Earlier, the Privy Council used to do its work by means of a system of committees and sub-committees. However, the committees did not have permanent existence and membership and mostly members were the persons with little judicial experience.
In , Lord Bourgham criticized such a constitution of Privy Council keeping in view the extent and importance of the appellate jurisdiction of Privy Council. Subsequently, in he became the Lord Chancellor and during his regime, the British Parliament enacted the Judicial Committee Act, in order to reform the constitution of Privy Council.
In this way, officially the Privy Council was created on 14th Aug. The Act empowered the Privy Council to hear appeals from the courts in British Colonies as per the provisions of the Act. Accordingly under this Act, the quorum of judicial committee of Privy Council was fixed to be four. This quorum was reduced to three in The recommendations to the Crown were given by the majority of quorum. Thereafter, by means of the Appellate Jurisdiction Act, this membership of the judicial committee was extended.
It also empowered His majesty to appoint certain members not exceeding two. These were nothing but the judges of High Court in British India. Thus some of the members of the Privy Council were the persons versed in Indian Laws. As the British Empire gradually grew, the burden on King-in-Council had been increased. The number of the appeals had been increased year-by-year. There were several statutes made up in different colonies and dominions.
This did not exhaust the Royal prerogative completely as being the Fountain Head of Justice there were certain aces were the Privy Council would itself take up appeals as issues on public importance or grave injustice and King-in-Council still entertained appeal made to it with special permission. Section 30 of this Charter granted a right to appeal from the judgments of Supreme Court to Privy Council in Civil matters if following two conditions were followed; i Where the amount involved exceed pagodas ii Where the appeal is filled within six month from the date of decision.
In such cases the Supreme Court at Calcutta had to transmit to the Privy Council the true and the exact copy of all the evidences, judgments, proceedings, decree and orders made in such appeal.
They also recognized the right to appeal to the Privy Council from their decisions. In addition to this, there was a provision of Special leave to Appeal in certain cases to be so certified by the High Courts.
The Federal Court was given exclusive original jurisdiction to decide disputes between the Center and constituent Units. The Federal Court also had jurisdiction to grant Special Leave to Appeal and for such appeals a certificate of the High Court was essential.
Abolition of jurisdiction of Privy Council: In , a white paper was issued by the British Government for establishment of the Supreme Court in India so as to here appeal from Indian high Courts. It was the first step in avoiding the jurisdiction of Privy Council. This Act enlarged the appellate jurisdiction of Federal Court and also abolished the old system of filing direct appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council with or without Special Leave.
This Act accordingly abolished the jurisdiction of Privy Council to entertain new appeals and petitions as well as to dispose of any pending appeals and petitions. It hears appeals from all the High Courts and Subordinate Courts. With this the appellate jurisdiction of the Privy Council finally came to an end. If the appeal system be seen based on the different types of bodies established for the purpose of disposing justice, the appeal system may be divided as follow.
Calcutta, Bombay and Madras. An appeal of less than pagodas will be sent to the governor and the council. In the recorders court at Madras gave way to the Supreme Court at madras, and in the recorders court at Bombay gave place to the Supreme Court at Bombay.
They had the same provisions as the Supreme Court at Calcutta, but for the Supreme Court at Bombay the pecuniary limit was fixed at pagodas. Appeals from Sadar Adalats: Act of Settlement, allowed appeal as of right to be presented from the Sadar Divani Adalat to the Privy Council, with following provisions. But after the governor-general- in-council passed the regulation XVI of laying down certain rules to govern appeals from Sadar Adalat to Privy Council, the appealable monetary limit was fixed at Rs.
The Adalat also had to get prepared two exact copies of the proceedings prepared including all evidence and documents translated into English to be sent to England. The Judicature Act, The Company had to incur expenditure towards the appeals. The Company had to spend to 67 appeals. Thus it had become very burden on Company. To prevent this, the Judicature Act, was enacted,, which came into force with effect from 1-i-;84S. The appeals were to be managed by parties themselves. An appeal could be made to the Privy Council in any case not a being of a criminal jurisdiction from any final judgment, decree of order of the High Court.
If the value of the subject- matter was not less than Rs. These included a dearth of legally qualified judges, and especially of judges with knowledge of the varied legal systems and laws at issue, the ability of, and indeed reliance upon, non-lawyers to make up the quorum of the court, their ability to overrule the judgment of their legally trained brethren, and a chronic shortage of sitting days, which led in turn both to long delays in obtaining a ruling and a suspicion that complicated cases were, when eventually heard, being dealt with in unseemly haste.
