​DR.

RAM MANOHAR LOHIYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

HISTORY

PROJECT
ON
​JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION SYSTEM OF MUGHALS

Submitted To: ​Submitted By:

Dr. Vandana Singh Saurabh Yadav

Associate Professor Roll No. 190101131

Faculty of History, RMLNLU Ist Year ( 1st Sem )

TABLE OF CONTENT

1. Declaration………………………………………………………………………03

2. Acknowledgment………………………………………………………………..04

3. Introduction………………………………………………………………………05

4. Classification of Courts During Mughal Rule……………………………………07

5. Important Officers for Administration of Justice………………………………..11

6. Crime and Punishment in Mughal Administration ……………………………….13

7. Administration of Justice…………………………………………………………15

8. Criticism of Mughal Administration of Justice……………………………………18

9. Conclusion ……………………………………………………………………….21

10. Bibliography………………………………………………………………………22
DECLARATION

I hereby declare that the project paper titled “ JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM OF MUGHALS ”

is submitted by me to Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law, University, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh in

partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of the degree of B.A.L.L.B ( HONS. ) is a record of

bonafide project work carried out by me under the guidance of Dr. Vandana Singh. I further declare

that the work reported in this project has not been submitted and will not be submitted either in

part or in full, for the award of any other degree or diploma in this institute or any other university.
 ​ACKNOWLEDGMENT

I express my gratitude and deep regards to my teacher for the subject DR. Vandana Singh for

giving me such a challenging topic and also for her exemplary guidance, monitoring and

constant encouragement throughout the course of this thesis.

I would also like to thank the librarians of Dr. Madhu Limaye Library who extended their

assistance to me by helping me out consult the relevant books and provided me with research

material and good books to work upon and the distinguished authors, jurists, and journals for

providing in the public domain such invaluable information.

I also thank all of my friends and seniors who aided me along the way.

Lastly, I thank almighty, my family and friends for their constant encouragement without which this

assignment would not have been possible.

I know that despite my best efforts some discrepancies might have crept in which I believe my

humble professor would forgive.

ABHILASH KUMAR GAUR

Roll No. 190101004

 INTRODUCTION
Mughal Emperors were lovers of justice. Akbar is stated to have declared that “If I were
guilty of an unjust act, I would rise in judgment against myself.” According to Peruschi,
“Akbar was most zealous and watchful in the matter of administering justice.”In inflicting
punishments, he is deliberate, and after he has made over the guilty person to the hands of the
judge and court to suffer the extreme penalty or the mutilation of some limb, he requires that
he should be three times reminded by messages before the sentence is carried out.”

It is true that access to the Mughal Emperor was not easy. However, efforts were made to
provide some sort of link between the Emperor and the aggrieved parties. Reference may be
made in this connection to the golden chain of Jahangir which was hung for the benefit of the
people. Other Emperor was also anxious to give justice to the people.

The Qazi-ul-Qazat was the highest judicial officer of the country. He was responsible for the
proper and efficient administration of justice. However, according to Sir Jadunath Sarkar,
there was “no system, no organization of the law courts in a regular gradation from the
highest to the lowest, nor any proper distribution of courts in proportion to the area to be
served by them.” Cases were tried and disposed of by the Qazis, the Muftis and the Miradls.

The Qazis tried both civil and criminal cases of the Hindus and Muslims. While trying the
cases of the Hindus, they were required to take into consideration their customs and usages.
They were expected to be “just, honest, impartial, to hold trials in the presence of the parties
and at the court house and the seat of Government, not to accept presents from the people
where they served, nor to attend entertainments given by anybody and everybody and they
were asked to know poverty to be their glory.” In spite of this ideal, the Qazis generally
abused their powers and “the Qazis department became a byword of reproach in Mughal
times.”

