Establishment of Adalat system: Warren Hasting’s judicial plan, Lord Cornwallis’s judicial plan, Lord William Bentinck 

Theoretical overview

Adalat system: after the battle of Plassey in 1757 the British East India company took control of Bengal. After this nawab (muslin ruler) of Bengal was little more than puppets.

In 1765 the Mughal Emperor Shah Alam granted the diwani of Bengal the right to collect the land revenue to the East India company from then on the diwani become the main source of the British revenue from the India. 

Till the middle of 18^th  century the company held under three presidency town of Calcutta, Madras and Bombay. As the time pass the British expand its political activity and brought new territories surrounding the presidency town under its control. This territory came to be known as ‘Moffusil’ 

Territorial  acquisition of the company consist of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa here the first Adalat was stated in 1772.

Warren Hastings

Warren Hastings remained Governor of Bengal from 1772 to 1774. In 1774 he was promoted to the rank of Governor-General He remained on this post till 1785. He was a competent and an efficient administrator. The Administration of jutice at the time Warren Hastings took over as Governor of Bengal was in a bad shape It was almost verging on a total collapse. The dual system of government proved very defective and unsatisfactory. The courts had become the instruments of power rather than of justice Warren Hastings who assumed office of Governor of Fort William on April 13, 1772, made strenuous efforts to remove the evils in the existing judicial administation and revenue collection For this purpose, he appointed a committee consisting of the Governor and four members of the Council called the Committee of Circuit The Committee prepared a Judicial Plan on August 15, 1772 to regulate the administration of justice and revenue collection This plan was popularly known at the Hastings Plan of 1772″

Reforms of Warren Hastings: Warren Hastings was armed with full powers to make a complete reformation sod was ordered to destroy the whole fabric of Double Government. He removed both Raza Khan and Shitab Rai and formally undertook to collect the revenues through his own servants and practically assumed the whole of civil administration in his own hands. He introduced his reforms in the province of Bengal, in 1772 1774 and in 1780

Judicial System

First Plan of 1772

The three territories, namely, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, were directly taken over by the Company under in control for the purpose of establishing a well -organized judicial system Warren Hastings divided the above areas into a number of districts and the emphasis was laid upon the districts a unit of administration Each of the districts was placed under the control of an Englishman in the service of the Company He was designated as Collector of the area. He was made responsible for the collection of land revenue and for supervising the entire administration of the district. Therefore his functions were two fold (a) to supervise the administration, and (b) to collect the revenue from the landowners in the district

The chief features of the entire plan were the introduction of Adalat system in the entire area by establishing the following Courts

1.  Mofussil Diwani Adalat: In each of the districts this Court was constituted with Collector as the Judge The jurisdiction given to this Court was to decide civil cases such as disputes relating to contracts, accounts, partnership, property, inheritance, marriages, castes, etc. Care was taken by providing that these disputes were to be decided in accordance with the personal law of the parties. So the provisions of Hindu and Mohammedan law were made applicable amongst the natives In order to assist the British Collectors in their judicial work, provision was made for the appointments of native law officers Kans and Pundits were appointed to expound the law to be applied by the Collector Decisions upturns 500/- were made final but the provision also existed for filing an appeal in the higher Court.
2. Mofussil Faujdari Adalat: In each of the districts, this court was constituted. The jurisdiction given to this Court was to decide all criminal cases. It was provided with the assistance of Muslim law officers, namely, Kazi Mufti and Maulvi As the Muslim criminal law was made applicable for punishing the criminals so the Maulvi was to expound the law and Kazi and Mufti we.re to give judgments accordingly. The Collector was given the general powers of supervision over this court It had no power to pose death penalty, all such cases were required to be reported to the highest criminal court namely, Sada Nizamat Adalat
3. Court of the Head Farmer of Parganas: Petty cases of civil nature up to the value of rs10-could be decided by this Court in a summary manner Thus it was a facility, which was available to the litigants and saved them from the trouble of going to the district headquarter to going to the district headquarter to get their matters decided

