APPENDIX. AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING HIGH COURTS OF JUDICATURE IN INDIA. may be Presidencies of India. Be it enacted by the Queen'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, as follows: 1. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, by Letters Patent under the High Courts Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to erect and established in the several establish a High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal for the Bengal Division of the Presidency of Fort William aforesaid, and by like Letters Patent to erect and establish like High Courts at Madras and Bombay for those Presidencies, respectively. Such High Courts to be established in the said several Presidencies at such time or respective times as to Her Majesty may seem fit, and the High Court to be established under any such Letters Patent in any of the said Presidencies shall be deemed to be established from and after the publication of such Letters Patent in the same Presidency, or such other time as in such Letters Patent may be appointed in this behalf. Constitution of High Court. 2. The High Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, and at the Presidencies of Madras and Bombay respectively, shall consist of a Chief Justice and as many Judges, not exceeding fifteen, as Her Majesty may, from time to time, think fit and appoint, who shall be selected from 1st. Barristers of not less than five years' standing; or 2nd. Members of the Covenanted Civil Service of not less than ten years' standing, and who shall have served as Zillah Judges, or shall have exercised the like powers as those of a Zillah Judge for at least three years of that period; or, 3rd. Persons who have held Judicial Office not inferior to that of Principal Sudder Ameen or Judge of a Small Cause Court for a period of not less than five years; or, 4th. Persons who have been Pleaders of a Sudder Court or a High Court for a period of not less than ten years, if such Pleaders of a Sudder Court shall have been admitted as Pleaders of a High Court: Provided that no less than one-third of the Judges of such High Courts respectively, including the Chief Justice, shall be Barristers, and not less than one-third shall be Members of the Covenanted Civil. Service. Certain existing Judges herein named to be the first Judges of the High Court. 3. Provided always that the persons who, at the time of the establishment of such High Court in any of the said Presidencies, are Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature and permanent Judges of the Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut or Sudder Adawlut of the same Presidency, shall be and become Judges of the High Court without further appointment for that purpose; and the Chief Justice of such upreme Court shall become the Chief Justice of such High Court. Tenure of office of High Court. 4. All the Judges of the High Courts established under this Act shall hold their offices during Her Majesty's pleasure: Provided that it shall be lawful for any Judge of a High Court to resign such office of Judge to the Governor-General of India in Council or Governor in Council of the Presidency in which such High Court is established. High Court. 5. The Chief Justice of any such High Court shall have rank and precedence before the other Judges of the same Precedence of Judges of Court, and such of the other Judges of such Court as on its establishment shall have been transferred thereto from the Supreme Court shall have rank and precedence before the Judges of the High Court not transferred from the Supreme Court, and except as aforesaid, all the Judges of each High Court shall have rank and precedence according to the seniority of their appointments unless otherwise provided in their Patents. Salaries, &c., of Judges Provision for vacancy of the office of Chief Justice or other Judge. 6. Any Chief Justice or Judge, transferred to any High Court from the Supreme Court, shall receive the like salary, and, be entitled to the like retiring pension and advanof the High Courts, tage, as he would have been entitled to for and in respect of service in the Supreme Court, if such Court had been continued, his service in the High Court being reckoned as service in the Supreme Court; and, except as aforesaid, it shall be lawful for the Secretary of State in Council of India to fix the salaries, allowances, furloughs, retiring pensions, and (where necessary) expenses for epuipment and voyage of the Chief Justices and Judges of the several High Courts under this Act, and from time to time to alter the same: Provided always that such alteration shall not affect the salary of any Judge appointed prior to the date thereof. 7. Upon the happening of a vacancy in the office of Chief Justice and during any absence of a Chief Justice, the Governor-General in Council or Governor in Council, as the case may be, shall appoint one of the Judges of the same High Court to perform the duties of Chief Justice of the said Court until some person has been appointed by Her Majesty to the office of Chief Justice of the same Court, and has entered on the discharge of the duties of such office, or until the Chief Justice has returned from such absence; and upon the happening of a vacancy in the office of any other Judge of any such High Court, and during any absence of any such Judge, or on the appointment of any such Judge to act as Chief Justice, it shall be lawful for the Governor-General in Council, or Governor in Council, as the case may be, to appoint a person, with such qualifications as are required in persons to be appointed to the High Court, to act as a Judge of the said High Court, and the person so appointed shall be authorized to sit and to perform the duties of a Judge of the said Court until some person has been appointed by Her Majesty to the office of Judge of the same Court, and has entered on the discharge of the duties of such office, or until the absent Judge has returned from such absence, or until the Governor-General in Council or Governor in Council, as aforesaid, shall see cause to cancel the appointment of such acting Judge. 8. Upon the establishment of such High Court as aforesaid in the Presidency of Fort William,in Bengal, the Supreme Abolition of Supreme Court and the Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut and Sudder Nizamut Adawlut at Calcutta, in the same Presidency, shall be abolished: And upon the establishment of such High Court in the Presidency of Madras, the Supreme Court and the Court of Sudder Adawlut and Foujdarry Adawlut in the same Presidency shall be abolished: And upon the establishment of such High Court in the Presidency of Bombay, the Supreme Court and the Court of Sudder Dewanny Adawlut and Sudder Foujdarry Adawlut in the same Presidency shall be abolished. And the records and documents of the several Courts so abolished in each Presidency shall become, and be, records and documents of the High Court established in the same Presidency. 9. Each of the Jurisdiction and powers of High Courts. 