East India Company Act, 1773 (13 Geo. III, c. 63)
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VII. And, for the better management of the said United Company's affairs in India, be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that, for the government of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, there shall be appointed a Governor-General, and four counsellors; and that the whole civil and military government of the said Presidency, and also the ordering, management and government of all the territorial acquisitions and revenues in the kingdoms of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, shall, during such time as the territorial acquisitions and revenues shall remain in the possession of the said United Company, be, and are hereby vested in the said Governor-General and Council of the said Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, in like manner, to all intents and purposes whatsoever, as the same now are, or at any time heretofore might have been exercised by the President and Council, or Select Committee, in the said kingdoms.
VIII. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in all cases whatsoever wherein any difference of opinion shall arise upon any question proposed in any consultation, the said Governor-General and Council shall be bound and concluded by the opinion and decision of the major part of those present: And if it shall happen that, by the death or removal, or by the absence, of any of the members of the said Council, such Governor-General and Council shall happen to be equally divided; then, and in every such case, the said Governor-General, or, in his absence, the eldest counsellor present, shall have a casting voice, and his opinion shall be decisive and conclusive.
IX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said Governor-General and Council, or the major part of them, shall have, and they are hereby authorized to have, power of superintending and controlling the government and management, of the Presidencies of Madras, Bombay, and Bencoolen [sic] respectively, so far and insomuch as that it shall not be lawful for any President and Council of Madras, Bombay, or Bencoolen, for the time being, to make any orders for commencing hostilities, or declaring or making war, against any Indian princes or powers, or for negotiating or concluding any treaty of peace, or other treaty, with any such Indian princes or powers, without the consent and approbation of the said Governor-General and Council first had and obtained, except in such cases of imminent necessity as would render it dangerous to postpone such hostilities or treaties until the orders from the Governor-General and Council might arrive; and except in such cases where the said Presidents and Councils respectively shall have received special orders from the said United Company; and any President and Council of Madras, Bombay, or Bencoolen, who shall offend in any of the cases aforesaid, shall be liable to be suspended from his or their office by the order of the said Governor-General and Council; and every President and Council of Madras, Bombay, and Bencoolen, for the time being, shall, and they are hereby respectively directed and required, to pay due obedience to such orders as they shall receive, touching the premises from the said Governor-General and Council for the time being, and constantly and diligently to transmit to the said Governor-General and Council advice and intelligence of all transactions and matters whatsoever that shall come to their knowledge, relating to the government, revenues, or interest, of the said United Company; and the said Governor-General and Council for the time being shall, and they are hereby directed and required to pay due obedience to all such orders as they shall receive from the Court of Directors of the said United Company, and to correspond, from time to time, and constantly and diligently transmit to the said Court an exact particular of all advices or intelligence, and of all transactions and matters whatsoever, that shall come to their knowledge, relating to the government, commerce, revenues, or interest, of the said United Company; and the Court of Directors of the said Company, or their successors, shall, and they are hereby directed and required, from time to time, before the expiration of fourteen days after the receiving any such letters or advices, to give in and deliver unto the High Treasurer, or Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury for the time being, a true and exact copy of such parts of the said letters or advices as shall any way relate to the management of the revenues of the said Company; and in like manner to give in and deliver to one of His Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State f or the time being a true and exact copy of all such parts of the said letters or advices as shall any way relate to the civil or military affairs and government of the said Company; all which copies shall be fairly written, and shall be signed by two or more of the Directors of the said Company.
X. And it is hereby further enacted, that Warren Hastings, Esquire, shall be the first Governor-General; and that Lieutenant-General John Clavering, the Honourable George Monson, Richard Barwell, Esquire, and Philip Francis, Esquire, shall be the four first counsellors; and they, and each of them, shall hold and continue in his and their respective offices for and during the term of five years from the time of their arrival at Fort William in Bengal, and taking upon them the government of the said Presidency, and shall not be removable in the meantime, except by His Majesty, his heirs and successors, upon representation made by the Court of Directors of the said United Company for the time being: and in case of the avoidance of the office of such Governor-General by death, resignation, or removal, his place shall, during the remainder of the term aforesaid, as often as the case shall happen, be supplied by the person of the Council who stands next in rank to such Governor-General; and, in case of the death, removal, resignation, or promotion, of any of the said Council, the Directors of the said United Company are hereby empowered, for and during the remainder of the said term of five years, to nominate and appoint, by and with the consent of His Majesty, his heirs and successors, to be signified under his or their sign manual, a person to succeed to the office so become vacant in the said Council; and until such appointment shall be made, all the powers and authorities vested in the Governor-General and Council shall rest and continue in., and be exercised and executed by, the Governor-General and Council remaining and surviving; and from and after the expiration of the said term of five years, the power of nominating and removing the succeeding Governor-General and Council shall be vested in the Directors of the said United Company.
