India, its administration & progress / Sir John Strachey.

  • John Strachey
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: India, its administration & progress / Sir John Strachey. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    judge should himself be a European British subject. A magistrate might pass sentence of imprisonment for three months and fine of 1000 rupees ; a Sessions judge might imprison for one year, and fine. Cases requiring severer punishment were referred to the High Court. In the towns of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, the Presidency magistrates were justices of the peace by virtue of their offices, and, whether they were Europeans or Natives, they could try and punish European British subjects. Matters remained in this position until 1883, when the Government of India considered that the law regarding jurisdiction over European British subjects required alteration. Some of the Native members of the Covenanted Civil Service had reached a stage when, in the ordinary course of promotion, they would become District magistrates and judges in the Courts of Session. Under the Code of Criminal Procedure no Native hold- ing one of these offices could try any charge against a European British subject. The Government considered that the law in this respect ought to be altered. It was stated that “ the Government of India had decided to settle the question of jurisdiction over European British subjects in such a way as to remove from the code, at once and completely, every judicial disqualification which is based merely on race distinctions.” This declaration, made in uncompromising terms, provoked a storm of indignation on the part of the European community throughout India. It was not confined to the non-official classes, but extended almost equally to the servants of the Government; it reached a point at which it threatened to become a cause of serious political anxiety, and nothing could be more lamentable than the animosities, the prejudices, and
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