© British Library
© British Library
© British Library
© British Library

  • Transcription

    British Library, IOR/G 19, 6

    Fort St George Diary and Consultation Book 1689–1690, April 5th 1690, f. 151v–152r:

     […] The Inhabitants and other Merchants being greatly dissatisfyed for the want of Justice to their agreivances and complaints, there being since the death of Sr John Biggs noe Court of Judicature for the finall determination of Causes, The Mayors Coart by their Charter not being to exceed a finall Jugdment of three Pagodas, all Persons having liberty to appeal from thence to the Coart of Admiralty, which occasioning great troubles to the President, from their many complaints, which himself and Councill as soe quallifyed are not by the Charter authoriz’d to receive or redress appeals, but that it must be done by a Coart of Judicature appointed for that purpose, consisting of a Judge Advocate and two Justices, it being therefore now absolutely necessary yt a Superior Coart of Judicature be erected and kept for the good of the Government and Satisfaction of the Inhabitants to the encouragement of trade and Merchandize which cannot be without a free and full execution of Justice and tho the Presidents continual care and business cannot well spare time to attend that charge, but there being soe urgent a necessity for it, and his Predicessors Agent Masters and President Gyfford and himself also duering the former time of his Cheifship, Setting Judge of this Superior Coart, it being also now more propper and requisite for him to execute that place, since twould be a great disrespect and under vallueing for any of the Inferiour Councill to be superior to the Mayor in Judicature, the President therefore accepts the place of Judge Advocate of the Superior Coart of Judicature till one commanded to that place shall arrive from England to be held and tryed under the same rules and methods as in Sr John Biggs his time only the fees to be but half what they were formerly with some other charges and customes to be alterd for the ease and encouragement of the Inhabititants Mr Thomas Gray & Mr William Hatsell are also elected and appointed Justices of Said Coart, and for the better understanding and Satisfaction of forreigners and natives, and that the Bench may be rightly enformed in their Language Lawes and Customes, Senr Gregorio Paroan a knowing Judicious Armenian Merchant be also a Justice of this Coart, to enquire into Causes that happen from his own Nation, and all other forreigners he being well Verst in their languages & customes and that Allingall Pilla the Honble Compas cheif Merchant a wise and able Jentue to be another Justice of this Coart to appear for the Natives as well Jentues, Moores and Mallabars so that the Court being now properly composed & constituted for the circumstances of this and the Countrey Government, Tis order to prevent future disputes, that noe Judgement in this Coart Shall be Authenticque and finall, but Such as are Signed by the Judge and one of the English Justices at least in differences between English but in forreign and Native cases one of the other two are also to Signe, to make the Judgement Authenticque, and the Judge and Justices do take the following Oaths of their Severall offices to prevent any reflections upon or doubt of their proceedings, which we believe will be to the great Satisfaction and encouragement of the place, the well establishment of Justice being the best & Surest foundation, which we think is now Setled & constituted for the Government and City and the Councill equaly employed therein Viz: One Chief Justice of the Choultry Two in the Mayors Coart one whereof Mayor & three in the Superior Coart of Judicature, which greatly agrees with their wise and flourishing Government of Batavia.

    August [sic] 5: 1690

    Elihu Yale

    Thomas Wavell

    John Cheney

  • Supporting Text

    ‘The Inhabitants and other Merchants being greatly dissatisfied for the want of Justice’ - with these words, Governor Elihu Yale[1] and the Council of Fort St George justified their judicial reform recorded in April 1690. The reason for this was the overstretching of the existing judicial institutions in the growing city of Madras (now Chennai), which had formed around the fort built named after the national saint since the East India Company (EIC) acquired a small coastal strip in south-east India in 1639. The present entry in the ‘Diary and Consultation Books’, the minutes of the meetings of the Council of Fort St George, provides a variety of insights into the cultural and religious heterogeneity of the town ruled by the agents of the EIC. In addition to a small minority of Englishmen, it was home to local Hindus (‘Jentues’) and Muslims (‘Moors’), but also a large (Indo)Portuguese community and French padres as well as a significant group of Armenians.

    The source indirectly demonstrates the high demand for the administrative and judicial institutions of the authorities on the part of the heterogeneous population, which necessitated their expansion. The final decision to establish a new ‘Superior Coart of Judicature’ in Madras may initially appear to be merely an attempt to follow ‘foreign’ or English models of justice in India. However, an examination of the composition of this court reveals that Yale and his council intended a strong participation of the local population. Although two of the four Justices of the court were to be English, the other two were to be the Armenian Gregorio Paroan and the Hindu Allingall Pilla. These two were specifically chosen for their cultural knowledge and linguistic competence with regard to the non-English elements of the population, in other words, they were ‘well versed in their languages & customes’. The ‘better understanding and satisfaction of forreigners and natives’ could obviously only be guaranteed administratively through the recruitment of personnel from precisely these parts of the population; the fact that the judgements of this court were final impressively underlines the important function of the institution, which was made up of an equal number of Englishmen and Hindus or Armenians.

    This source thus shows a mode of (foreign) rule in which foreign judicial practices and models were utilised, but which also provided for the participation of the ruled and the contribution of their cultural knowledge, or was even dependent on it for smooth functioning. It was therefore important for the Council of Fort St George to allow a justice from these groups to participate in the judgement in cases involving Armenians, ‘Natives as wel [as] Jentues, Moores and Mallabars’. Only in this way could the court system in Madras at the end of the 17th century be regarded as ‘properly composed & constituted for the circumstances of this and the Countrey Government’, i.e. coping with the impressive linguistic and religious plurality with which English rule in South Asia was confronted.

     

    [1] Today's Yale University is named after Elihu Yale in gratitude for his extensive financial support, made possible by Yale's trading activities in India. See Watson, I.: Yale, Elihu (1649-1721). Merchant and administrator in India and benefactor, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 28.05.2015, https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-30183 (last accessed 30 Oct. 2024).