Lord Cornwallis and Judicial Reforms
Lord Cornwallis and Judicial Reforms
Lord Cornwallis and Judicial Reforms
The Governor Generalship of Lord Cornwallis which extended from 1786 to creative constitutes
a very remarkable and a highly creative period in Indian Legal History.
He introduced for the first time the principle of administration according to law. The Adalat
System left behind by him won praise and encomium from all quarters. The system introduced
envisaged a division of revenue and judicial functions and their vesting in distinct functionaries.
Cornwallis introduced changes in the judicial system thrice: first, in 1787; then in 1790 and,
finally, in 1793. By the time he left India, he had thoroughly reorganized the judicial system,
both civil and criminal, in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa and placed it on an entirely new basis. He
introduced for the first time the principle of administration according to law. The Adalat system
left behind by him won praise and encomium. It enjoyed such a high place in the esteem of the
people as well as the administrators that it was adopted as the model for the judicial systems
introduced later in the Provinces of Madras and Bombay.
Cornwallis received critical assistance from others in his effort to introduce legal reforms.
William Jones, an expert on languages, translated existing Hindu and Muslim penal codes into
English so that they could be evaluated and applied by English-speaking judges. Cornwallis
began in 1787 by giving limited criminal judicial powers to the company's revenue collectors,
who already also served as civil magistrates. He also required them to report regularly on
detention times and sentences given. In 1790 the company took over the administration of justice
from the Nawab, and Cornwallis introduced a system of circuit courts with a superior Judges
were drawn from the company's European employees. These reforms also included changes to
the penal codes to begin harmonizing the different codes then in use. By the time of his departure
in 1793 his work on the penal code, known in India as the Cornwallis Code, was substantially
complete. One consequence of the Cornwallis Code was that it, in effect, institutionalized racism
in the legal system. Cornwallis, in a manner not uncommon at the time, believed that well-bred
gentlemen of European extraction were superior to others, including those that were the product
of mixed relationships in India. Of the latter, he wrote "as on account of their colour & extraction
they are considered in this country as inferior to Europeans, I am of opinion that those of them
who possess the best abilities could not command that authority and respect which is necessary
in the due discharge of the duty of an officer." In 1791 he issued an order that "No person, the
son of a Native Indian, shall henceforward be appointed by this Court to Employment in the
Civil, Military, or Marine Service of the Company." Cornwallis's biographers, the Wick wires,
also observe that this institutionalization of the British as an elite class simply added another
layer on top of the complex status hierarchy of caste and religion that existed in India at the time.
Cornwallis could not have formalized these policies without the (tacit or explicit) agreement of
the company's directors and employees. Cornwallis's attitude toward the lower classes did,
however, include a benevolent and somewhat paternalistic desire to improve their condition. He
introduced legislation to protect native weavers who were sometimes forced into working at
starvation wages by unscrupulous company employees, outlawed child slavery, and established
in 1791 a Sanskrit college for Hindus that is now the Government Sanskrit College in Benares.
He also established a mint in Calcutta that, in addition to benefiting the poor by providing a
reliable standard currency, was a forerunner India's modern currency.
THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF 1787
The judicial scheme of 1781, introduced during Warren Hastings’s Governor-Generalship,
envisaged a division of revenue and judicial functions and their vesting in distinct functionaries.
The court of directors on 12th April 1786 directed the Cornwallis to vest in one person the
revenue, judicial, and magisterial functions. Cornwallis followed the ordered and introduced plan
of 1787. In this plan Cornwallis increased the salaries of collectors.
2nd He reduced the number of Diwani districts from 36 to 23 and this made it possible to
increase the salaries of collectors. The scheme was introduced through 2 Regulations.
First Regulation dealt with Revenue Administration and it was introduced on 8th June 1787.
Second Regulation dealt with administration of justice and it was enacted on 27 June 1787. In
each district a company’s English covenanted servant was appointed as collector who will collect
revenue as well as will decide the all cases relating to revenue. Collector also worked as Judge in
the district Mofussil Diwani Adalat to decide civil cases, succession cases and land related cases
like boundaries etc.
Revenue Court was known as mal Adalat .Appeals from mal Adalat went to the Board of
Revenue at Calcutta. And it finally went to the Governor General.
Appeals in the cases where matters more than Rs. 1000/- went to the Sadar Diwani Adalat, where
Governor General and council handled the cases.
Appeal from Sadar Diwani Adalat went to the King in Council.
In each Adalat registrar was appointed as a subordinate officer to help collectors.
Registrar was given power to handle decide cases up to rupees 200 and orders passed by him
became valid when it were signed by the judge of Mofussil Adalat.
As a magistrate collector was authorized to try and arrest criminals in petty offences. Court that
met in Calcutta and had the power of review over circuit court decisions.
Defects:
The magistrate got power to hear the cases against the Englishmen who committed crimes
against Indians, in this case magistrate made inquiry and he felt that there is ground for trial, he
would send the Englishman accused to the Calcutta for trial and if Indian complainant was poor,
the government paid all the expenses of travelling to Calcutta. As magistrate, the collector was to
arrest criminals and try and punish petty offences by corporal punishment not exceeding 15
strokes, or imprisonment not exceeding 15 days.
All the Europeans, who were not British subject, were placed on the same footing as the Indians
and were made amenable to the local fozdari adalats. The scheme of 1787 was a retro step, a
swinging back of the pendulum, as regards the administration of civil justice. In 1781, a
progressive step had been taken by way of effecting separation between judicial and executive
functions, but this remarkable achievement was annulled in 1787 when justice was made
subservient to the needs of revenue collection.
THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF 1790
It was also called as the Scheme of Criminal Judicature. This scheme had three limbs. At the
lowest rung of the ladder were the magistrates. Above them were the Circuits and the ultimate
criminal court was the Sadar Nizamat Adalat. Everything was controlled by Nawab Reza Khan
and who was not answerable to anyone. The salaries of the criminal court judges were very low
which encouraged them to get involved in the corruption.
Low salaried kept honest and educated people away from this job and every corrupt man wanted
to become the criminal court judge. Fozdari adalats did not give fast justice, it delayed the
justice. Delayed justice encourages criminals to do more crimes. As there existed no fear from
the law.
Cornwallis wanted to reform all this and introduced the new scheme on 3rd December 1790.