The Privy Council

• Introduction.
• Under the concept of the sovereign as the fountain of Justice the
subject could petition to the King in England, who dispensed Justice,
with the assistance of a Council. This was called the King-In-Council.
• It was an advisory body, and was the highest court of appeal. When
it heard appeals from the courts of overseas territories like India it
was called the 'Privy Council'. The work of this is commendable, and.
in establishing the highest judicial standards. It is unique in the Indian
Legal History. Appeals from India to the Privy Council were abolished
in 1949, when the Supreme Court of India was established.
Advantages of 'The Privy Council'
• As a judicial institution, it was unique & almost without a parallel in
history.

• The range of its territorial & other jurisdictions from the British
Empire covered nearly 1/5 of the human race.

• The Judges were pre-eminently -qualified, had professional eminence

and legal learning to meet the onerous duties on the Bench, Their rare
Insight Into the peculiar Issues Involved In the cases, their
appreciation of personal laws like Hindu Law & Muslim Law & their
mastery of law could be the reasons for its success.
 , Appeals -
- In civil matters - appeals in civil matter could be made with or without special leave of privy
council and special leave could only granted by the privy council if in its opinion, some important
point was involved. Unless it was restrained by some statute to , • so.
- In criminat matters - appeals could be allowed by crown in the exercise of prerogative rights, if
advised by the judicial committee.

► Appeals from india -

- the appeals from the courts in india i.e., crown's courts and the company' s courts lay to the privy
council.
 1. Appeals from the mayor's court -
- Appeals from mayor's court lay to the governor general and council if the value of cases upto
the 1000 pagoda's.
- And if cases value exceeding 1000 pagoda's appeal lay to in the king in council
2. Appeals from supreme court of Calcutta -
- In civil cilses - from the supreme court appeal lay to the king in council If case value exceeding
limit of 1000 pi!goda's.
- In criminal cases - supreme court hild discretion to allow or deny permission to make appeal
to privy council.
 3. Appeal's to privy council from sadar adalat's -
- The settlement act, 1781 enhanced the status of sadar diwani adalat's by constituting it into a
court of record.
- It could appeal to king in councils in matters exceeding the value's or s ooo pagoda's.
4 . Appeals from sadar adalat of madras and Bombay -
- Sadar diwani adalat's at madras was established in 1802, It could lay its appeals to sadar
diwani adalat at Calcutta for cases of 45000 exceeding.
But after 1818, its appeal's could be taken to the privy council in cases of even within the
value of 5000 euro's.
5. Appeals to privy council from Indian high courts -
- An appeal could be made to privy council In any case except criminal one from any final
judgement on decree of the high court, if the value of the case exceeding 10000 rupees.
- In criminal cases appeals could lay to the privy council from any judgement made in exercise
to original jurisdiction.
 6 . Special leave to appeals -
- It could grant special leave to appeal even. Where the high court refused to grant necessary
certificate.
- Special leave could be granted in civil as well as criminal cases.
In civil cases - privy council could grant special leave to appeal in civil matters, where a
substantial question of law was involved or was the case of public importance.
- In criminal cases - the approach of privy council in criminal c E' S was more restrictive - it
comes In between only when there had been a large mistal,. .of justice or •essential legal
principals had been violated.
7. Appeals from the federal court -
- A federal court was established ·i n india by government of india act, 1935.
- An appeal from decision of federal court could be allowed to privy council in exercise of its
original jurisdiction without leave.

, Abolition of jurisdiction of privy council -

the jurisdiction of privy council was to hear appeals from india was abolished in 1949 by
abolition of privy council jurisdiction act, 1949.
- The pending appeals were transferred to federal court . except those which the privy council
could dispose of .
- With the coming of constitution of india, on 26t h January, 1950. The federal court was
replaced by supreme court of india.
• The P1rivy Council by 1833 had on its record about 300 appeals.
There were also a good number of appeals from Sarad Diwani
Adalats.

• Many reforms were introduced, time and again. By the Act of

1833, the composition of the Privy Council was changed. More
Lawyers & Judges were allowed, and it was kept on par with the
House of Lords. From 1915 to 1949, there was a separate bench
of the Privy Council to hear appeal from India.
• Appeals to the Privy Council were abolished from Oct. 10, 1949,
by the constituent Assembly which made the Abolition of Privy
Council Jurisdiction Act. Pending cases were transferred to the
Federal Court. The Federal Court continued upto 26-1-1950, and
was abolished when the Supreme Court was established.
•
0
1ts association with India for about 175 years gave to Indian
Law, unifonnity & definiteness. The Common law and England
could extend its benefit to overseas territories.

• The Govt. of India paid tributes to the Privy Council on 6th

February 1950. It commended the valuable services rendered by
it and the 'high sense of detachment, independence &
impartiality' it displayed. It was a unifying force in the judicial
realm of India.
 , Role of privy council in development of law in india -
- Privy council played a very important role in the development of law · , Jia.
- It served as a bridge between Indian and English legal system .
- It helped in development of fine principles of common law in india. Which provided basis for
codification of Indian laws.
- It also acted as a connecting link between sadar adalat's, supreme court's and high court's in
india. Which served as a great unifying force in judicial administration in india.