Besides the above courts to superior Courts were established with headquarters at Calcutta. They were known

• Sadie Diwani Adalat
• Sadar Nizamat Adalat

1. Sadar Diwani Adalat: This Court consisted of the Governor and two members of his Council The quorum of the Court was three I heard appeals from the decisions given byte Mofussil Diwani Adalat in cases above the value of Rs 500. The litigants were required to pay a fee of 5% on the petition of appeals
2. Sadar Nizamat Adalat: It was presided over by Daroga appointed by the Nawab and was assisted by Chief Qazi, Chief Mufti and three Moulvis I enjoyed the power to revise the order passed by the Mofussil Nizamat Adalat. The Mofussil Adalat had to power to impose death sentence without the approval of the Court The death warrant was required to be signed by the Nawab of Bengal as he was considered the head of the Nizamat Adalat but this Court functioned, as a matter of fact, under the supervision of the Governor in-Council 

In the working of the above plan, certain defects were noticed in its operation The entire judicial system was concerned with district as a unit of administration. The collector was burdened with too many powers and responsibilities. He was responsible for the administration and tax collection and also had to discharge judicial.

It was impossible for him to devote sims and energy to regulate all these affairs and the evils of the combination of executive and judicial powers in one person became apparent in due course of time. Warren Hastings noticed these drawbacks and prepared a new judicial plan in 1773 which was implemented from 1774 known as second plan of reforms of Warren Hastings.

Second Plan of 1774

In order to check the evil of the plan of 1772 the new plan provided for dividing the province of Bengal, Bihar- and Orissa into six divisions with headquarters at Calcutta, Burdwan Murshidabad Dinajpur Dacca and Patna costing of several districts. In each of the above divisions Provincial Revenue Council (consisting of 4 or 5 Englishmen) was established to look after the collection of revenues and as PROVINCIAL COURT OF APPEAL head appeals in all cases decided by the next lower court, namely, Mofussil Diwani Adalat. The original jurisdiction was also made available to it and as such it decided all civil cases which arose at the headquarters of the division Cases decided by this court were final up to the value of Rs 1000 In cases above Rs 1000-an appeal lay to the next higher court, namely, Sadar Diwani Adalat. The Collector who was appointed under the plan of 1772 was replaced by an Indian officer known as Amil or Diwan who was made responsible for the collection of revenue in the district and to preside over the Mofussil Diwani Adalat He was appointed by the Governor-in-Council on the recommendations of the Provincial Council and was required to work under the supervision of the Provincial Council

Judicial Plan of 1780, First Indian Civil Code Prepared

Warren Hastings knew that the judicial plan of 1774 was not perfect, and when Warren Hastings again got the chance, he made changes to the judicial plan of 1774 On April 11, 1780 new plan was introduced As per the plan of 1780 judicial and executive functions were separated Adalat’s Function to do civil justice, no revenue work Provincial Council No judicial work, only revenue related work, collection and revenue cases.

But with this plan the problem was that, the area was vast and Adalat’s were few to administer those large areas because of this, cases were mere, time was limited with the judges and thus arrears piled up in every Adalat. 2nd problems was that witnesses had to travel lot to reach the Adalat’s For example. There was only me Adalat in the whole of Bihar Because of this people thought it better not to file the cases in courts, as filing cases in court meant delayed justice, physical harassment, waste of time and money As per the judicial plan cases up to Rs 100 were referred to the person who stayed near the place of litigant but

before this it was compulsory to file the case in the Adalat, and 2nd problem was that the person who worked as judges has to work as a honorary judge and did not get any salary The Zamindar or public offices acted as an honorary judge and they charged money for this and also zamindar got the chance to do corruption as he became the honorary judge. Warren Hasting was not satisfied with the plan of 1780 and always thought about improving the judicial system in India

On 29th September 1750 Warren Hastings proposed in the Council that chef justice Sir Elijah Impey be requested to accept the charge of the office of the Sadar Diwani Adalat Impey accepted this offer He renamed in Sadar Adalat for a year but he introduced a lot of reforms in Sadar Adalat. Impey drafted many regulations to reform the Adalat On November 3, 1780 first reform, regulation was passed to regulate the procedure of the diwani Adalat.

