DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.34367#0144
REGULATION IX.
[A.D. 1793.
denomination of the Nizamut Adawlut, for revising* the proceedings of the
Provincial Criminal Courts in capital cases, and the Committee of Revenue
at Moorslredabad was vested with a control over this court, similar to that
which the collectors of the revenue were empowered to exercise over the
Provincial Courts. Upon the abolition of the Committee of Revenue at
Moorshedabad, the Nizamut Adawlut was removed to Calcutta, and
placed under the charge of a darogah or superintendent, subject to the
control of the President of the Council, who revised the sentences of the
Criminal Courts in capital cases. The above arrangements continued in
force, without any considerable alteration, until the 18th October, 1775,
when the entire control over the department of criminal justice was com-
mitted to the Naib Nazim. The Nizamut Adawlut was, in consequence,
re-established at Moorshedabad, and the Naib Nazim appointed native
officers, denominated foujdars, assisted by persons versed in the Maho-
medan law, to superintend the Criminal Courts in the several districts,
and to apprehend and bring to trial offenders against the public peace.
This system was adhered to, without any material variation, until the 6th
April, 1781, when the institution of foujdars not having answered the
intended purposes, the general establishments both of foujdars, and the
tannahdars or police officers acting under them, were abolished. Fouj-
darry Courts, however, were continued in the several divisions, subject, as
before, to the control of the Naib Nazim as superintendent of the Nizamut
Adawlut, and the English judges of the Courts of Dewanny Adawlut
were appointed magistrates, with a power to apprehend decoits and
persons charged with crimes or misdemeanors within their respective
jurisdictions, and commit them to the nearest Foujdarry Court, for trial.
With a view to enable Government to superintend, in some degree, the
administration of justice in criminal cases, a separate department was at
the same time established at the presidency, under the control of the
Governor-General, to receive monthly returns of the sentences passed in
the Foujdarry Courts; and for the assistance of the Governor-General in
this duty, a covenanted civil servant of the Company was appointed, with
the official appellation of remembrancer to the Criminal Courts. From
the inedicacy, however, of the authority of the English magistrates over
the zemindars and other landholders, the administration of justice in
criminal cases was much impeded, whilst the Regulation which vested the
magistrates with the power of apprehending offenders, but without per-
mitting them to interfere in any respect in the trials, gave rise to a, new
evil. The magistrates being obliged to deliver over to the darogahs, or
superintendents of the Foujdarry Courts, all persons charged with a breach
of the peace, however trivial, and a considerable time often elapsing
before they were brought to trial,* many of the lowest and most indigent
classes of the people wmre frequently detained for a long period in prison,
where their sufferings often exceeded the degree of their criminality.
The magistrates, therefore, on the 27th June, 1787, were vested with
authority to hear and decide on complaints of petty affrays, abusive names,
and other slight offences, and under certain restrictions, to indict corporal
punishment and impose dnes on the offenders. But the numerous rob-
beries, murders, and other enormities, which continued to be daily
committed throughout the country, evincing that the administration of
criminal justice was still in a very defective state ; and as these evils
[A.D. 1793.
denomination of the Nizamut Adawlut, for revising* the proceedings of the
Provincial Criminal Courts in capital cases, and the Committee of Revenue
at Moorslredabad was vested with a control over this court, similar to that
which the collectors of the revenue were empowered to exercise over the
Provincial Courts. Upon the abolition of the Committee of Revenue at
Moorshedabad, the Nizamut Adawlut was removed to Calcutta, and
placed under the charge of a darogah or superintendent, subject to the
control of the President of the Council, who revised the sentences of the
Criminal Courts in capital cases. The above arrangements continued in
force, without any considerable alteration, until the 18th October, 1775,
when the entire control over the department of criminal justice was com-
mitted to the Naib Nazim. The Nizamut Adawlut was, in consequence,
re-established at Moorshedabad, and the Naib Nazim appointed native
officers, denominated foujdars, assisted by persons versed in the Maho-
medan law, to superintend the Criminal Courts in the several districts,
and to apprehend and bring to trial offenders against the public peace.
This system was adhered to, without any material variation, until the 6th
April, 1781, when the institution of foujdars not having answered the
intended purposes, the general establishments both of foujdars, and the
tannahdars or police officers acting under them, were abolished. Fouj-
darry Courts, however, were continued in the several divisions, subject, as
before, to the control of the Naib Nazim as superintendent of the Nizamut
Adawlut, and the English judges of the Courts of Dewanny Adawlut
were appointed magistrates, with a power to apprehend decoits and
persons charged with crimes or misdemeanors within their respective
jurisdictions, and commit them to the nearest Foujdarry Court, for trial.
With a view to enable Government to superintend, in some degree, the
administration of justice in criminal cases, a separate department was at
the same time established at the presidency, under the control of the
Governor-General, to receive monthly returns of the sentences passed in
the Foujdarry Courts; and for the assistance of the Governor-General in
this duty, a covenanted civil servant of the Company was appointed, with
the official appellation of remembrancer to the Criminal Courts. From
the inedicacy, however, of the authority of the English magistrates over
the zemindars and other landholders, the administration of justice in
criminal cases was much impeded, whilst the Regulation which vested the
magistrates with the power of apprehending offenders, but without per-
mitting them to interfere in any respect in the trials, gave rise to a, new
evil. The magistrates being obliged to deliver over to the darogahs, or
superintendents of the Foujdarry Courts, all persons charged with a breach
of the peace, however trivial, and a considerable time often elapsing
before they were brought to trial,* many of the lowest and most indigent
classes of the people wmre frequently detained for a long period in prison,
where their sufferings often exceeded the degree of their criminality.
The magistrates, therefore, on the 27th June, 1787, were vested with
authority to hear and decide on complaints of petty affrays, abusive names,
and other slight offences, and under certain restrictions, to indict corporal
punishment and impose dnes on the offenders. But the numerous rob-
beries, murders, and other enormities, which continued to be daily
committed throughout the country, evincing that the administration of
criminal justice was still in a very defective state ; and as these evils