The Qazi was primarily a judicial officer. However, he performed many other functions. He
was required to discharge civil, religious and clerical duties. He acted as a revenue official
while performing the function of the collection of Jiziya and that of the Amin of the Public
Treasury.​:

The jobs of the registrar in the registration of the sale-deeds, mortgage deeds, conveyances,
gifts deeds and the like and of the magistrate in accepting bail-bonds, surety-bonds,
attestation of Farmans and documents also pertained to his office. He was also required to
perform a large number of religious functions of varied nature. The enormous multiplicity of
functions must have grossly impaired his judicial work.

According to Sir Jadunath Sarkar, “As the provincial Qazi’s jurisdiction was very vast and he
had no assistant or deputy locally appointed to share his burden, only a small part of the
disputes in the provinces could be tried by him.” No wonder most of the cases in the rural
areas and even in the urban areas were decided by the Panchayats
 COURT SYSTEM IN MUGHAL EMPIRE

After the decline of the Delhi Sultanate in India in 1526 C.E. Mughal rule started in India.

The Mughal rule was established in India by Babur who was even the first ruler of the

Mughal Empire. He was succeeded by his son Humayun who conquered many other parts of

india

It is believed that the Mughal emperors were very fond of justice and they were

considered the ‘fountain of justice’. The emperor created a separate department of justice

called ​Mahakuma-e-Adalat ​to regulate and see that justice was administered properly in the

empire.

The laws were mainly based on the holy book of Islam the Quran. This was similar to

that of the Delhi sultanate as the laws of the Delhi sultanate were also based on the Quran.

According to the Quran, sovereignty lies in ​Allah ​(god) and the king is his humble servant to

carry out his will on the earth. The ruler was regarded as trustee, being the almighty’s chosen

agent who was sent to render justice among the subjects in his province.

Classification of Courts During Mughal Rule

A systematic classification and gradation of the courts existed at the seat of the capital, in

provinces, districts, praganahs and villages. The important courts functioning during this

period were as follows:

Courts at Capital

The courts functioning at capital city of Delhi were divided into three. They were as follows:
 a) The Emperor’s Court: ​The Emperor’s court presided over by the emperor himself,

was the highest court of the empire. This court had jurisdiction to hear both civil and

criminal cases. The Emperor while hearing the cases as a court of first instance, was

assisted by ​Daroga-e-Adalat, Mufti ​and ​Mir Adil. ​While hearing appeal the

Emperor presided over a bench consisting of the Chief Justice (​Qazi-ul-Quzat​) and

other Qazis of the Chief Justice’s court. The Emperor referred points for – opinion

regarding authoritative interpretation of law on a particular point to the Chief Justice’s

court.

b) ​The Court of Chief Justice: ​This was the second important court at the capital.

This

court presided over by Chief Justice assisted by two Qazies of great importance who

were attached to this court as puisne judges. This court had jurisdiction to try original,

civil, and criminal cases and also to hear appeals from the Provincial courts. It had

also supervisory power over the working of the Provincial courts.

c) Chief Revenue Court: ​This was the third was the third important court of appeal

to

decide revenue cases. This court was also assisted by the four officials, namely

Daroga-e-Adalat, Mufti, Muhtasib ​and ​Mir Adil​. Apart from these three important

courts, there were also two courts in Delhi. The court of ​Qazi-e-Askar ​was a special

court to decide military matters. This court moved from place to place with troops.

Another court was the court of Qazi of Delhi which sat in the absence of the

Qazi-ulQuzat ​to decide local civil and criminal matters.

Provincial Courts

The provinces in the Mughal period were called ​Subahs​. During Mughal rule in India courts
were also present in province level also. Each ​Subah ​had courts. The provincial courts were

divided into three types. There were following three types of courts:

a) ​The Governor’s Court (Adalat-e-Nazim-e-Subah): ​The Governor or Nazim

presided over this court and he had original jurisdiction in all cases arising in the

Province. This court had also jurisdiction to hear appeals from the subordinate courts.

