Case Study Analysis

By Hrithik Sharma
SAP ID – 500070320
Roll no. 24 (BBA LLB Corporate law Batch 1)

Patna case

1. Write a commentary on the Patna case.

The Patna Case is one of the very interesting case in the field of Indian History. The
Patna Case took place in years of 1777, 1778 and 1779. The Patna Case took eminent
place in the Indian legal history because it had reveled the of the system judicial
administration. This case brought the light on the involving conflict and disatification
among the Supreme court and the supreme council. This case had made as the lesson
learned that had become the basis of the more further reorganization or reorientation
in the operation or management of justice that will taken in future.

2. Relationship of Supreme Court and Adalats.

Relation between Adalats and Supreme Court were not defined. Whether they were
subordinate to supreme court or not was not clear.

3. Court Procedure of arresting Bahadur and law officers

For the arrest of Bahadur and law officers the supreme court issued the
writ of capias was issued which meant a bailable warrant of arrest of the
defendants. Bahadur Beg, Kazi and muftis were arrested and brought
from Patna to Calcutta as they failed to requisite bail, viz., 400,000
rupees, they were lodged in prison pending trial of action brought against
them by the Begum.

4. Whether Supreme Court had jurisdiction over revenue farmers?

Yes, as Bahadur Beg was a farmer of land revenue of certain village in

Bihar. The court, therefore held that he was subject to the jurisdiction of
supreme court being directly or in directly in the service of the company.

5. Court procedure of awarding compensation to the widow.

 The court decided that begum had been treated harshly by the law officers
who had considered her as a proper object of “rapine and plunder”, that
she was entitled to the whole property as the deed of gits in her favour by
her deceased husband, declared to be forged by the law officers, were
valid.. The court held the report submitted by these officers “not only
unjust , but absurd.” The court therefore awarded damages of Rs 3 lakh
against the defendants for personal injuries to Begum and taking away
her property

6. Internal defects of judicial system (adalats and council).

The English judges in the organization's court were helped at the time by the local law
officers' Kazis and Pandit s whose work as per the guideline in power, was to
elucidate the law appropriate to the facts of the case which must be chosen by the
judge based on the proof created. It was not the function of the native law officers to
decide questions of fact.

The English judges being conscious of their ignorance of the Indian law and customs
and also being busy in collecting the revenue found the task of administration of the
justice very onerous and thus left it entirely to the native law officers who would
hear the evidence , decide the fact and expound the law. They would then make the
final report to adalat which would usually confirm it as the matter of course.
 Cossijurah case
1. Write a commentary on the Cossijurah case.

The Cossijurah Case illustrates another aspect of the administration of the Company in India.
This case is known for the fact that it brought out the defects in the Charter which created the
Supreme Court at Calcutta. The Charter did not demarcate either the jurisdiction of the Court
or the position of the Governor-General-in-Council. As a result of this confusion, there were
occasions, when the Supreme Court issued writ of capias against the directions of the
Council. In the Cossijurah case the confrontation between Supreme Court and the Council
became evident to the highest degree. This case in brief as follows,

One Zamindar, the Rajah of Cossijurah was heavily indebted to Cossinaut Baboo. When
Cossinaut requested for the return of his money, the Zamindar showed reluctance by making
one excuse or the other. The Baboo therefore approached the Revenue Board where also his
efforts brought no result. Finally he sued the Rajah in the Supreme Court at Calcutta. In his
affidavit, he stated that the Rajah was in the service of the Company having been employed
in the collection of the revenues. The affidavit also stated that the Rajah was subject to the
jurisdiction of the Supreme Cc art. The Supreme Court issued a notice to the Rajah directing
him to appear before the Court. In the meantime the matter was referred to the Council at
Calcutta which referred the matter to the Advocate-General for his advice on the point
whether the Zamindar was amenable to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The Advocate-
General advised that the Supreme Court had no jurisdiction over the Zamindar. Thereupon
the Governor-General-in-Council issued instructions to all the farmers and landholders that
they were not subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and that they could ignore the
process of the Court.