Seeking to remedy these evils, the Act established a distinct Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with jurisdiction over colonial, ecclesiastical and sundry other appeals.
It provided for some measure of expertise in colonial laws and legal systems through the appointment of Privy Councilors who had held certain high judicial offices in the colonies. It also, however, retained the lay element, which Brougham had sought to exclude, since it included in the membership of the Judicial Committee the Lord President and former Lords President of the Council, and also empowered the sovereign to appoint to it two other Privy Councilors under her Sign Manual.
Nor did the Act address the extremely limited number of days on which the court could sit to dispose of business. Proposals for the appointment of salaried judges, to augment the manpower provided by judges who were heavily employed in their own courts, were introduced in and , and administrative reforms were proposed again in All initiative failed until, in , the death of Lord Kings down, who had been an extremely active and efficient member of the Judicial Committee, and the accumulation of a glut of Indian business, sparked a crisis.
The Judicial Committee Act both extended the number of sitting days and provided for the appointment of four full-time judges who were judges of Superior Courts or the Chief Justices of the High Courts in Bengal, Madras or Bombay. In the years immediately after the Act of , the most significant Act affecting the composition of the Judicial Committee was the Appellate Jurisdiction Act By s14 of that Act the salaried judges of the court were to be abolished as their offices fell vacant through death, retirement or resignation.
It served a cause of justice for more than two hundred years for Indian Courts before independence. As far as the judicial institution is concerned, the Privy Council was a unique and unparallel among all the [13] D. It set the task of ascertaining the law, formulating legal principles, molding and shaping the substantive laws in India.
Besides the Privy Council also lead to the introduction of Common-law in India, this forms the basis almost all present Indian laws. It acted as a channel, through which English legal concepts came to be assimilated with the body and fabric of the Indian law.
It always insisted on the maintenance of the highest standards of just and judicial procedure, especially in the field if criminal justice. In this way, the decisions of Privy Council have enriched the Indian jurisprudence in many respects. Its contribution to the statute law, personal laws, and commercial laws is of great importance. Thus during the period of and specifically after and onwards, the Privy Council has played a magnificent role in making a unique contribution to Indian laws and the Indian Legal System.
At present also, the Privy Council command a great respect among Indian lawyers, judges as well as Indian public as the highest judicial institution. Some of the principles laid down by the Privy Council are still followed by the Supreme Court of India.
Thus as a whole, the contribution of Privy Council is considered as remarkable for the development of Indian Legal System and Indian Judicial Administration. It has played a great unifying role in shaping divergent laws in India.
For long, it was staffed by Englishmen only, having no knowledge of Indian laws. The location of the Privy Council was in England far away for common man in India making it disadvantageous. The subjection to the jurisdiction to foreign judicial institution i. All this put the poor man in India in difficult situations for seeking Justice. In practice it rarely chose to exercise these powers, and would only do so in exceptional circumstances where the evidence had not been available in previous proceedings.
Perhaps the most interesting feature of Judicial Committee practice today continues to be the form in which it delivers its judgments. This reflects the mixed nature of the Privy Council as a body with executive, judicial and legislative functions.
Though it must be clear that the Judicial Committee in issuing such judgments or advice is acting purely in a judicial, and not an executive capacity see Judicial Committee Act s3 , its decisions take the form of Orders in Council, which are a form of delegated legislation issued under the prerogative.
In the nineteenth century the Judicial Committee was further marked out as unique by virtue of the application of the principle of Unity in Judgment, which prima facie precluded the publication of dissenting judgments. The Distribution of powers between the Centre and the Provinces required the balance to avoid the disputes which would be arisen between the constituent units and the Federation.
The system of Federation clearly demanded the creation of a Federal Court which would have jurisdiction over the States as well as the Provinces. Federal Court functioned only for 12 years. It was the highest Court in India. Over it, there was Privy Council. It saved the time, expenses to the litigants. It was also a convenience to the Indians. Therefore, the Federal Court lessened the work load of the Privy Council, and gradually it occupied the position of Privy Council.