Further appeal from this court lay to the Emperor’s court. This court had also

supervisory power over the administration of justice in the Province. One ​Mufti ​and a

Daroga-e-Adalat ​were attached to this court.

b) ​The Provincial Chief Appeal Court (Qazi-i-Subah’s Court): ​This court heard

appeals from the decisions of the Qazis of the districts. The powers of ​Qazi-i-Subah

were co-extensive with those of Governors. This court had original civil and criminal

jurisdiction as well. The officers attached to this court were, ​Mufti, Muhtasib,

Daroga-e- Adalat-e-Subah, Mir Adil, Pandit, Sawaneh Nawis ​and ​Waque Nigar​.

c) ​Provincial Chief Revenue Court (Diwan’s Court): ​This court presided over by

Diwan-e-Subah ​had original and appellate jurisdiction at the imperial capital. Four

officers attached to this court were ​Peshker, Daroga, Treasurer ​and ​Cashier.

District Courts

The districts were called ​Sarkars ​Courts were also present in each and every district of the

Mughal Empire. There were four types of district courts. They were as follows:

a) District Qazi: ​The chief civil and criminal court of the district was presided over by

Qazi-e-Sarkar. ​This court had jurisdiction to try all civil and criminal matters.

Appeal from this court lay to the ​Qazi-e-Subah​. ​Qazi-e-Sarkar ​was the principal

judicial officer in the district. Six officers were appointed to this court, ​Daroga-eAdalat, Mir

Adil, Mufti, Pandit, Muhtasib, and Vakil-e-Sharayat.

b) Faujdar Adalat: ​This court presided over by a ​Faujdar ​had jurisdiction to try cases

concerning riots and state security. An appeal lay to the court of Governor from the

decisions of this court.

c) Kotwali court: ​This court presided over by a ​Kotwal-e-Shahar ​decided all petty

criminal cases. Appeals from this court lay to the ​Qazi-e-Sarkar.

d) Amalguzari Kachari: ​This court presided over by an ​Amalguzar ​decided revenue

matters. An appeal from this court lay to ​Diwan-e-Subah’s Adalat.

Parganah’s Court

The districts were further divided into parganahs. So to administer justice, three courts were

appointed in the parganahs. The courts present in the parganahs were:

a) Qazi-e-Parganah’s Court: ​This court had jurisdiction over all civil and criminal

cases arising within its original jurisdiction. This court had no appellate jurisdiction.

Appeal from this court lay to the court of district Qazi.

b) Court Of Kotwal: ​This court decided all petty criminal cases. Appeals from this

courts’ decision lay to the Court of District Qazi.

c) Amin-e-Parganah: ​This court presided over by an ​Amin ​decide all revenue matters.

An Appeal from this court lay to District Amaguzar

Village Courts

In each village two types of courts were working-​court of village Panchayat ​and the ​court

of Zamindar​. The village panchayat consisted of five persons headed by a headman called

Sarpanch. ​The members of the village panchayat were called the ​Panch. ​The panchayat had

the power to decide petty local civil and criminal matters. No appeal was allowed from the

decision of a panchayat. In the late Mughal period, Zamindar’s courts were empowered to try
petty criminal and civil matters.

Important Officers in Mughal Empire for Administration of Justice

There were many officers in the courts who held important offices under them. Some of

them are as mentioned below:

Vakil

The office of the Vakil seems to have come into prominence when Akbar was a minor and

Bairam Khan acted on his behalf as deputy. After that, this office lost its importance.

Although the title continued to exist, none was appointed to act for the emperor. It gradually

lost its significance and completely faded away during the reign of Shah Jahan.

Muhtasib

He was the censor of public morals. It was his duty to enforce the commands of the Prophet

and suppress all those practices which were un-Islamic. The punishment of heretical

opinions, especially against Prophet and neglect of the five daily prayers and observance of

Ramzan by Muslims also lay within the province of censor. In the time of Aurangzeb, they

were given the duty of demolishing newly-constructed temples. Sometimes, they were asked

to enforce the use of correct weights and measures.

