Madras settlements and Administration of justice [1639-1678]:

 British settlements at Madras:

1. Under chief factory of Surat, the company had a factory at “Masulipatnam” also known as
Madraspatnam & Machilipatnam.
2. In year 1939, Francis Day Acquired a piece of land from Hindu Raja of Chandragiri to construct a
fortified English factory on a strip of land.
3. This Fortified factory was named as Fort St.George. The other Europeans and Englishmen lived inside
it.
4. The settlement of Fortified factory empowered to govern Madraspatnam a small village near it.
5. The Fortified settlement came to be known as the “white town”, on the other hand nearby villages in
habited by local population or natives was called “Black Town”.
6. The entire territory of white & Black town developed into the city of Madras.

 Administrative setup [1639-1665] “FIRST PHASE”:

1. The administrative setup of Madras was small & subordinated to presidency of Surat.
2. The Madras got status of an Agency. Therefore it’s Administrative Head was called the “Agent”.
3. He administered the settlements with the help of council.
4. The affairs of the company were commercial in nature.

Judicial system in Madras:

1. Agent & Council used to dispute cases in White Town.

2. Adigar was acting as judge for natives in both criminal and civil cases.
3. Serious criminal cases were referred to company in England.

 Second Phase [1678-1686]:

1. In 1678, Streynsham master became the governor of Madras.

2. He recognized the entire judicial system of Madras and introduced reform in the working of
courts.
3. He regularized the working of courts through his judicial plan of 1678. The court used to have
sittings twice a week and in deciding criminal cases, with the help of 12members jury.
4. Now this court was designated as high court of judicature.
5. Adigar’s were replaced by the English servants.

 Third Phase [1686-1726]:

1. The main features of this phase of judicial administration established admiralty of court in
Madras in 1686.
2. Admiralty court was established for the first time in Madras in 1686.

All the best 😊