Administration of justice in Madras: 1639-1665

Background: History of Madras and Fort St. George

East India Company established their first factory in Surat in 1600 and the charter of 1600
was passed. However, it was only in 1618 when Sir Thomas Roe negotiated successfully with
Mughal emperor Jahangir, that the English East India Company could be said to have
settled. With the course of time, the company started expanding. Earlier, Surat was the
presidency of the English East India Company, however, the company gradually decided to
make presidencies at the far ends of the country in order to make better trade routes. Also,
they were establishing new facilities round the country. One such factory was the reason for
the making of Fort St. George, which later laid the foundation of Madras.
In 1620, the English established a factory in Masulipatnam (machilipatnam). Due to
its geographical advantage, around 11-12 merchants were operating simultaneously in
Masulipatnam in the 1620s. Coromandel were famous for painting muslins and calicoes, and
there was a growing demand for such goods amongst the eastern islands, whilst valuable
cargoes of nutmegs and other spices could be obtained in exchange. But Masulipatam was
seated in Mohammedan territory. A Sultan of the Deccan, reigning at Golconda, had
extended his dominion eastward to the coast of Coromandel, and established the port of
Masulipatam for the importation of horses from the Persian Gulf.
The English Authorities shifted south and yearned to effect to a settlement on the
terroritories of some Hindu Raja, where they could fortify a factory and mount it with British
cannon without the interference of local authorities. The land was acquired by a negotiation
near the village of Madraspatnam. This acquiring of land was successfully negotiated by
Francis Day from Peda Venkata Raya, the then ruler of Madraspatnam. Mr. Day agreed to
pay the Raja a rent of 500/- a year in native coin known as pagodas, and the transaction was
duly engraved on a plate of gold.
The ruler also gave the rights to administer each and every affair to the British.
The new fortification offered a large amount of employment to the unemployed.
Weavers, washers, painters, and hosts of other Hindu artisans, flocked to the spot and eagerly
entered the service of the British. In this manner a Hindu settlement grew up by the side of
Fort St. George and was known as Black Town; and the whole locality, including Fort St.
George and Black Town, was called Madras. Interestingly, this became the first territory to
be acquired by the British.
 Considering the justice sector; until 1665, madras was an agency where the agent
conducted all affairs including judicial sector. Legal System in India during English Era can
be divided into two phases. Pre-1726 and post-1726 era. For convenience, pre-1729 can be
divided into here phases: 1639-1665, 1665-1686 and 1686-1726.
First Phase: 1639-1665
During the first phase, justice was at a rudimentary stage. The British were very hesitant in
taking the cases of native Indian. In white town, the Agent decided both civil and criminal
cases. Criminal cases of serious nature cases were often referred to Companys authority in
London.
In Black Town, the English continued with old traditional Choultry Court. These courts
earlier decided both civil and criminal cases, however, now it has to refer to the raja for the
judgment of the criminal cases. Adigars who was the headman of the village headed these
Choultry court. One of his sub-ordinate colleagues was Peddanaigne. His work was to
apprehend the accused before presenting him to the Adigar.

Defects in the judicial administration of Madras

The early judicial administration of Madras suffered from various defects both in the white
town and the black town. Regarding the white town, the scope of the judicial power was very
vague and undefined. Therefore, the agent could only manage to deal with the less serious civil
cases. The graver criminal offences were often referred to the Companys authority in United
Kingdom for advice. Since, at that time, the tele-communication facilities were underdeveloped
and time-consuming, there was inordinate delay in the justice-delivery.

Also, the Agent and his Council were simple merchants and not lawyers, who did not have
even the elementary knowledge of the law. So, they were quite arbitrary in the handling of the
cases. They handled it according to their common sense. The only known account of a case
disposed of during that period is that of two Englishmen found guilty of sedition and were
punished with the lash. There was no separation between the judiciary and the executive either.

There was no consistency in delivering the justice. The same old, traditional, indigenous system
was followed. There was no fixed form of trial procedure and usually the methods resorted to
for this purpose were informal. Trials of serious crimes committed by the Indians, or by the
others committed against them, were conducted on an ad-hoc basis and the procedure for the
same varied, depending on the urgency of the case. In the capital cases committed by persons
other than the British, reference was usually made to the native Raja of Madraspatnam, who
almost in all the cases ordered to decide in accordance with the English law.

In the Black Town though the Raja had given the responsibility of administration to the British,
they did not however show any interest in this regard. So, justice had to be dispensed by the
Choultry Courts. The Choultry Court was merely a court of petty cases. No other court or
judicial tribunal was established for the trial of those cases which fell beyond the competence
of the Choultry Court. Not much is available for the method resorting for that purpose. For
example, in one case an Indian was accused of murdering the woman with whom he had been
cohabiting. For that, no formal trial was held; only after some sort of informal inquiry, he was
held guilty of the offence. His house was searched from where the clothes and jewels of the
deceased woman were recovered and this was found enough to condemn him. As usual the
case was referred to the native Raja who ordered that justice be done in accordance with the
English law and therefore the accused was hanged. In 1642, a British soldier was killed by a
Portuguese. As the Agent was unsure of his power, was reluctant to deal with the European
subject. But, the Raja, ordered that the accused be executed, and therefore the accused was shot
dead.

This period is therefore, conspicuous by the absence of any systematic and regular
administration of justice. The judicial methods resorted to very elementary and this often led
to the miscarriage of justice. So, to sum up, the justice in those times was a very nascent stage,
with no formal machinery in place to administer justice.

Charter of 1661
So, for overhauling of the existing system of judicial administration, Charles II granted another
charter in 1661 which gave some powers to the company. This charter authorized the Company
to appoint the Governor and other officers India. The Governors had the power to decide upon
the civil and criminal cases of the servants of the company and those living under the
jurisdiction according to the laws of England. As a consequence of this, even the natives
residing within the territorial jurisdiction of companys settlement also came within the ambit.
Also, the administration of justice came to be carried out according to the laws of England.
While this was particularly advantageous for the Englishmen but this was grossly detrimental
to the interests of the native Indian whose local traditions, customs and usages were completely
ignored. There was no separation between the judiciary and the executive. The Governor and
the council both the works of judiciary and the executive.