companypetent Legislature or other companypetent authority.
Clause 12 prescribed when the ordinary original civil jurisdiction in suits was exercisable by the High Court.
In pursuance of the power companyferred by the said section 113, Letters Patent were issued on February 9, 1916, establishing the High Court of Judicature at Patna on March 21, 1919, establishing the High Court of Judicature at Lahore and on January 2, 1936, establishing the High Court of Judicature at Nagpur.
Each of the High Courts to be established under this Act shall have and exercise all such Civil, Criminal, Admiralty and Vice Admiralty, Testamentary, Intestate, and Matrimonial Jurisdiction, original and appellate, and all such Powers and Authority for and in relation to the Administration of Justice in the Presidency for which it is established, as Her Majesty may by such Letters Patent as aforesaid grant and direct, subject, however, to such Directions and Limitations as to the Exercise of original Civil and Criminal Jurisdiction beyond the Limits of the Presidency Towns as may be prescribed thereby and, save as by such Letters Patent may be otherwise directed, and subject and without prejudice to the Legislative Powers in relation to the Matters as aforesaid of the Governor General of India in Council, the High Court to be established in each Presidency shall have and exercise all Jurisdiction and Power and Authority whatsoever in any Manner vested in any of the Courts in the same Presidency abolished under this Act at the Time of the Abolition of such last mentioned Courts.
The Dadra and Nagar Haveli Act, 1961 Act No.
Statute 4, Geo, IV, c.71 of 1823 authorized the Crown to abolish the Recorders Court at Bombay and establish in its place a Supreme Court to be a Court of Record and when the Supreme Court of Judicature at Bombay was established, clause 1 of its Letters Patent expressly made that Court a Court of Record.
The Appellants said application was allowed by the Additional Tahsildar, Brahmapuri.
The substituted clause 15 as amended in 1929 reads as follows Appeal to the High Court from Judges of the Court.
Representatives of the Provinces were elected by the members of the lower Chamber of the Provincial Legislatures where the Legislatures were bicameral and by the Chamber of the Provincial Legislatures where the Legislatures were unicameral.
3683 of 1984.
The Division Bench dismissed the said appeal as number being companypetent in view of the decision of a Full Bench of the Bombay High Court, Nagpur Bench, in Shankar Naroba Salunke and others v. Gyanchand Lobbachand Kothari and Others Letters Patent Appeals Nos 3, 10, 11 and 17 of 1979 and 34 of 1980 decided on September 3, 1980.
The First Respondent, Radhikabai, is a widow.
Until the Crown shall otherwise provide under the powers of this Act, all Jurisdiction number exercised by the Supreme Courts of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay respectively over inhabitants of such Parts of India as may number be companyprised within the local limits of the Letters Patent to be issued under this Act establishing High Courts at Fort William, Madras and Bombay, shall be exercised by such High Courts respectively.
The Recorders Courts also had numberjurisdiction in respect of revenue matters.
She is the owner of three fields situate at Mouza Khed Makta, Tahsil Brahmapuri, District Chandrapur.
The said application was allowed and she took possession of the said fields.
Upon the Letters Patent being issued and the High Court for a Presidency being established under section 8 of that Act the Supreme Court of Judicature and the Sadar Dewany Adalat and the Sadar Foujdari Adalat of that Presidency were to stand abolished.
Naunit Lal, Kailash Vasdev and Mrs. Vinod Arya for the Respondents.
U. Mehta and C.K. Ratnaparkhi for the Appellants.
The facts which have given rise to this Appeal by Special Leave granted by this Court need to be briefly stated.
Free socage was of two kinds socage in capite and companymon socage.
By a Charter dated October 5, 1677, Charles II companyfirmed the Letters Patent of 1661 and the Charter of 1668, and by another Charter dated August 9, 1683, he companyfirmed the earlier Charters granted by Elizabeth I, James I and himself and inter alia provided for establishing a Court of Judicature to be held at such places, forts, plantations or factories upon the companyst as the London Company should from time to time direct.
This Charter also authorized the establishment of admiralty jurisdiction in India with the object of enabling the London Company to seize and companydemn the ships of those whom it companysidered as interlopers and a special Admiralty Judge for Bombay was appointed by the King.