As per this rule, the Mofussil judge had to decide the facts, he was allowed to take the help of Hindu Pundits or Muslim Mulls if it was necessary to understand the cause or case. Impey compiled a civil procedure code for the guidance of the Sadar Adalat and mofussil diwani adalats. It was the first code of civil procedure to be prepared in India It was promulgated by the Council on July 5, 1781 in the form of a Regulation. It was the digest of the civil rules The code consolidated at one place a detailed civil procedure. The code contained 95 clauses and with it all the previous regulations relating to civil procedure were repealed. The code of 1781 clearly defined the functions powers and jurisdiction of Sadar Dewan Adalat This code was translated in Persian and Bengali language that time

In India Impey was doing a great job, but in England people were not happy with impey because of following reasons-Impey was appointed as the Supreme Court judge to monitor the Company affairs in India. But in India Impey started to work as a company servant when he accepted office as the Judge of Sadar Adalat Accepting this violated the Regulation act. Because of other job, they believed that Impey would not do the justice with the job of Supreme Court.

Because of all above reason on 3rd May 1782 in England House of Commons adopted a resolution requesting the crown, king, to recall Impey to answer the charge of having accepted an office and violating the Regulating act. After this Impey left India on 3rd December 1782 Regarding criminal justice system Warren Hasting took certain steps. Machinery was created for the purpose of arresting criminals and bringing them before the fozdari adalat for the trial. This system never existed in India before this. A new department, office of the Remembrancer was created at Calcutta to keep watch on the functioning of criminal adalats. The department was to work under the Governor General The head of the department was known as Remembrances of criminal courts All criminal courts were required to send periodical reports to this department. Everything was done as per the Muslim criminal law and Warren Hasting was not happy with many things, and wanted to reform them, he tried his best but company heads did not accept his views. Because of this in criminal justice system, everyone made money using the corrupt ways.

Judicial Reforms Of Lord Cornwallis (1786-1793)

Lord Cornwallis succeeded Warren Hastings as Governor General in 1786. The Court of Directors of the Company in April 1787 sent Lord Cornwallis under the Act of 1787, with instructions to reduce the expenditure by combining revenue and judicial institutions. His tenure as G.G. from 1786 to 1793 would-be memorable in the Legal History of India for introducing the principle of administration according to law and local usages of the country He reorganized the entire revenue and judicial annotation in tires distinct phases though is judicial plans of 1787, 1790 & 1793

Judicial Plan of 1787

The number of districts in Bengal Bihar and Orissa was reduced from 36 to 23. The head of the district war appointed as collector who was in charge of the district and was responsible for the collection of revere He was to decide all revenue cases in the revenue court called Mal Adalat. The salaries of collectors were raised to ensure purity and fairness in the administration of justice Collector was also to act as judge of the Mofussil Diwani Adalat for deciding civil cases He was also to act as a Magistrate of the District and prosecute the offenders to be sent to Nizamat Adalat for trial. He could try petty offences himself, the punishment for which could not exceed 15 strokes or imprisonment for 15 days Appeals: Appeals from the decisions of the Mal Adalat lay to the Board of Revenue at Calcutta and further appeal from Board of Revenue could be preferred to the GG -Council

Mal Adalat: Board of Revenue GG and Council Mufassil Dewan Adalat Sadar Diwani Adalat +1000 King in Council Adalat. 

