The Rule of Law and Emergency in Colonial India: Judicial Politics in the Early Nineteenth Century (Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies)

This book takes a closer look at colonial despotism in early nineteenth-century India and argues that it resulted from Indians' forum shopping, the legal practice which resulted in jurisdictional jockeying between an executive, the East India Company, and a judiciary, the King's Court. Focusing on the collisions that took place in Bombay during the 1820s, the book analyses how Indians of various descriptions--peasants, revenue defaulters, government employees, merchants, chiefs, and princes--used the court to challenge the government (and vice versa) and demonstrates the mechanism through which the lawcourt hindered the government's indirect rule, which relied on local Indian rulers in newly conquered territories. The author concludes that existing political anxiety justified the East India Company's attempt to curtail the power of the court and strengthen their own power to intervene in emergencies through the renewal of the company's charter in 1834. An insightful read for those researching Indian history and judicial politics, this book engages with an understudied period of British rule in India, where the royal courts emerged as sites of conflict between the East India Company and a variety of Indian powers--back cover Acknowledgements 8 Praise for The Rule of Law and Emergency in Colonial India 9 Contents 10 List of Tables 11 Chapter 1: Law and Emergency: Two Logics of Colonial Governance 12 The Judicial Structure of British India in the Early Nineteenth Century 14 Despotism and the Rule of Law 17 The Logic of Law and the Logic of Emergency: A Typology 21 Chapters 25 Chapter 2: Reform Public and the King’s Court in Bombay City 36 The King’s Court of Bombay in the Eighteenth Century 36 Reform Public, Press, Police and the King’s Court in the 1820s 39 Civil Trials of War and Emergency 44 Conclusion 46 Chapter 3: Summonses, Writs and Revenue Defaulters in the Mofussil 52 Introduction 52 Sheriff’s Writs and Disturbances in the Mofussil 54 Revenue Defaulters’ ‘Abuse’ of the King’s Court 57 Native Agents and Revenue Farmers 59 Corruption, Discretion and Regular Government in the Mofussil 63 Conclusion 67 Chapter 4: Indirect Rule Threatened by Raiders, Princes and the King’s Court 75 Introduction 75 The Realm of Law and the Realm of Politics: Bombay Regulations of 1827 78 Chieftains and the Security in the Mofussil: Bhavnagar and Peinth 83 Independent Princes Resorted to the King’s Court 86 Conclusion 91 Chapter 5: Habeas Corpus in Times of Emergency: The Bombay Dispute 101 Introduction 101 The Logic of Law and the Logic of Emergency Articulated 103 The Governor’s and the Judges’ Imperial Networks 111 Petitions from Bombay Merchants and Deccan Sardars 113 Conclusion 116 Chapter 6: Bengal, Madras and Imperial Debate on Despotism 124 Introduction 124 Bengal: Revenue, Bhadraloks and Zamindars 126 Madras: Police, Princely Debts and Camp Followers 127 The Calcutta Debate on the Legislative Council 133 The London Debate on the Imperial Constitution 135 Conclusion 137 Chapter 7: Epilogue and Conclusion 146 Executive and Judiciary After 1834 146 Conclusion 153 Bibliography 163 Primary Sources 163 Archives 163 Newspapers and Periodicals 164 Parliamentary Papers 164 Official Publications 165 Published Primary Sources 165 Secondary Sources 168 Index 183