Legal History in India 1770 1950

COURSE MANUAL
HISTORY OF COURTS, LEGISLATURE AND

LEGAL PROFESSION IN INDIA
SPRING 2021
For BA Legal Studies,

Spring 2021
Instructor:
Dr. Prabhakar Singh ([email protected])

PART I
a. Weekly Course Outline
Week- 1 Introduction: Legal History as a discipline
Week- 2 Administration of Justice: Emergence of East India

Company and Charters
Week- 3 Judicial Reforms and Corruption in British India:
Trial of Warren Hastings
Trial of Maharaja Nandkumar

Week- 4 Mayors Court and Adalat System
Week- 5 Regulating Act of 1773

The Charter Act 1813, 1833, 1853
The Government of India Act, 1858.
Week- 6 Legislature
Week- 7 High Courts: Origin and Establishment
Week- 8 & 9 Privy Council and Federal Court of India
Week- 10 The Indian Dominion: 1947-50
Week- 11 Legal History as the History of Jurisdictions
Week- 12, History and evolution of Legal Profession

13, 14
Week- 15 Revision
PART II
b. Readings (Instructor will inform students regarding which readings

to do from the list provided under every week. Instructor may add
additional readings anytime during the semester if deemed appropriate
for a better understanding of the course and its intended outcomes.)
Week 1: Introduction to the Course and Legal History as a

discipline
This session will introduce you to the academic study of legal history and
set the tone and the focus of this course. It will broadly cover questions
such as why study legal history? What do we mean by legal history? Why
not let bygones be bygones and forget them? What relevance does it hold
to inspect legal institutions of the past and dissect it thoroughly? What are
the sources of legal history? What are the qualities of a good legal
historian? Who makes legal history?
Readings:
- Lakshmi Subramanyam, History of India, 1707-1857 (Blackswan,

2019) chap 3
- Mitra Sharafi, Indian Law, in, The Oxford Handbook of Legal

History (edited by Markus D. Dubber and Christopher Tomlins).
Week 2: Administration of justice: Emergence of East India

company and Charters
In the 16th century, Queen Elizabeth I granted charter to the London East
India company to ‘trade in to and from the East Indies, in the countries
and parts of Asia and Africa …’. In this week we will discuss the growth of
East India company and the role of various charters.
Readings:

2019) 117-127
Week 3: Judicial reforms and Corruption in British India
The Regulating act of 1773 had very little success in introducing important
changes in the legal system in India. but Lord Cornwallis initiated a series
of judicial reforms in 1787. Most of the changes undertaken by Lord
Cornwallis we followed up with other significant reforms by his successors
as well.
Readings:
- J. Duncan Derrett, Nandakumar’s Forgery, (1960) 75 The English

Historical Review 223–238.
-
- Mithi Mukherjee, ‘Justice, War, and the Imperium: India and
Britain in Edmund Burke’s Prosecutorial Speeches in the
Impeachment Trial of Warren Hastings’ (2005) 23 Law and History
Review 589–630.
Week 4: Mayor’s court and Adalat system
The Charter of 1726 created Mayor’s Court for each of the Presidency
towns in India and established a bridge between the English and Indian
legal systems. This session will examine the functioning of the mayor's
courts and reforms initiated by Chief Justice Impey and Warren Hastings.
Readings:

2019) chap 3
Week 5: Regulating act of 1773
The Regulating act of 1773 is considered to be landmark in the legal

history of India. The charter of 1774 led to the establishment of the
Supreme Court of Calcutta, and subsequently the Supreme courts at
Madras and Bombay. This session will also discuss some of the landmark
decisions (which will be shared in class)
Readings:
2019) chap 3
Week 6: Legislature
In this week, we will discuss the history of legislation from 1772 to 1861,
legislatures of India under the Crown, charter act 1833 and its
codification.
Readings:

2019) 117-127
Week 7: High courts: origin and establishment
The establishment of high courts was seen to be an important step in

improving the quality of administration of justice in India. This session
will examine The Indian high courts act 1861, charter of Calcutta High
Court, Allahabad High Court, The Indian High Court act 1911, the
Government of India act 1915, and other high courts; and the Government
of India act 1935.
- VD Kulshreshtha, Landmarks in the Legal and Constitutional

history (12th edition). Pages 351-370.
Weeks 8 & 9: Privy Council and Federal court of India
The Privy Council during the last few centuries has not only laid down the
law, but also coordinated the concepts of rights and obligations
throughout the dominions and colonies in the British Commonwealth.
this session will examine the role and functions exercised by the Privy
Council and the federal courts. students may also read a few judgments of
the Privy Council to understand its functioning and adjudicative process.
Readings:
- Rohit De, “A Peripatetic World Court” Cosmopolitan Courts,