In civil cases, an appeal from the Mofussil Diwani Adalat could be preferred to the Sadar Diwani Adalat if the subject matter of the suit exceeded Rs. 1000 A further appeal lay to the King-in Council

The Sadar Diwani Adalat consisted of the Governor General and all the members of his Council who were assisted by the Chief Kazi, Chief Mufti and two Moulvies and Hindu Pundits Office of Registrar Under the judicial plan of 1787, an office of Registrar was created who assisted the Collector in the administration of Civil Justice The Registrar was empowered to decide civil cases up to the value of Rs 200/- but the decrees passed by him were not valid unless they were countersigned by the Collector (the judge of the Mofussil Diwani Adalat) 

Judicial Plan of 1790- Reorganization of Criminal Justice

1. Reforms introduced in Mohammedan Law of Crimes: Lord Cornwallis introduced certain modifications in the Muslim law of crimes The intention of the accused rather than the manner or instrument employed for committing the offence was to be taken into consideration by the judge Thus, mens rea became the main factor for deciding the guilt and punishment of the offender. The right of the relative of the murdered person to pardon the murder was withdrawn

The law of evidence was also modified and the discriminatory provisions relating to religion and sex were abolished and now all the witnesses were to be treated alike.

2. Reorganization of the Criminal Courts:

• The Court of District Magistrate: The Collector of every district was to act as a District Magistrate. He was to apprehend offenders and try petty cases. He was also empowered to conduct preliminary enquiry in cases of murder, thefts, robberies and other offences the presiding Magistrates were subject to the control of Court of Circuit which tried criminal cases
• Court of Circuit :For the sake of administrative convenience, the entire territory of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa was divided into 4 divisions, and a Court of Circuit was established in each of those divisions. The Mofussil Adalats were abolished. The Court of Circuit was a mobile Court It consisted of two English Judges of the Company They were to be assisted by the Muslim Law Officers, who were nominated by the G.G. The law officers were to expound the law and propose fatwa in each case If the Court of Circuit found the fatwa in accordance with the principles of natural justice and law, it could award sentence but if the Court disapproved the fatwa, and then the record of the case was to be submitted to the Sadar Nizamat Adalat.
• Sadar Nizamat Adalat: The seat of SNA was retransferred from Murshidabad to Calcutta and it was now to consist of the GG and members of his Council. They were assisted by Chief Kan and Chief Mufti The Adalat was empowered to recommend the cases to the GG and Council for mercy The Judicial plan of 1790 introduced radical changes in administration of criminal justice. It was modeled on Anglo- Muslim Law of Crimes which sought to remove the rationality and uncertainty

Plan of 1793:

• Separation of Civil and Revenue Jurisdiction
• Re-organization of Diwani Adalat 
• Appeals from the Diwani Adalat could be preferred to the Provincial Court of Appeal.  
• Creation of Subordinate Civil Court besides the Moffmail Diwani Adalat in each district, a number of subordinate courts were created by this plan for the interior parts of the district

1. Munsif Count upturns 50, in each district Sadar Amins and Commissioner as Munsifs were appointed Indians could be appointed as Munsifs. Munsifs Cour MDA Provincial Court of Appeal.
2. Registrar Court upturns 200 the decision of the Registrar had to be countersigned by the Judge of the MDA.

• Abolition of Count fee

• Administration of Criminal Justice: The Magisterial power of the Collector was transferred to the Judge of the MDA with the same power and functions. The working of the SNA remained unchanged under the Plan of 1793.

• Native law officers were appointed in different courts by GG for a definite fixed period. They had to take oath of their office. They could be removed from their office on the ground of incapacity, misconduct or corruption

• Legal Profession: After the regulation of 1793, the person who wanted to join legal profession was required to obtain a licence (Sanad) from SDA The legal practitioner was called the Vakil. Then appointment of Public Prosecutor was also recommended. Thus, truly speaking the Code of Cornwallis marks the beginning of the legal profession in India.