XIII. And whereas His late Majesty King George the Second did, by his letters patent, bearing date at Westminster the eighth day of January, in the twenty-sixth year of his reign, grant unto the said United Company of Merchants of England trading to the East Indies his royal charter, thereby, amongst other things, constituting and establishing courts of civil, criminal, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, at the said United Company's respective settlements at Madras-patnam, Bombay on the island of Bombay, and Fort William in Bengal; which said charter does not sufficiently provide for the due administration of justice in such manner as the state and condition of the Company's Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, so long as the said Company shall continue in the possession of the territorial acquisitions before mentioned, do and must require; be it therefore enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful for His Majesty, by charter, or letters patent under the great seal of Great Britain, to erect and establish a supreme court of judicature at Fort William aforesaid, to consist of a chief justice and three other judges, being barristers in England or Ireland, of not less than five years standing, to be named from time to time by His Majesty, his heirs and successors; which said Supreme Court of Judicature shall have, and the same Court is hereby declared to have, full power and authority to exercise and perform all civil, criminal, admiralty, and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, and to appoint such clerks, and other ministerial officers of the said Court, with such reasonable salaries, as shall be approved of by the said Governor-General and Council; and to form and establish such rules of practice, and such rules for the process of the said Court, and to do all such other things as shall be found necessary for the administration of justice, and the due execution of all or any of the powers which, by the said charter, shall or may be granted and committed to the said Court; and also shall be, at all times, a court of record, and shall be a court of oyer and terminer, and gaol delivery, in and for the said town of Calcutta, and factory of Fort William, in Bengal, aforesaid, and the limits thereof, and the factories subordinate thereto.
XIV. Provided nevertheless, and be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said new charter which His Majesty is herein-before empowered to grant, and the jurisdiction, powers, and authorities, to be thereby established shall and may extend to all British subjects who shall reside in the kingdoms or provinces of Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, or any of them, under the protection of the said United Company; and the same charter shall be competent and effectual; and the Supreme Court of Judicature therein, and thereby to be established, shall have full power and authority to hear and determine all complaints against any of His Majesty's subjects for any crimes, misdemeanours, or oppressions, committed, or to be committed; and also, to entertain, hear, and determine, any suits or actions whatsoever, against any of His Majesty's subjects in Bengal, Behar, and Orissa, and any suit, action or complaint against any person who shall, at the time when such debt, or cause of action, or complaint, shall have arisen, have been employed by, or shall then have been, directly or indirectly, in the service of the said United Company or of any of His Majesty's subjects.
XXIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that no Governor-General, or any of the Council of the said United Company's Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, or any Chief Justice, or any of the Judges of the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William aforesaid, shall directly, or indirectly, by themselves, or by any other person or persons for his or their use, or on his or their behalf accept, receive, or take, of or from any person or persons, in any manner, or on any account whatsoever, any present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward pecuniary or otherwise, or any promise or engagement for any present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward; and that no Governor-General, or any of the said Council, or any Chief Justice or Judge of the said Court, shall carry on, be concerned in, or have any dealing or transactions, by way of traffic or commerce of any kind whatsoever, either for his or their use or benefit, profit or advantage, or for the benefit or advantage of any other person or persons whatsoever (the trade and commerce of the said United Company only excepted); any usage or custom to the contrary thereof in anywise not-withstanding.
XXIV. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that from and after the first day of August, one thousand seven hundred and seventy-four, no person holding or exercising any civil or military office under the Crown, or the said United Company in the East Indies, shall accept, receive, or take, direct or indirectly, by himself, or any other person or persons on his behalf, or for his use or benefit, of and from any of the Indian princes or powers, or their ministers or agents (or any of the natives of Asia), any present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward, pecuniary or otherwise, upon any account or on any pretence whatsoever; or any promise or engagement for any present, gift, donation, gratuity or reward; and if any person, holding or exercising any such civil or military office, shall be guilty of any such offence, and shall be thereof legally convicted in such Supreme Court at Calcutta, or in the Mayor's Court in any other of the said United Company's settlements where such offence shall have been committed; every such person so convicted, shall forfeit double the value of such present, gift, donation, gratuity, or reward, so taken and received; one moiety of which forfeiture shall be to the said United Company, and the other moiety to him or them who shall inform or prosecute for the same; and also shall and may be sent to England, by the order of the Governor and Council of the Presidency or settlement where the offender shall be convicted, unless such person so convicted shall give sufficient security to remove him or themselves within twelve months after such conviction.
