Government of India Act 1800
| Jurisdiction | UK Non-devolved |
| Citation | 1800 c. 79 |
| Year | 1800 |
(39 & 40 Geo. 3) C A P. LXXIX.
[28th July 1800]
'WHEREAS the Territorial Possessions of the United Company of Merchants ofEngland trading to the East Indies , in the Peninsula of India , have become so much extended as to require further Regulations to be made for the due Government of the same: And whereas by an Act of Parliament, made and passed in the thirty-third Year of the Reign of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act for continuing in the East India Company, for a further Term, the Possession of the British Territories in India, together with their exclusive Trade, under certain Limitations; for establishing further Regulations for the Government of the said Territories, and the better Administration of Justice within the same; for appropriating to certain Uses the Revenues and Profits of the said Company; and for making Provision for the good Order and Government of the Towns of Calcutta, Madras,and Bombay; it is enacted, That the whole Civil and Military Government of the Presidency of Fort Saint George , on the Coast of Coromandel , and the Ordering, Management, and Government of all the Territorial Acquisitions and Revenues on the said Coast, and also so much and such Parts of the Territories and Possessions on the Coast of Orissa , with the Revenues of the same, as had been and then were under the Administration of the Government of the Presidency of Fort Saint George , should be and were thereby vested in a Governor and three Counsellors of and for the said Presidency of Fort Saint George , subject to such Rules, Regulations, and Restrictions, as were therein mentioned; and that the Whole Civil and Military Government of the Presidency and Island of Bombay , on the Coast of Malabar , and the Ordering, Management, and Government, of all the Territorial Acquisitions and Revenues on the said Coast of Malabar , should be and were thereby vested in a Governor and three Counsellors of and for the said Presidency and Island of Bombay, subject to the Provision therein mentioned:' May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted; and be it enacted by the King's most excellent Majesty, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the Authority of the same, That, from and after the passing of this Act, it shall and may be lawful for the Court of Directorsof the said Company for the Time being, to declare and appoint what Part or Parts of the said Territorial Acquisitions, or of any other now subject to the Government of the said Presidency ofFort Saint George , or the said Presidency of Bombay , together with the Revenues arising therefrom, and the Establishment of Civil Servants connected therewith respectively, shall from thenceforth hereafter be subject to the Government of either and which of the said Presidencies, or of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal , and from Time to Time, as Occasion may require, to revoke or alter in the Whole or in Part suchAppointment, and to make such new Distribution of the same as to them shall seem fit and expedient, subject nevertheless, in all Cases, to the Superintendance, Direction, and Controul of the Commissioners for the Affairs ofIndia , in like Manner as any Acts or Orders of the said Court of Directors are now by Law subject; and all such Territorial Acquisitions, and the Revenues arising therefrom, and the Establishment of Civil Servants connected therewith, shall, from and after the Time, and subject as to such Time to the Conditions and Limitations, to be by the said Court of Directors limited and appointed for such Purposes respectively, be to all Intents and Purposes whatsoever annexed to and made subject to such Presidency and to the Court or Courts of Judicature established or to be established therein respectively.
II Letters Patent of Geo. 2. dated the 8th of Jan. in the 21st of his Reign.
II. 'And whereas his late Majesty KingGeorge the Second did, by his Letters Patent, bearing Date at Westminster the eighth Day of January in the twenty-first Year of his Reign, grant unto the said United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies , his Royal Charter, thereby amongst other Things constituting and establishing Courts of Civil, Criminal, and Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction at the United Company's respective Settlements at Madras-Patnam, Bombay , or the Island of Bombay , and Fort William in Bengal : And whereas the said Charter, in so far as it respects the Administration of Justice at Madras , has been altered and changed, by virtue of an Act passed in the thirty-seventh Year of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act for the better Administration of Justice at Calcutta,Madras,and Bombay; and for preventing British Subjects from being concerned in Loans to the Native Princes in India: And whereas the said Charter, so far as it respects the Administration of Justice at Fort William in Bengal , has also been altered and changed, by virtue of an Act passed in the thirteenth Year of his present Majesty, intituled, An Act for establishing certain Regulations for the better Management of the Affairs of the East India Company, as well in India as in Europe, and by divers subsequent Statutes: And whereas it may be expedient, for the better Administration of Justice in the said Settlement ofMadras , that a Supreme Court of Judicature should be established at Madras , in the same Form, and with the same Powers and Authorities, as that now susibsting, by virtue of the several Acts before-mentioned, at Fort William in Bengal :' Be it therefore enacted, That it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty,his Heirs and Successors, by Charter or Letters Patent under the Great Seal ofGreat Britain , to erect and establish a Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras aforesaid, to consist of such and the like Number of Persons, to be named from Time to Time by his Majesty, his Heirs and Successors, with full Power to exercise such Civil, Criminal, Admiralty, and Ecclesiastical Jurisdictions, both as to Natives and British Subjects, and to be invested with such Powers and Authorities, Privileges and Immunities, for the better Administration of the same, and subject to the same Limitations, Restrictions, and Controul within the saidFort Saint George and Town of Madras , and the Limits thereof, and the Factories Subordinate thereto, and within the Territories which now are or hereafter may be subject to or dependant upon the said Government of Madras , as the said Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal , by virtue of any Law now in force and unrepealed, or by this present Act, doth consist of, is invested with, or subject to, within the said Fort William , or the Kingdoms or Provinces of Bengal , Bahar, and Orissa.
III Governor and Council at Madras exempted from the Authority of the Court to be there erected; in the same Manner as the Governor General and Council at Fort William. [See 13 Geo. 3. c. 63. ∥ 17.]
III. Provided always, That the Governor and Council atMadras , and the Governor General of Fort William aforesaid, shall enjoy the same Exemption, and no other, from the Authority of the said Supreme Court of Judicature to be there erected, as is enjoyed by the said Governor General and Council at Fort William aforesaid, from the Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Judicature there already by Law established.
IV If his Majesty shall erect a Supreme Court at Madras, the Records directed by 37 Geo. 3. c. 142. to be delivered over to the new Courts, erected under that Act, and those belonging thereto, shall be delivered over to the Supreme Court.
IV. And be it further enacted, That if his Majesty, his Heirs or Successors, shall grant such Charter as aforesaid, and erect such Supreme Court of Judicature atMadras as aforesaid, all the Records, Muniments, and Proceedings whatsoever, of and belonging to the late Mayor's Court at Madras , or to the late Court of Oyer and Terminer, and Gaol Delivery, which were, by the said Act passed in the thirty-seventh Year of his present Majesty, directed to be delivered over, preserved, and deposited in the new Courts erected by virtue of the said Act; and all the Records, Muniments, and Proceedings whatsoever, of and belonging to any of the said new Courts, shall, from and immediately after such Supreme Court of Judicature as his Majesty is hereby empowered to erect, shall be established at Madras , be delivered over to be preserved and deposited for safe Custody in the said new Court of Judicature; to which all Parties concerned shall and may have Resort and Recourse upon Application to the said Court.
V So much of the Charter of his Majesty for erecting the Courts of the Recorder of Madras, as relates to the Appointment of a Recorder, &c. shall be void on the granting and publishing the new Charter, and the Powers granted by 37 Geo. 3. c. 142. may be exercised by the Supreme Court.
V. And be it...
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