Qazi-ul-Quzat or Chief Qazi or Chief Judge

The chief Qazi was the highest judicial officer and was responsible for the proper and
efficient administration of justice. As the khalifa of the age, it was the duty of the Emperor to

give justice to the people, but as he had no time, the work was give to the chief Qazi. He was

the Judge in religious suits only and tried them according to Muslim law. The Qazis of the

cities, Districts and the Provinces were appointed by him. These Qazis were helped by the

muftis. Most of the Qazis were corrupt. According to Sir Jadunath Sarkar, “All the Qazis of

the Mughal period with a few honourable exceptions, were notorious for taking bribes.”

Kotwal

The duties of Kotwal are given in the book ​Aini-i-Akbari. ​Essentially, he was a police officer

of the town, but he enjoyed magisterial powers in some cases he was responsible for the

maintenance of law and order in the city. He kept watch at night and patrolled the city. He

kept a register of houses and frequented buildings. He examined weight and measures and

discovered thieves. He made a list of those who had no heir and also of the dead and missing

person. He was to see that no woman was burned, according to sati pratha, against her will
 ​Crime and Punishment in the Mughal Administration

A systematic judicial procedure was followed by the courts during the Mughal period. The

judicial procedure was regulated by two Muslim codes namely ​Fiqh-e-Firoz Shahi ​and

Fatwai-i-Alamgiri. ​Evidence was classified into three categories-(a) full corroboration; (b)

testimony of a single individual; and (c) admission including confession. The court always

preferred full corroboration to other classes of evidence. The Muslim criminal law broadly

classified crimes into three types: (i) crimes against Allah (God); (ii) crimes against

Shahenshah (King); and (iii) crimes against private individual. During the Muslim period trial

by ordeal as existed in Hindu period was prohibited. Instead three forms of punishments were

executed by the courts under Muslim Law for above three types of crimes.

1. ​Hadd (fixed penalties): ​This is the form of punishment which was prescribed by the

cannon law which could not be reduced or modified by human agency. Hadd meant

specific punishment for specific offences. It thus provided a fixed punishment as laid

down in Sharia for crimes like theft, robbery, whoredom (zinah), apostasy (ijtidad),
defamation and drunkenness. It was equally applicable to Muslims and nonMuslims. The

state was under a duty to prosecute all those who were guilty of Hadd.

No compensation was granted under it. For instance, stoning to death was prescribed

for adultery or drinking wine, for theft, cutting off the right hand was prescribed etc.

all offences for which Hadd was prescribed as punishment are characterised as

offences against Allah, in other words, against ‘public justice’.

2. ​Tazir (Discretionary Punishment): ​This was another form of punishment which

meant prohibition and it was applicable to all crimes which were not classified under

Hadd. Offences for which tazir was fixed were all offences against King or the

Shahenshah. It included crimes like gambling, causing injury, minor theft etc. Under

tazir the kind and amount of punishment was left entirely with the judge’s wish;

courts were free to even invent new method of punishing the criminals e.g. cutting

out the tongue, impalement etc. The object was to reform criminal.

3. ​Qisas (retaliation) and Diya (blood money): ​Qisas meant, in principle, life for life

and limb for limb. Qisas was applied to cases of wilful killing and certain types of

grave wounding or maiming which were characterised as offences against human

body. Qisas was regarded as the personal right of victim or his next of kin, to inflict

a like injury on the wrong-doer as he had inflicted on his victim. Under Qisas the

relatives or successors of the murdered person could excuse the murderer. Qisas

became Diya when the next of kin of the victim was satisfied with money as

compensation for the price of blood. This also could not be reduced or modified

either by the Qazi or the Emperor. In cases where Qisas was available, it could be

exchanged with Diya or Blood Money.

 ​Administration of Justice

The Mughal emperor was the khalifa of the age. As such, he was the fountain of all justice.

According to Sir. Jadunath Sarkar, “he was the highest court of appeal and sometimes acted

at the first instance too.” The Mir Arz presented the application of the people before the

emperor. We are told there were seven Mir Arzs in the time of Akbar. That was due to the

presence of work.