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 Town 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 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 every 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 High Court ordered, under this section, the real plaintiffs, though strangers to the record, to pay costs-Bama Soonduree Dossee vs. Anund Lal Bose, Bourke, 45, 96; 14 W. R., O. Ap., 1; but see Ram Coomar Coondoo vs. Chunder Cant Mookerjee, 4 L. R., Ind. App., 49. High Courts to exercise same jurisdiction as Supreme Courts. 10. Until the Crown shall otherwise provide under the powers of this Act, all jurisdiction now exercised by the Supreme Courts of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, respectively over inhabitants of such parts of India as may not be comprised 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. Repealed by 28 Vic., c. 15, s. 2, post. Existing provisions applicable to Supreme Courts to apply to High Courts. 11. 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 consistent with the provisions of this Act, and the Letters Patent to be issued in pursuance thereof and subject to the legisla tive powers in relation to the matters aforesaid of the Governor-General of India in Council. proceedings in abolished Courts. 12. From and after the abolition of the Courts abolished as aforesaid in any of the said Presidencies, the High Court Provision as to pending of the same Presidency shall have jurisdiction over all proceedings pending in such abolished Courts at the time of the abolition thereof, and such proceedings and all previous proceedings in the said last-mentioned Courts, shall be dealt with as if the same had been had in the said High Court, save that any such proceedings may be continued, as nearly as circumstances permit, under and according to the practice of the abolished Courts respectively. 13. Subject to any laws or regulatlons which may be made by the Power to High Courts to provide for exercise of jurisdiction of single Judges or Division Courts. 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 constituted 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 convenient for the due administration of justice. 14. The Chief Justice of each High Court shall, from time to time, Chief Justice to determine what Judges shall sit alone or in the Division Court. 15. Each of the High Court to superin of practice for Subordinate Courts. determine what Judge in each case shall sit alone, and what Judges of the Court, whether with or without the Chief Justice, shall constitute the several Division Courts as aforesaid. High Courts established under this Act shall have superintendence over all Courts which may be subtend and to frame rules ject 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 not 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. Under this section, the High Court may direct the exercise of a power or jurisdictjon disclaimed by a Court or may interfere and set aside an order made without jurisdiction; but it cannot interfere on the ground that an order passed by a Court having jurisdiction is erroneous-Tij Ram vs. Hursukh, 1 Ind., All., 101, and the cases cited at p. 104: In the matter of Lukhy Kant Bose, 1 Ind. Cal., 180. Refusal by District Judge to admit an application for review. High Court will not interfere under section 15 of the Charter Act-Ram Lall Singh vs. Janki Mahatoon, 4 C.L.R., 14. 16. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, if at any time hereafter Her Majesty see fit so to do, by Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, to erect and establish a High Court of Judicature in and for any portion of the territories within Her Majesty's dominions in India, not included within the limits of the local jurisdiction Her Majesty may establish a High Court in the North-Western Provinces. of another High Court, to consist of a Chief Justice and of such number of other Judges, with such qualifications as are required in persons to be appointed to the High Courts established at the Presidencies herein before mentioned, as Her Majesty from time to time may think fit and appoint; and it shall be lawful for Her Majesty by such Letters Patent to confer on such Court any jurisdiction, powers, and authority as under this Act is authorized to be conferred on or will become vested in the High Court to be established in any Presidency herein before mentioned, and subject to the directions of such Letters Patent, all the provisions of this Act having reference to the High Court established in any such Presidency, and to the Chief Justice and other Judges of such Court and to the Governor-General. or Govenor of the Presidency in which such High Court is established, shall, as far as circumstances may permit, be applicable to the High Court established in the said territories, and to the Chief Justice and other Judges thereof, and to the person administering the Government of the said territories. Other or supplementary Charters may be granted within three years after establishment of a Court. 17. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty, if Her Majesty shall so think fit, at any time within three years after the establishment of any High Court under this Act by Her Letters Patent, to revoke all or such parts or provisions as Her Majesty may think fit of the Letters Patent by which such Court was established, and to grant and make such other powers and provisions as Her Majesty may think fit and as might have been granted or made by such first Letters Patent, or without any such revocation as aforesaid, by like Letters Patent, to grant and make any additional or supplementary powers and provisions which might have been granted or made in the first instance. The period within which fresh Letters might be granted was extended to the 1st January 1866 by section 1 of the 28 Vic., c. 15, post. Territorial limits of in 18. It shall be lawful for Her Majesty from time to time, by Her Majesty's Order in Council, to transfer any territory or place jurisdiction of Court may from the jurisdiction of one to the jurisdiction of any other of the High Courts established under this Act, and generally to alter and determine the territorial limits of the jurisdiction of the said several Courts as to Her Majesty, with the advice of Her Privy Council, may seem meet. be altered by order Council. Repealed by 28 Vic., c. 15, s. 2, post. 19. The word "Barrister" in this Act shall be deemed to include Barristers of England or Ireland, or Members of the Interpretation of terms. Faculty of Advocates in Scotland; and the words "Governor-General and Governor" shall comprehend the officer administering the Government. LETTERS PATENT. Constituting the High Court of Judicature for the Bengal Division of the Presidency of Fort William, dated 14th May 1862, revocked by further Letters Patent, 28th December 1865. VICTORIA, by Recital of Acts 24 and 25 Vic., c. 104. the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, To all to whom these presents shall come, greeting, Whereas by an Act of Parliament passed in the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth years of our reign, entitled " An Act for establishing High Courts of Judicature in India" it was, amongst other |