XXXVI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that it shall and may be lawful for the Governor-General and Council of the said United Company's settlement at Fort William in Bengal, from time to time, to make and issue such rules, ordinances, and regulations, for the good order and civil government of the said United Company's settlement at Fort William aforesaid, and other factories and places subordinate, or to be subordinate thereto, as shall be deemed just and reasonable (such rules, ordinances, and regulations, not being repugnant to the laws of the realm), and to set, impose, inflict, and levy, reasonable fines and forfeitures for the breach or non-observance of such rules, ordinances, and regulations; but nevertheless the same, or any of them, shall not be valid, or of any force or effect, until the same shall be duly registered and published in the said Supreme Court of Judicature, which shall be, by the said new charter, established, with the consent and approbation of the said Court, which registry shall not be made until the expiration of twenty days after the same shall be openly published, and a copy thereof affixed in some conspicuous part of the court-house or place where the said Supreme Court shall be held; and from and immediately after such registry as aforesaid, the same shall be good and valid in law; but, nevertheless, it shall be lawful f or any person or persons in India to appeal therefrom to his Majesty, his heirs or successors, in Council, who are hereby empowered, if they think fit, to set aside and repeal any such rules, ordinances, and regulations respectively, so as such appeal, or notice thereof, be lodged in the said new Court of Judicature, within the space of sixty days after the time of the registering and publishing the same; and it shall be lawful for any person or persons in England to appeal therefrom in like manner, within sixty days after the publishing the same in England; and it is hereby directed and required that a copy of such rules, ordinances, and regulations, from time to time, as the same shall be so received, shall be affixed in some conspicuous and public place in the India House, there to remain and be resorted to as occasion shall require; yet nevertheless, such appeal shall not obstruct, impede, or hinder the immediate execution of any rule, ordinance, or regulation, so made and registered as aforesaid, until the same shall appear to have been set aside or repealed, upon the hearing and determination of such appeal.
XXXVII. Provided always, and be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said Governor-General and Council shall, and they are hereby required, from time to time, to transmit copies of all such rules, ordinances, and regulations, as they shall make and issue, to one of His Majesty's principal Secretaries of State for the time being, and that it shall and may be lawful to and for His Majesty, his heirs and successors, from time to time, as they shall think necessary, to signify to the said United Company, under his or their sign manual, his or their disapprobation and disallowance of all such rules, ordinances, and regulations; and that from and immediately after the time that such disapprobation shall be duly registered and published in the said Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William in Bengal, all such rules, ordinances, and regulations, shall be null and void; but in case His Majesty, his heirs and successors, shall not, within the space of two years from the making of such rules, ordinances, and regulations, signify his or their disapprobation or disallowance thereof, as aforesaid, that then., and in that case, all such rules, ordinances, and regulations, shall be valid and effectual, and have full force.
XXXVIII. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the Governor-General and Council for the time being of the said United Company's settlement at Fort William aforesaid, and the Chief Justice and other Judges of the said Supreme Court of Judicature, shall and may, and they are hereby respectively declared to be, and to have full power and authority to act as justices of the peace for the said settlement, and for the several settlements and factories subordinate thereto; and to do and transact all matters and things which to the office of a justice or justices of the peace do belong and appertain; and for that purpose the said Governor-General and Council are hereby authorized and empowered to hold quarter-sessions within the said settlement of Fort William aforesaid, four times in every year, and the same shall be at all times a court of record.