Mughal emperor were lovers of justice. Akbar is stated to have declared that “​If I were

guilty of an unjust act, I would rise in judgement against myself.” ​According to ​Peruschi,

Akbar was most zealous and watchful in the matter of administering justice. “In

inflicting punishment, he is deliberate, and after he has made over the guilty person to

the hands of the judge and court to suffer the extreme penalty or the mutilation of some

limb, he requires that he should be three times reminded by message before the
sentence is carried out.” ​It is true that access to the Mughal emperor was not easy.

However, efforts were to provide some sort of link between the emperor and the aggrieved

parties. Reference may be made in this connection to the golden chain of Jahangir which was

hung for the benefit of the people. Other emperor were also anxious to give justice to the

people. The qazi-ul-quzat was the highest judicial officer of the country. He was responsible

for the proper and efficient administration of justice. However, according to ​sir Jadunath

Sarkar there was “no system, no organization of the law courts in a regular gradation

from the highest to the lowest, nor any proper distribution of courts in proportion to the

area to be served by them.” ​Cases were tried and disposed of by the Qazis, the muftis and

the miradis.

The Qazis were tried both civil and criminal cases of the Hindus and muslims. While trying

the cases of hindus, they were required to take into consideration their customs and usage.

They were expected to be “just honest,impartial to hold trials in the presence of the parties

and at the court house and the seat of government, not to accept presents from the people

where they served, nor to attend entertainments given by anybody and everybody and they

were asked to know poverty to be their glory.” In spite of this ideal, the Qazis generally

abused their powers and “the Qazis departments became a byword of reproach in Mughal

times.”

The Qazis was primarily a judicial officer. However, he performed many other functions. He

was required to discharge civil, religious and clerical duties. He acted as a revenue official

while performing the function of the collection of jiziya and that of the amin of the public

treasury. The jobs of the registrar in the registration of the sale-deeds, mortgage deeds,

conveyances, gifts deeds and the like and of the magistrate in accepting bail-bonds,

surebonds, attestation farmans and documents also pertained to his office. He was also
required to

perform a large number of religious functions of varied nature. The enormous multiplicity of

functions must have grossly impaired his judicial work.

According to Sir Jadunath Sarkar, “As the provincial Qazi’s jurisdiction was very vast and he

had no assistant or deputy locally appointed to share his burden, only small part of the

disputes in the provinces could be tried by him.” No wonder most of the cases in the rural

areas and even in the urban areas were decided by the Panchayats.

Foreign writers like Sir Thomas Roe point out that in the Mughal period there was no

codified law as such. Likewise, there was no highest court of justice which could finally lay

down the law for the country. The Mughals had three separate judicial agencies, all working

at the same time and independent of each other. Those were the courts of religious law, court

of secular law, and political courts. As regards the courts of religious law, those were

presided over by the Qazis who decided cases according to Islamic law. However, the Qazi

was never “considered authoritative enough to lay down a legal principle, elucidate an

obscurity in the Quran or supplement the Quranic law by following the line of its obvious

intention in request of cases not explicitly provided by it.” The Qazis were helped by Muftis

who expounded the law. The Mufti was “urged to spend his days and night in reading books

on jurisprudence the judgement.

Muslim Law in India did not grow and change accordingly to the circumstances and needs of

the country. It merely reflected the changes of juristic thought in Arabia or Egypt. Even

Akbar did not interfere with the administration of criminal justice which was based on Islam

law.

As regards the courts of secular law, they were presided over by Governors, Faujdars and

Kotwals. In the time Akbar, Brahmans were appointed to decide the cases of Hindus. The
Panchayats also fell under this category. The courts of secular law were not under the thumb

of the Qazi. Political courts tried political cases like rebellion, rioting, murders, etc. They

were presided over by Subahdars, Faujdars Kotwal, etc.

Corruption and bribery played an important part in the field of administration of justice. Only

those could expect to have justice who had either money to bribe or influence or exercise. As

there was no written law, there was great scope for discretion and hence corruption and

favouritism. It is true that an appeal could be taken to the Emperor, but in most cases, this

right came to nothing as the journey to the capital was a very long one and also expensive. In

civil cases, not only the property of the debtors could be auctioned for the satisfaction of the

debt, the debtors were also liable to be sold into slavery or handed over as serfs to their

creditors. It was a very expensive affair to set the machinery of civil law in motion in the

Mughal times. A popular saying was: “To trust a qazi is to court misfortune”.