Lord William Bentinck Period – July 1828 to March 1835

The governor generalship of Lord William Bentinck, from July 1828 to March 1835 was an important period in Indian Legal History He introduced a number of innovations and initiated new policies in the sphere of In a minute dated 2nd October 1815 Lord Hastings had suggested the establishment of a separate Sadar Adalat for the Western Territory. There were two reasons for this To get justice people have to travel 1000 miles many times to reach the Sada Adalat. Because of this Poor people did not get opportunity to file appeals or get justice. 2nd Reason was Delay in getting justice

Although no changes could be made u des Hastings, Lord Bentinck decided to work on this idea and establish another Sadar Adalat So Lord Bentinck again forcefully argued for this cause This time Lord Bentinck succeeded. Governor General Bentinck’s government established through Regulation VI of 1831. Sadar Diwani Adalat and Sadar Nizamat Adalat at Allahabad from January 1, 1832. The Jurisdiction of the Adalat was to extend over Banaras Province, Districts of Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzaffarnagar and Bulandshahar Bentinck Brought Changes us Criminal Judicature of 1793 which Lord Cornwallis established Bentinck realized that people were not getting speedy justice. He realised that the Criminal Judicature of 1793 needed a total reorganization. Bentinck said that “these courts had become the resting place for those members of the service who were deemed unfit for higher responsibilities”

JUDICIAL REFORMS OF LORD BENTINCK

• Abolition of circuit courts
• Power of sadrameens, district and city judges increased

• Establishment of Sadrnijamat and sadrdiwaniadalat at Allahabad 
• Practice of sati declared an offence
• Indian appointed judicial officers 
• Abolition of provincial courts of appeals
• Civil and revenue jurisdiction given to collector
• Charter act of 1833 ad

ABOLITION OF CIRCUIT COURTS

1. 1 He realized that the existing system of circuit courts with very wide territorial jurisdiction was responsible for many defects in the administration of justice in civil and criminal cases 
2. 2 Long delays in deciding the cases increased the arrears of cases it became very difficult for the court to complete the circuit within six months. As the provincial courts of appeal was also dealing in the civil cases, he decided to abolish system of circuit courts
3. In 1832 ad, the commissioners of circuit and sessions judges were authorized to take the assistance of respectable natives in criminal trials either by referring some matter to them as panchayat for investigation or by calling them to the court as assessors or as jury 

Regulation 1 of 1829 appointed Commissioners of Revenue and circuit. Power of Commissioners – To superintendence and control over the magistrates, Police, collectors, and other executive revenue officers.

They got all the powers of Court of Circuit. Each Commissioner controlled small area so people could get cheap and fast justice The Bengal Presidency was divided into 20 Divisions and for each division one commissioner was appointed With this change Provincial Courts of Appeal stop to work as the Circuit Courts, one of the object was that to make supervision and control of the revenue authorities more effective.

By Regulation II of 1829, any order or decision passed by a magistrate or joint magistrate was made appealable to the commissioners. And the order of the commissioner was made final. The plan improved the justice system. But the work load of Commissioner increased. Again one person got revenue and judicial function which Cornwallis changed in the past.

POWER OF JUDGES INCREASED:

1. 1 In 1832 Powers of sadarameen, district and city judges was increased the magistrates were authorized to refer criminal cases to sadarameens or principal sadarameens for investigation
2. Their power was only limited to work as investigating officers and to report to the magistrates They were not authorized to make any decision
3. Regulation V of 1831 declared that magistrate may refer any criminal case to a Sadar Ameen or a principal sadar Ameen for investigation Antimien was an Indian servant of British Judiciary

SATI, AN OFFENCE: In 1829 he took a very bold decision to abolish the prevailing inhuman rite of sati 

Indian appointed judicial officers:

Any Indian can became Ammen no discrimination based on Religion This policy of the governor-general resulted in economy as the English judges were highly paid while Indians were available at a small salary. Due to this he gained confidence and loyalty of the Indians. SadarAmmen and Munsiff- appeal went to district diwani Adalat. The order of district diwani Adalat  was final Bus special appeal was allowed to Sadardiwamadalat The judicial powers of registers were removed. The munsiff was the poor mans justice provider, he was nearby them so he got speedy justice.