The Rajah of Cossijurah had gone into hiding to avoid the process of the Supreme Court. The
Supreme Court issued another notice to the Rajah who did I not pay any attention to the
notice in view of the instructions from the Governor-General-in-Council. In fact the men of
the Zamindar drove away the Sheriff and other officers who had come to arrest the Zamindar
on a writ of capias. Thereupon the Supreme Court issued another writ for the confiscation of
the property of the Rajah. The Court sent the Sheriff along with some armed constables.

The Council also came into motion, it decided to protect the Zamindar. Accordingly it
despatched a much larger armed force to prevent the arrest of the Zamindar. In the meantime
the Sheriff and officers caught hold of the Zamindar physically, assaulted him, insulted the
ladies, and did many acts of sacrilege in respect of the idols of the gods placed in a room. By
that time the Commander of the army which had been despatched already reached the spot
under the orders of the Governor-General-in-Council. He arrested the Sheriff and his men and
took them to Calcutta, where they were released. Thereafter the Supreme Court issued a writ
for the arrest of the Commander. This writ was also prevented by a similar show of armed
force.

When all efforts to recover his money failed, Cossijurah decided to file a suit against the
members of the Council. Accordingly he brought an action against the Governor-Gerieral and
the other members of the Council in the Supreme Court. The Governor- General and his
Councillors appeared in the Court in the first ‘instance. Soon they discovered that the plaintiff
had brought an action against them in their official capacity. Then they decided not to appear
before the Court.

The Council issued instructions to all the Zamindars, landholders and the persons residing
outside Calcutta not to pay any attention to the process of the Court and that in the case the
Supreme Court persisted in issuing writs against them, the Council would protect them.

The show down between the Supreme Court and the Council brought out the inherent
weaknesses and defects in the Regulating Act which did not specify the areas and the persons
which were under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. The language of the Act was vague
enough for various interpretations. These defects, however, were removed to a great extent by
the passing of the Act of Settlement 1781.

2. Role of Raja Sundar Narayan and Kashinath Babu.

Raja Sundar Narayan was the Zamindar of Cossijurah in the district of Midnapur. He
had taken a huge loan from Kashinath Babu and had failed to pay the loan in time
after which Kashinath Babu filed a suit against him to recover the loan amount at the
Supreme Court at Calcutta. Upon learning that he was to be arrested, Raja Sundar
Narayan went underground and hid. The Government then issued a notification to
Raja Sundar Narayan that he was not under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court as
he was not an employ of the Company nor had voluntarily sought its jurisdiction.
 Kashinath Babu upon learning that the Government was protecting the Zamindar and
interfering in the Court’s activities sued the Governor and the Council members
individually for trespass. The Governor and the Council members first appeared
before the court but later refused to do so on the grounds that the act for which they
were being sued was carried out under their official capacity and hence the Court had
no cognizance over such offences.
Thus Kashinath Babu’s hopes were grounded and he not succeed in both his suites
due to conflicts between the Court and the Calcutta Government

3. Attorney General North Naylor’s role.

North Naylor was an attorney general to the Government of Calcutta Presidency and
also an attorney of the Supreme Court. He had been asked for advice by the
Government of Calcutta Presidency on whether the Supreme Court had adequate
jurisdiction to adjudicate the Cossijurah Case.
Based on his advice, the Calcutta Government openly defied the Court’s authority
and issued a general notification to all Zamindar’s and landholders that they were not
subject to the Supreme Court’s jurisdiction unless they were employees of the
Company or had voluntarily assumed its jurisdiction.

4. Processes of Supreme Court

The Supreme Court at Calcutta was established by the Regulating Act of 1773 and
the Supreme Court Charter of 1774. It was to be court not only for the residents of
Calcutta but for the residents of Bengal, Bihar and Orissa.