The condition of the jail in the Mughal period was thoroughly unsatisfactory. Forts were used

as jail and not much was spent on their maintenance. As a matter of fact, the policy of the

Mughal emperors was not favour imprisonment for long periods. They preferred fines,

confiscation of property, and mutilation of limbs or death to imprisonment in a jail.

Executions were generally held on Tuesdays in the presence of the emperor. In the time of

Aurangzeb, persons were detained for securing confessions. The detention in jail lasted as

long as the accused did not become weak or submissive. He was left off earlier if he agreed to

embrace Islam.
 ​Criticism of Mughal Administration of Justice

There are many drawbacks of Mughal legal system. It was very barbaric and

inhuman. The law were primitive and very much illogical.

i. The Muslim criminal law did not draw any distinction between public law and private

law. Criminal law was regarded as a branch of private law. It had not developed the

idea that crime was an offence not only against the injured individual but also against

the society as well.

ii. Muslim criminal law suffered from much illogicality. This is because crimes against
god were regarded crimes of an atrocious character. Crimes against men were

regarded as crimes of a private nature and punishment was regarded as private right of

the aggrieved party.

iii. The most defective provision in Muslin criminal law was the provision of Diya. In

many cases the murderer escaped simply by paying money to the dependants of the

murdered person. Many evil practices developed out of it.

iv. In cases where murdered person left no heirs to punish the murdered or to demand

blood-money no specific provisions was available in Muslim law. A minor heir was to

wait till he attained majority for punishing the murderer or demanding blood-money

v. Though Muslim law tried to distinguish between murder and culpable homicide, it did

not rest the intention or want of intention of the culprit. It rested on the method of

weapons employed in committing the crime. This was peculiar and generated grave

injustice.

vi. The law of tazir which provided for discretionary punishment was also very vague

which gave too much power to the Qazis and other judges. On the other hand, even

innocent persons were punished by the courts while on the other hand, it led to

corruption and injustice. Punishment could be unduly severe or ridiculously light as

there was no standard or measure for them.

vii. The law of evidence under Muslim law was very defective, unsatisfactory, and

primitive in nature which made conviction of offenders quite difficult. For example,

no Muslim could be given capital punishment on the evidence of an infidel. In other

cases evidence of one Muslim was regarded as being equivalent to those of two

Hindus. Evidence of two women was regarded as being equal to that of one man.

Again, evidence was to be direct, no circumstantial evidence was allowed. To convict

a man for rape, for example, it was necessary to have four witnesses who would swear

that they had actually seen the accused in the very act of committing the offence. A

thief would be convicted only on the evidence of two men, or of one man and two

women. It was an invariable case rule to exclude the evidence of women in all cases

under Hadd or Qisas.

viii. The nature of punishment of stoning, mutilation etc. were so cruel and inhuman that

no man could even think of it in a civilised society. The punishment of mutilation

meant slow, cruel and lingering death to the unfortunate person who had to undergo it,

because he could not adopt any means of livelihood. In other words the punishments

were very barbaric and inhuman

​Conclusion

The administration of justice during the Mughal period was very weak and it gained its

highest peak during the reign of Akbar and its quality fell down in the reign of Aurangzeb.

We see a good classification of courts in various levels but there were no laws to check their

functioning in a loyal way. We see the officials getting corrupt and taking bribe to do the
work for which they were paid salary. There was no decentralisation of powers which led to

such mismanagement of legal system. It was correctly said by Warren Hastings “the Mughal

legal system was a very primitive one and also barbaric and inhuman”.

​Bibliography
1. Mahajan, V.D. (1991) History of Medieval India- Sultanate Period and Mughal

Period, reprint of 2012, New Delhi- S. Chand & Company Ltd. Publication.

2. ​Criminal Judicial System Under Muslim Period, ​www.academia.edu