PROJECT PROPOSAL

A COMPARATIVE STUDY ON THE JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION IN

MADRAS (1639-1726) AND THE MODERN JUDICIAL SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION
The legal system of a country at a given time is not the creation of one man or of one
day; it represents the cumulative fruit of the endeavour, experience, thoughtful
planning and patient labour of a large number of people through generations.
India, being a common law country, derives most of its modern judicial framework
from the British legal system. The root of the present judicial administrative system
lies deep into the judicial administration in the past. The legal history of the past
shows us the evolution, growth and development of legal systems in India. The
Englishmen realizing a need of a sound judicial system, started their administrative
process first with respect to the three presidency Towns, of which the first presidency
town to be established by the British was the Madras Presidency. The independence of
India naturally resulted in certain inevitable changes in the Structure of Judicial
system in the country and also in Madras Judiciary system. This project is done to
analyze and to make a comparative study on the development of judicial
administration in Madras in 1639-1726 and the Modern Judicial system followed.
By
R.Kirubakar
II year BA.LLB (Hons)
Reg No: - BA0150022
Tamil Nadu National Law School,
Tiruchirappalli-620009
Tamil Nadu
Email Id: - kirubakar31@gmail.com

OBJECTIVES
The main objectives of this project can be summed up in the following points:1. To know about the establishment of Madras Presidency and the Administration
2.
3.
4.
5.

of Justice by British.
To understand about the evolution of choultry courts.
To learn about the evolution of admiralty courts.
To study about the establishment of Mayors court and sheriffs courts
To reveal about the crimes and punishments which existed in Madras
Presidency town and to compare it with the present judicial system in Madras.

METHODOLOGY
This project work is carried out by using descriptive, interpretative and comparative
method of study between the judicial administration in the madras presidency town
(1639-1725) and the present judicial system. Apart from this, the project is described
and interpretated using few case studies.
The researcher would use the comparative and descriptive method of doing this
project which includes different sections and chapters. One would separate the period
of Judicial Administration from 1639 to 1726 into Three Periods :-

First Period - (1639-1665)

Second Period - (1665-1686)
Third Period - (1686-1726)
And explain about the judicial administration in the pre independence era and then
compare with Modern Judicial System followed in Madras.
SOURCES
This project is done with the help of both Primary and Secondary Sources. The
Primary sources include Journals, Magazines and Newspapers which help the
researcher in gathering information about the Judicial Administration and to reveal the
crimes & punishments which existed during the British period in Madras Presidency
and the Secondary sources like Reference Books, Published Articles and Web sources
is used by the researcher to enrich the project with the comparative study through the
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thoughts of few historians legal concepts & ideas. This project is also done with the
help of web sources and Case studies which help the researcher in interpretating the
judicial administration in Madras Presidency.
BRIEF CONTENT
Madras was founded by Francis Day in 1639 on a piece of land granted to him by a
Hindu Raja. A fort named as Fort St.George was established and the Raja also
authorized the company to govern and dispose off the Government of Madras
Patnam. The legal system that existed in madras up to 1726 may be divided into three
stages: First Stage (1639 to 1665): The judicial system that existed during this stage
was in absence of Systematic and regular administration of justice.
Second Stage (1665 to 1686):- This period saw the establishment of court of
the Governor and council.
Third Stage (1686 1726):- This period saw the creation of two courts namely
Admiralty Court and Mayors Court.
No decisions were given for years due to lack of effective and expeditious means of
communication. The Choultry Court was a native court presided by the village
headman known as Adigar. This court would decide only petty civil and criminal
matters.
The charter issued to the company by King George I on the 24 th September, 1726,
turned over a new leaf in the evolution of judicial institutions in the three Presidency
towns including madras. It introduced uniformity of approach in each presidency
towns. By virtue of Charter of Justice granted by the Letters Patent of 26 th day of
December, 1800, a supreme court of judicature was created, abolishing the court of
recorder. After the independence, each state including Madras had its own judiciary,
which administers both union and state laws.
Madras High Court

At the apex of the state Judiciary is the Madras High Court. The high court of
judicature at Madras was constituted as a court of record and it came to existence on
the 15th day of August, 1862. It is not subject to the superintendence of any court or
authority, though appeals from its decision may lie to the Supreme Court.
After the independence and the adoption of the constitution on January 26, 1950, the
Federal court was superseded by the Supreme Court of India. The state of Madras was
bifurcated in 1953 under the Andhra State Act and a separate High Court of Andhra
was established with jurisdiction.
The madras high court hears appeals or revisions from the decisions of all subordinate
courts, civil and criminal. In addition, it has original jurisdiction in matrimonial,
company, and testamentary cases. A special jurisdiction was conferred on all High
Courts by Article 226 of the Constitution, empowering them to prevent the
infringement of fundamental rights of citizens and other rights, by issuing writs of
habeaus corpus, quo-warranto, prohibition, certiorari, mandamus, or any other orders
of directions.
CONCLUSION
The contributions of the British are so important that the very existence of our
judiciary and legal system can be credited to them. Moderates leaders in India also
had faith in the British sense of Justice and fair play. But the overall picture of the
administration of justice in Madras was not very good in early stages. The system
suffered from many drawbacks like absence of proper judicial system, Uncertainty of
laws, severe punishments, lack of facilities in the jails and unfair trails. The
establishment of High court of judicature at madras in 1862 and after the
independence era under the Provisions of Indian legal codes established by the
Constitution of India as aimed in the Fair and justifiable judicial administration in
Madras.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
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REFERENCE BOOKS
1. Chandra Bipin, History of Modern India, Orient Black Swan Private Limited, New
Delhi, 2009.
2. Gandhi B.M , V.D.Kulshreshthas Landmarks in Indian Legal & Constitutional
History, Lucknow, 2012.
3. Jain. M.P, Outlines of Indian Legal History, Lexis Nexis, Haryana, 2014.
4. Justice Rama Jois.M, Legal and Constitutional History of India, Universal Law
Publishing Co. Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2014.
5. Keith.A.B, A Constitutional History of India, Low Price Publications, New Delhi,
2011.
6. Mahajan.V.D , Modern Indian History, S.Chand & Company Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi,
2014
7. Sastri NIlakanta, K.A, A history of South India: from prehistoric times to the fall
of Vijayanagar. Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 2002.
8. Sharma.S.D , Administration of Justice in Ancient India, Harman Publishing
House, New Delhi, 1988
9. Singh.M.P, Outlines of Indian Legal & Constitutional History, Universal Law
Publishing Co. Pvt.Ltd, New Delhi, 2006.
10. Sreenivasa Murthy.H.V, Elizabeth.V.S, History of India, Eastern Book Company,
Lucknow, 2011.
WEB SOURCES
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MadrasPresidency, accessed on 07 .Aug. 2016 at
12.30 pm
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judiciary_of_India, accessed on 07.Aug.2016 at
12.35 pm
3. http://allahabadhighcourt.in/event/TheIndianJudicialSystem_SSDhavan.pdf.html ,
accessed on 07.Aug.2016 at 1 pm.