Nationalist Judges and the Indian Appeal to the Privy
Council (2014) 32(4) Law and History Review 821–851.
- George H. Gadbois Jr., Evolution of the Federal Court of
India, Supreme Court of India: The Beginnings (OUP
2017) [chapter 1]
Week 10: The Indian Dominion: 1947-50
The week we will examine the years between 1947 and 1950 in India.
Readings:
- Rohit De, ‘Between Midnight and Republic: Theory and Practice of

India’s Dominion Status’ (2020) 17 International Journal of
Constitutional Law 1227.
-
Week- 11: The History of Jurisdictions
This session will examine the development of legal system in India as a

history of imperial jurisdictions
Readings:
- Prabhakar Singh, Indian Princely States and the 19th-century

Transformation of the Law of Nations (2020) 11 Journal of
International Dispute Settlement 365–387.
- Priyasha Saksena, Jousting Over Jurisdiction: Sovereignty and

International Law in Late Nineteenth-Century South Asia. (2020)
Law and History Review, 38(2), 409-457.
-
- BOOK REVIEW: Prabhakar Singh, Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford.
Rage for Order: The British Empire and the Origins of International
Law, 1800–1850/ Andrew Fitzmaurice. Sovereignty, Property and
Empire, 1500–2000, (2017) 28 European Journal of International
Law 975–986.
Week 12, 13 and 14: History and evolution of legal profession

before Independence
During the during this week, the focus will be on the history and evolution
of the legal profession before independence and post-independence.
Readings:
- Rohit De, Between Midnight and Republic: Theory and Practice of

India’s Dominion Status’ (2020) 17 International Journal of
Constitutional Law 1227.
-
- Mitra Sharafi, Law and Identity in Colonial South Asia: Parsi Legal
Culture, 1772-1947
Movie:
- Gandhi
Week 14: Revision
This will be a review revision class.

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COURSE MANUAL

HISTORY OF COURTS, LEGISLATURE AND

For BA Legal Studies,

Dr. Prabhakar Singh ([email protected])

a. Weekly Course Outline

Week- 1 Introduction: Legal History as a discipline

Week- 2 Administration of Justice: Emergence of East India

Trial of Warren Hastings

Trial of Maharaja Nandkumar

Week- 5 Regulating Act of 1773

Week- 7 High Courts: Origin and Establishment

Week- 8 & 9 Privy Council and Federal Court of India

Week- 10 The Indian Dominion: 1947-50

Week- 11 Legal History as the History of Jurisdictions

Week- 12, History and evolution of Legal Profession

b. Readings (Instructor will inform students regarding which readings

Week 1: Introduction to the Course and Legal History as a

- Lakshmi Subramanyam, History of India, 1707-1857 (Blackswan,

- Mitra Sharafi, Indian Law, in, The Oxford Handbook of Legal

Week 2: Administration of justice: Emergence of East India

- Lakshmi Subramanyam, History of India, 1707-1857 (Blackswan,

- J. Duncan Derrett, Nandakumar’s Forgery, (1960) 75 The English

Week 4: Mayor’s court and Adalat system

- Lakshmi Subramanyam, History of India, 1707-1857 (Blackswan,

Week 5: Regulating act of 1773

The Regulating act of 1773 is considered to be landmark in the legal

- Lakshmi Subramanyam, History of India, 1707-1857 (Blackswan,

Week 7: High courts: origin and establishment

The establishment of high courts was seen to be an important step in

- VD Kulshreshtha, Landmarks in the Legal and Constitutional

Weeks 8 & 9: Privy Council and Federal court of India

- Rohit De, “A Peripatetic World Court” Cosmopolitan Courts,

Week 10: The Indian Dominion: 1947-50

- Rohit De, ‘Between Midnight and Republic: Theory and Practice of

This session will examine the development of legal system in India as a

- Prabhakar Singh, Indian Princely States and the 19th-century

- Priyasha Saksena, Jousting Over Jurisdiction: Sovereignty and

Week 12, 13 and 14: History and evolution of legal profession

- Rohit De, Between Midnight and Republic: Theory and Practice of

This will be a review revision class.

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