CIVIL AND REVENUE JURISDICTION TO COLLECTOR:

Suits relating to the rent were transferred to the exclusive cognizance of the collectors of revenue who were empowered to decide summarily. Their decision was final, subject to a regular suit to be instituted in the civil courts.

Lord Bentinck Introduced Jury system:

Regulation VI of 1832 made provision for the governor general in council to invest any European civil judge in a trial of civil suit original or appellate with powers to avail himself of the assistance of the Indians in one of the three ways. First judge could refer the suit to panchayat and they will give him report of investigation Secondly judge could constitute 2 or more persons as assessors which help the judge during the examination of witness and each assessor gave separate report. Thirdly judge can appoint any person as jury who will suggest the judge points of investigation or inquiry Regulation XIV of 1834 power to try revenue cases was given to collector. In 1837 the act was passed which gave power to Principal sadar Ammen to try suits of any amount referred to them by district diwani Adalat . Act X 1859 made all kinds of revenue cases cognizable by the collectors. In 1885 Bengal Tenancy Act was passed which authorized civil courts to determine disputes between landlords and tenants.

Points to remember

1. Territorial  acquisition of the company consist of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa here the first Adalat was stated in 1772.
2. Warren Hastings remained Governor of Bengal from 1772 to 1774.
3. The three territories, namely, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa, were directly taken over by the Company under in control for the purpose of establishing a well -organized judicial system Warren Hastings divided the above areas into a number of districts and the emphasis was laid upon the districts a unit of administration Each of the districts was placed under the control of an Englishman in the service of the Company He was designated as Collector of the area.
4. The chief features of the entire plan were the introduction of Adalat system in the entire area by establishing the following Courts Mofussil Diwani Adalat, Mofussil Faujdari Adalat, Court of the Head Farmer of Parganas
5. In order to check the evil of the plan of 1772 the new plan 1774 provided for dividing the province of Bengal, Bihar- and Orissa into six divisions with headquarters at Calcutta, Burdwan Murshidabad Dinajpur Dacca and Patna costing of several districts.
6. Warren Hastings knew that the judicial plan of 1774 was not perfect, and when Warren Hastings again got the chance, he made changes to the judicial plan of 1774 On April 11, 1780 new plan was introduced As per the plan of 1780 judicial and executive functions were separated Adalat’s Function to do civil justice, no revenue work Provincial Council No judicial work, only revenue related work, collection and revenue cases.
7. Lord Cornwallis succeeded Warren Hastings as Governor General in 1786. The Court of Directors of the Company in April 1787 sent Lord Cornwallis under the Act of 1787, with instructions to reduce the expenditure by combining revenue and judicial institutions.
8. Judicial Plan of 1787: The number of districts in Bengal Bihar and Orissa was reduced from 36 to 23. The head of the district war appointed as collector who was in charge of the district and was responsible for the collection of revenue .
9. The governor generalship of Lord William Bentinck, from July 1828 to March 1835 was an important period in Indian Legal History He introduced a number of innovations and initiated new policies in the sphere of In a minute dated 2nd October 1815 Lord Hastings had suggested the establishment of a separate Sadar Adalat for the Western Territory.
10. For the sake of administrative convenience, the entire territory of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa was divided into 4 divisions, and a Court of Circuit was established in each of those divisions. The Mofussil Adalats were abolished. The Court of Circuit was a mobile Court It consisted of two English Judges of the Company They were to be assisted by the Muslim Law Officers, who were nominated by the G.G.
11. In 1829 he took a very bold decision to abolish the prevailing inhuman rite of sati