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Saksham Gaikwad

History – Sem I

Roll Number – T293

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ANSWER 1

Lord Charles Cornwallis entered India after being appointed as the Commander-In-Chief of
British India and Governor of the Bengal Presidency. He primarily played the role of being the
facilitator in the establishment of British rule in India. The famous Historian, Jerry Dupont,
had rightly said about Lord Cornwallis that was crucial in "laying the foundation for British
rule throughout India and setting standards for the services, courts and revenue collection that
remained remarkably unaltered almost to the end of British era."
An essential part of Lord Cornwallis's stay in India was the introduction of Judicial Reforms.
These reforms were crucial to deal with the escalating crime rates and the poor policing in the
cities. To deal with this, Lord Cornwallis introduced three plans through the course of his tenure
in India.

1) Plan of 1787 - Through this plan, the concept of Civil Jurisdiction was established in India.
A Court System was developed in which,
• The bottom court was the Registrar Court which dealt with cases that involved money
up to Rs 200. A British official was the judge in these courts.
• Then was the Muffasil Diwani Adalat, which dealt with cases involving finances
between Rs 200 to Rs 1000. Collector acted as the judge in this court and, he also had
to approve the judgements of the Registrar Court.
• Higher than it was the Sadr Diwani Adalat which tried cases that fell in between Rs
1,000 to Rs 50,000. It was the highest court of appeal for civil cases. The Governor-
General and Councillors were the judges.
• And, at the top was the King in Council, which dealt with cases that felt outside the
range of the Sadr Diwani Adalat (King's Council later became the Privy Council).
For Revenue matters, at the bottom was Maal Adalat, above it was the Board of Revenue and,
at the top was the Governor-General and Councillors.
For Criminal matters, at the bottom was the Collector's court, above it was the Mufassil
Faujdari Adalat which was the district court; and at the top was the Sadr Nizamat Adalat - it
was the highest court of appeal. Cases with a monetary perspective were tried by the Collector's
court. The cases involving serious crimes were tried by Mufassil Faujdari Adalat and then the
most serious cases were brought to the Sadr Nizamat Adalat.
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2) Plan of 1790 - The plan was primarily based upon reforms in the Criminal Justice system.
The bottom court was Magistrate Court, then above it was the circuit court and then the Sadr
Nizamat Adalat. Sadr Nizamat was earlier in Murshidabad but was shifted to Calcutta for the
convenience of the Governor and his council since their work was based in Calcutta, as they
were the judges in Sadr Nizamat Adalat. The court met once a week and resolved cases.

3) Plan of 1973 [The Cornwallis Code] - The main aim of this plan was to correct the fallacies
of the previous two plans.
• In the first plan, there was an absence of Indian representation in the position of Judge;
and the involvement of the Governor-General affected the independence of the
Judiciary. Along with it, Collector judged cases that involved revenue, which violated
the principle of 'no one can be a judge in his case'. Therefore, to deal with this, he
abolished Maal Adalat and limited the Collector's function to revenue collection.
Complaints against him were dealt with by the Mufassil Diwani Adalat.
• The reorganisation of Mufassil Diwani Adalat was done to make it more independent
and impartial. Because many cases were tried by the Adalat, it was decided that all
natives can file civil and revenue matters in the Mufassil Diwani Adalat.
• The presence of SC was a stress-maker for the natives. If the natives were to be tried in
the court, they had to travel long distances to reach the court. Therefore, he decided that
British subjects had to reside within 10 miles of Calcutta to ensure that no conflict arose
for the natives
• Finally, the hierarchy was the Munsif Court was at the bottom, above it was the
Registrar Court, above it the Mufassil Diwani Adalat, above it the Provincial Court of
Adalat, above it was the Sadr Diwani Adalat and the top was the King's Council.
• Provincial Court of Appeal (PCA) - These courts comprised of 3 judges and all civil
suits which were sent by the Mufassil Diwani Adalat to the Sadr Diwani Adalat were
now tried by the PCA. This was done because the Governor-General had to handle a
lot of matters being the judge of the Sadr Diwani Adalat. PCA dealt with charges
against judges of lower courts as well.
• Lord Cornwallis also abolished court fees to ensure the delivery of justice to everyone
and to attract more citizens to approach the courts.
• He also, essentially, established the concept of the modern legal profession. Wherein,
there were pleaders appointed to plead. To become a lawyer one had to be well versed
with legal knowledge and the concept of the public prosecutor was present as well.
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Conclusion - The judicial reforms played a great role in the shaping of what we now call the
modern judicial system to a certain extent. Being partial towards the British at the start, Lord
Cornwallis soon became a bit considerate about the Indian citizenry, which was very well
visible in the plan of 1973.