Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

CHAPTER X.

THE CIVIL AND CRIMINAL JUDICIAL SYSTEM OF INDIA ;· INEFFICACY OF PUNISHMENT BY DEATH;-IMMENSE DIMINUTION OF CRIME IN HINDOSTAN;—OFFENCES IN ENGLAND, IRELAND, FRANCE, AND INDIA COMPARED;EVILS OF THE SUPREME COURT;-ITS EXPENSE AND DEMORALIZING INFLUENCE ;-TRIAL BY JURY IN CEYLON AND IN INDIA;-THE NEW JURY BILL.

NEVER were the constituted authorities of a country placed in a more difficult, a more extraordinary position, than the functionaries of the government of the EastIndia Company on obtaining possession of the empire subjected to their sway; and never, it may be added, was a task of so delicate, so hazardous a nature, more judiciously, more wisely fulfilled. They found an immense population ground to the earth by centuries of oppression, exhibiting a moral as well as mental debility which was humiliating to human nature; a people among whom civil justice was put up for sale to the highest bidder; who beheld the most atrocious criminals screened by their rank or caste from the punishment of the law;* among whom corruption was considered no taint, bribery no offence, and perjury no sin!-In fine, whose criminal jurisprudence was one mass of bloody decrees, namely, impaling

• The Right Honourable Robert Grant says, "every man lay entirely at the mercy of those who were to inherit his estate, and compositions for murder were notoriously frequent under the native government of Bengal." Expediency maintained, p. 29. At page 42, Mr. Grant observes, "violence and venality were without control in Hindostan, and prevailed in a frightful degree."

alive, mutilations of the limbs, and flagellations to death! Notwithstanding these barbarities, the people, strange to say, were wedded to such diabolical practices, and it required the utmost tact and delicacy to introduce improvements without destroying suddenly the fabric; to preserve consuetude, yet ameliorate palpable evils. For nearly half a century this difficult task has been progressing. In the administration of civil justice, the objects of the Company's government have been to render it pure in source, speedy in execution, and cheap in practice; in the administration of criminal justice the aim has been, first, to prevent crime, and secondly, to secure the reformation of the offender. How far the objects aimed at in civil jurisprudence have been obtained, can only be ascertained by individual testimony; all the evidence before Parliament and the Board of Control acknowledge its purity; on this, the most essential point, therefore, I will merely quote the opinion of a distinguished Hindoo, Rammohun Roy, who says in reply to question 20 from the Board of Control in 1831, "I am happy to state that, in my humble opinion, the judicial branch of the service is almost pure, and there are among the judicial servants of the Company gentlemen of such distinguished talents, that from their natural abilities, even without the regular study of the law, they commit very few, if any, errors in the administration of justice."

In reply to the fifth question the learned Hindoo observes, "many of the judicial officers of the Company are men of the highest talents, as well as of strict integrity, and earnestly intent on doing justice." With respect to the second essential ingredient of civil justice, speedy execution, there have been many complaints; but it has been overlooked that in a country like India, where the great mass of the people are landed proprietors, of litigious

habits, and with courts of appeal open to them from the lowest tribunal to the highest, the multiplicity of causes must be immense, more particularly from the increasing prosperity of the people, and the rapid subdivision of property which the law of inheritance creates. The statements made of delay in the trial of civil suits refer to past years; I have been unable to find any documents of a recent date on the subject; the latest, I believe, are those contained in Colonel Galloway's able work and Mr. Robertson's valuable pamphlet, and they do not shew much increasing delay, particularly in the most important court:

SUITS pending in the PROVINCIAL COURTS of Bengal.
number 3,581
2,429

In 1817
1821

[blocks in formation]

Mr. Robertson says the number of suits before the Sudder Dewannee and Provincial Courts were :

[blocks in formation]

The average delay of 106,504 suits before Moonsiff judges, was in 1826, six months; the time gradually increasing through all the courts up to the highest appeal court, which averaged four years and three months. Would not any person with a suit in Chancery, be glad to have it settled in three times that period?

If the returns to a later date were accessible, I am convinced it would be seen that the number was still on the decrease Rammohun Roy, in speaking of the vigilance of a judge who came within his actual sphere of knowledge, Mr. D. C. Smith of Hooghly (a district of great wealth, extent and intelligence), says: "under Mr. Smith every

case is decided in the course of four, five, or six months." Until the register returns from the various courts of India for late years are before Parliament, it is idle and unfair to quote old documents or hearsay testimony respecting delay in India. If a litigious spirit, or a desire for justice, induces men to carry on appeals from court to court, they must, of course, expect delay, and of the two evils delay is preferable to injustice. Let those who complain of tardiness in the Company's judges, look at home, where under every possible stimulus to speed, an original suit at law will often supply a man for full occupation during life, and an appeal case find employment for a whole generation.

With reference to the third ingredient, cheapness, the public are not in possession of facts to decide on the subject. Mr. Robertson said (Lords, 12th March 1830), "the expense, as far as his memory served him, of a common suit in a civil case, brought before the civil judge of the district and decided by him, is on the average about thirteen and a-half per cent. ;" this is slightly increased by Mr. Butterworth Bayley, in his admirable judicial and general testimony before the Commons during the present year; Mr. Bayley says that, "in suits from 500 to 5,000 rupees, cognizable by a zillah judge, the costs to both parties are about sixteen per cent., and in suits cognizable by the Sudder Dewanny Adawlut about six per cent. ;" all authorized costs and expenses of every description charged to both plaintiff and defendant are included! I apprehend no civil suit in England of that amount is decided cheaper, or within ten per cent. of the amount. The judicial charges of all India are not more than one million and a-half sterling; what they are in England I cannot immediately state, but an idea may be in some degree formed by the immense judicial salaries, above £1,000 per annum, which, according to the last parliamentary return before

me, amount to £517,984. Off the million and a-half India judicial expenses there must be abstracted the salaries, &c. of the Supreme Courts at the presidencies which—.

[blocks in formation]

It may be said that it is unfair to compare the expense of litigation in England with that of India, on account of the vast wealth and commerce of the former; but the devise and transfer of landed property in India, mortgages, bonds, and other securities for the payment of monies; disputed accounts, partnerships, boundaries, &c., present an ample set-off for Eastern litigation, in comparison with that arising from British trade and wealth. In another view of the subject there are ample grounds for shewing the extent of legal proceedings in Hindostan. It was estimated recently, that there were in Great Britain, 2,941,383 families of four persons to each family; of these,

[blocks in formation]

Four

The remainder graduated from £100 upwards.

fifths of the population had incomes of which the maximum did not exceed £66, and the average was £43. One-fifth of the community were, therefore, alone enabled to go to law, or 4,600,000 persons out of 20,000,000. Now, in India it is allowed that three-fourths of the people are farmers on a greater or less scale: so that while the litigating population in Great Britain is about 5,000,000, the litigating population of India is 50,000,000.* These circumstances

• It has been observed in Italy that litigation is extremely prevalent, and lawyers abundant, owing to the great subdivision of the

land.

« AnteriorContinuar »