It was only in the 17th century that the British began to gain a foothold in India. During this time, the legal system which they used was rather rough and ready.
The East India Company had been granted various Charters by Elizabeth I, James I and Charles II which dealt with judicial powers. However, these powers were, for the most part, ill defined. At this stage, the Company was still first and foremost a trading company and it was only by the time it was well into the 18th that its judicial powers became clearly defined.
| 1600 | First Governor General: Thomas Smith The East India Company has 217 shareholders including Queen Elizabeth I (1588-1603) |
Charter of 1600; the Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading into the East Indies incorporated in England by Queen Elizabeth IThe legislative power of the company is limited to minor legislation to regulate its business and govern its servants. Though modeled along the lines of contemporary English practice with regard to companies, this power was inadequate to govern any territory. |
| 1601 | First Commander-in-Chief: Captain Lancaster | The Law Martial Elizabeth I empowers the Commander-in-Chief of each voyage to inflict capital punishment |
| 1613 | Â | First factory established at Surat The company is permitted to post an ambassador to the Mughal Court |
| 1614 | Â | The first English ship carrying indigo, yarn, etc. from India reaches England |
| 1615 | James I send Thomas Roe to Jehangir’s Court | The Law Martial of Elizabeth I is replaced by James I who grants a general commission authorizing capital punishment to be carried out provided the verdict is found by a jury of 12 company servants |
| 1616 | The trial in the case of the Gregory Lellington murder on board the ‘Charles’ takes place in Surat | First record of a trial in India |
| 1623 |  | The Presidents and Chief Officers of the Company in its settlements can inflict punishments for offences committed on land by the British Company’s servants. This power is granted by James I although in cases of capital offences, trial must be by jury. |
| 1633 | Â | Masulipattam factory established |
| 1636 |  | Trial under the 1623 Commission on Board the ‘Mary’ |
| 1640 | Â | Fort St George established at madras |
| 1642 | Â | Bangalore factory established |
| 1651 | Â | Calcutta factory established |
| 1661 | Charles II receives Bombay when he marries | Charter of 1661; Charles II authorizes the Governor and Council of each factory to judge all persons whether belonging to the Company to the Company or living under it in both civil and criminal trials according to English law. The power to execute the judgments is also given. There was no separation of the executive and the judiciary under this Charter. If the offence occurred where there was no Governor and Council, the Chief factor and Council was to send the offender either to a place which did have a Governor and Council or to England. |
| 1668 | Charles II ‘gives’ Bombay to the East India Company |  |
| 1687 |  | The seat of the President and Council is shifted from Surat to Bombay. Before 1687, Surat was the most important place in the Company’s scheme but later on, Bombay took precedence over it. |
References: Outlines of Indian Legal History, M P Jain; Indian Courts, K Rai; A Chronicle of British Indian Legal History, A Hamid