XXXIX. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that if any Governor-General, President, or Governor, or Council of any of the said Company's principal or other settlements in India, or the Chief Justice, or any of the Judges of the said Supreme Court of Judicature, to be by the said new charter established, or of any other court in any of the said United Company's settlements, or any other person or persons who now are, or heretofore have been employed by or in the service of the said United Company, in any civil or military station, office, or capacity, or who have or claim, or heretofore have had or claimed, any power or authority, or jurisdiction, by or from the said United Company, or any of His Majesty's subjects residing in India, shall commit any offence against this act, or shall have been, or shall be guilty of, any crime, misdemeanour, or offence, committed against any of His Majesty's subjects, or any of the inhabitants of India within their respective jurisdictions, all such crimes, offences and misdemeanours, may be respectively inquired of, heard, tried, and determined in His Majesty's Court of King's Bench, and all such persons so offending, and not having been before tried f or the same offence in India, shall, on conviction, in any such case as is not otherwise specially provided for by this Act, be liable to such fine or corporal punishment as the said Court shall think fit; and moreover shall be liable, at the discretion of the said Court, to be adjudged to be incapable of serving the said United Company in any office, civil or military ; and all and every such crimes, offences, and misdemeanours, as aforesaid, may be alleged to be committed, and may be laid, inquired of, and tried in the the county of Middlesex.
XL. And whereas the provisions made by former laws for the hearing and determining in England offences committed in India have been found. ineffectual, by reason of the difficulty of proving in this kingdom matters done there ; be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in all cases of indictments or informations, laid or exhibited in the said Court of King's Bench, for misdemeanours or offences committed in India, it shall and may be lawful for His Majesty's said Court, upon motion to be made on behalf of the prosecutor, or of the defendant or defendants, to award a writ or writs of mandamus, requiring the Chief Justice and Judges of the said Supreme Court of Judicature for the time being, or the Judges of the Mayor's Court at Madras, Bombay, or Bencoolen, as the case may require, who are hereby respectively authorized and required accordingly to hold a court, with all convenient speed, for the examination of witnesses, and receiving other proofs concerning the matters charged in such indictments or informations respectively; and, in the meantime, to cause such public notice to be given of the holding of the said Court, and to issue such summons or other process, as may be requisite for the attendance of witnesses, and of the agents or counsel, of all or any of the parties respectively, and to adjourn, from time to time as occasion may require; and such examination as aforesaid shall be then and there openly and publicly taken viva voce in the said Court, upon the respective oaths of witnesses, and the oaths of skilful interpreters, administered according to the forms of their several religions; and shall, by some sworn officer of such Court, be reduced into one or more writing or writings on parchment in case any duplicate or duplicates should be required by or on behalf of any of the parties interested, and shall be sent to His Majesty, in his Court of King's Bench, closed up, and under the seals of two or more of the judges of the said Court, and one or more of the said judges shall deliver the same to the agent or agents of the party or parties requiring the same; which said agent or agents (or in case of his or their death, the person into whose hands the same shall come) shall deliver the same to one of the clerks in court of His Majesty's Court of King's Bench, in the public office, and make oath that he received the same from the hands of one or more of the judges of such court in India (or if such agent be dead, in what manner the same came into his hands): and that the same has not been opened, or altered, since he so received it (which said oath such clerk in court is hereby authorized and required to administer): and such depositions, being duly taken and returned, according to the true intent and meaning of this Act, shall be allowed and read, and shall be deemed as good and competent evidence as if such witness had been present, and sworn and examined viva voce at any trial for such crimes or misdemeanours, as aforesaid, in His Majesty's said Court of King's Bench, any law or usage to the contrary notwithstanding; and all parties concerned shall be entitled to take copies of such depositions at their own costs and charges.
XLI. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that in case the said Chief Justice, or Judges of the said Supreme Court of Judicature, or any of them, for the time being, shall commit any offence against this Act, or be guilty of any corrupt practice, or other crime, offence, or misdemeanour, in the execution of their respective offices, it shall and may be lawful for His Majesty's said Court of King's Bench in England, upon an information or indictment laid or exhibited in the said Court f or such crime, offence, or misdemeanour, upon motion to be made in the said Court, to award such writ or writs of mandamus, as aforesaid, requiring the Governor-General, and Council of the said United Company's settlement at Fort William aforesaid, who are hereby respectively authorized and required accordingly to assemble themselves in a reasonable time, and to cause all such proceedings to be had and made as are herein before respectively directed and prescribed concerning the examination of witnesses; and such examination, so taken, shall be returned and proceeded upon in the same manner, in all respects as if the several directions herein-before prescribed and enacted in that behalf were again repeated.
From: A. Berriedale Keith, ed. Speeches and Documents on Indian Policy, 1750-1921. Vol. I. London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press, 1922, 45-59.