1. The procedures followed by the Supreme Court were foreign to the natives of
India.
2. The Adalats established by the Company usually followed the native Muslim and
Hindu law for civil matters and Muslim criminal law for criminal matters. The
Supreme Court followed English Law and rarely turned towards Indian Law.
3. The laws of evidence used by the Supreme Court were not comprehensible to
the natives of India.
4. If the defendant could not be found or did not answer even to a Writ of Capias, a
writ of sequestration would be passed and his entire property could be
confiscated to force the defendant to appear before the Court.
5. After a suit was filed, the Supreme Court used to verify if the plaintiff and the
defendant came under its jurisdiction or not.
 6. The Supreme Court used to immediately issue the Writ of Capias and an arrest
warrant and ask the Sheriff to bring the defendant before the Court. The
defendant was supposed to pay a very huge amount as bail if he does not want
to be jailed.

5. Writ of Capias
In the common law legal systems, capias ad respondendum (Latin: "that you may
capture [him] in order for him to reply") is or was a writ issued by a court to the
sheriff of a particular county to bring the defendant, having failed to appear, to
answer a civil action against him.
The Writ of Capias was issued by the Supreme Court even in the Cossijurah Case to
arrest the Zamindar of Cossijurah Raja Sundar Narayan. This was done after
Kashinath Babu filed a suit in the Supreme Court to recover the loan which he had
granted to Raja Sundar Narayan

6. Act of settlement of 1781.

The Act of Settlement 1781 was intended to remove some of the most obvious defects in the
working of the Supreme Court at Calcutta. These defects came to light soon after the court
started functioning and the situation was precipitated, by the famous Patna and Cosijurah
cases (ap per next chapter). The following were its provisions,

(1) The Governor-General and the members of his council were made completely immune
from the jurisdiction of the Court,

(2) Revenue matters were taken out of the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court,

(3) the Act clarified that no person was subject to the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court by
being a landowner, landholder, fanner, or engaged in the collection of revenue.

(4) no person employed by the Governor-General or the members of his Council or by any
servant of the Company was under the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court merely for his being
so, except where he submitted in writing to its jurisdiction. The only cases where the Court
could assume jurisdiction in case of such persons were of trespass or other wrongs,

(5) The Act also made provision for the release of the various officers of the jail by the orders
of the Supreme Court in connection with the Patna Case (ap per next Chapter). The Act
further provided that no action was to be entertained by the Supreme Court against the
judicial officers of the Company. Even in the case of corruption, a notice was to be served on
the person concerned, but no such person could be arrested until the person refused to appear
before the Court after the notice was duly served. This provision gave much relief to the
judicial officers of the Company who were under fear of the Supreme Court and were
reluctant to function at the Adalats.

(6) The Act also made it clear that in cases involving the natives, the personal laws of the
natives should be applied. Where the dispute arose between natives of two different
communities, i.e., the Hindus and the Muslims, then the law of the defendant would be
applied.

(7) It was made clear that the officers of the native Courts that is adalats were not liable to the
jurisdiction of the Supreme Court for any act done in their judicial capacity. However, if
there were charges of corruption levelled against them, then the Supreme Court could
proceed against them after giving them one to three month’s notice depending upon the
distance where the officials so charged were residing. In that case, the officials were not
liable to arrest or detention.

(8) the Sadar Diwani Adalat was declared a Court of Record in Diwani cases and to be a
court of final jurisdiction in civil matters of the value of Rupees five thousand beyond which
appeals could be taken direct to the Privy Council. Thus the Diwani adalat was not a Court, in
any way, subordinate to the Supreme Court.

Thus, it would be clear, the Act of Settlement of 1781 clarified a lot of ambiguities in the
Regulating Act of 1773 and also settled once for all the jurisdictional issue which had
become a cause of conflict and hostility between Supreme Court and the Governor-General in
council as also had created lot of apprehension in the minds of the judicial officers of the
natives’ Courts such as the Adalats. Now the Sadar Diwani Adalat was itself a Court of
Record, with a final jurisdiction in civil or Diwani matter upto the value of Rupees five
thousand and now the appeals from the decisions of the Diwani Adalat could be taken direct
to the Privy Council without any reference etc. being made to the Supreme Court.