On 1 , the Federal Court was inaugurated at Delhi. It was a Court of Record. They were to lode office till the age of 65 years. Qualifications: Qualifications required for a judge are- i. Salary: The Judges of the Federal Court were entitled such salaries and allowances and to such rights in respect of leave and pensions, as were laid down by His Majesty from time to time. Original; ii. Appellate; and iii.
Original Jurisdiction: The Original Jurisdiction was confined to disputes between Units of the Dominion or between the Dominion and any of the units. The private individuals had no right to sue any Dominion before the Federal Court. Appellate jurisdiction: The Federal Court exercised appellate jurisdiction in constitutional cases under the Act of Its appellate jurisdiction was extended to civil and criminal cases. On the same principles and jurisdiction the Supreme Court of India was established.
The certificate was a condition precedent to every appeal. Advisory Jurisdiction: The Federal Court was empowered to give advisory opinion to the Governor-General, whenever a question of law had arisen or is likely to arise which is of such a nature and of such public importance that it was expedient to obtain the opinion of the Federal Court upon it. The Court after such hearing as it thinks fit report to the Governor- General thereon.
In this way, the Privy Council was established during the middle of 16th century. It thus acted as the advisory body of the King with regard to the affairs of the State. Headquarter of the Privy Council was at Landon and its powers were implemented through the means of royal proclamations, orders, instructions etc. Earlier, the Privy Council used to do its work by means of a system of committees and sub-committees. However, the committees did not have permanent existence and membership and mostly members were the persons with little judicial experience.
Naturally it affected the administration of justice. In , Lord Bourgham criticized such a constitution of Privy Council keeping in view the extent and importance of the appellate jurisdiction of Privy Council. Subsequently, in he became the Lord Chancellor and during his regime, the British Parliament enacted the Judicial Committee Act, in order to reform the constitution of Privy Council.
In this way, officially the Privy Council was created on 14th Aug. The Act empowered the Privy Council to hear appeals from the courts in British Colonies as per the provisions of the Act.
Accordingly under this Act, the quorum of judicial committee of Privy Council was fixed to be four. This quorum was reduced to three in The recommendations to the Crown were given by the majority of quorum. Thereafter, by means of the Appelate Jurisduction Act, this membership of the judicial committee was extended. It also empowered His majesty to appoint certain members not exceeding two. These were nothing but the judges of High Court in British India.
Thus some of the members of the Privy Council were the persons versed in Indian Laws. Appeals from Courts in India to the Privy Council:. This can be discussed under following sub-headings. Section 30 of this Charter granted a right to appeal from the judgments of Supreme Court to Privy Council in Civil matters if following two conditions were followed; i Where the amount involved exceed pagodas ii Where the appeal is filled within six month from the date of decision.
They also recognized the right to appeal to the Privy Council from their decisions. This Act provided for the right to appeal from High Courts to Privy Council from all of its judgments except in Criminal matters. In addition to this, there was a provision of Special leave to Appeal in certain cases to be so certified by the High Courts.
The Federal Court was given exclusive original jurisdiction to decide disputes between the Center and constituent Units. The Federal Court also had jurisdiction to grant Special Leave to Appeal and for such appeals a certificate of the High Court was essential. Abolition of jurisdiction of Privy Council: In , a white paper was issued by the British Government for establishment of the Supreme Court in India so as to here appeal from Indian high Courts.
It was the first step in avoiding the jurisdiction of Privy Council. This Act enlarged the appellate jurisdiction of Federal Court and also abolished the old system of filing direct appeals from the High Court to the Privy Council with or without Special Leave.
This Act accordingly abolished the jurisdiction of Privy Council to entertain new appeals and petitions as well as to dispose of any pending appeals and petitions. Thereafter with the commencement of the Constitution of India in , the Supreme Court has been established and is serving as the Apex Court for all purposes in India.
It hears appeals from all the High Courts and Subordinate Courts. With this the appellate jurisdiction of the Privy Council finally came to an end. It served a cause of justice for more than two hundred years for Indian Courts before independence. As far as the judicial institution is concerned, the Privy Council was a unique and unparallel among all the Courts round the world.
It set the task of ascertaining the law, formulating legal principles, molding and shaping the substantive laws in India. Besides the Privy Council also lead to the introduction of Common Law in India, which forms the basis almost all present Indian laws.
It acted as a channel, through which English legal concepts came to be assimilated with the body and fabric of the Indian law. In this way; the decisions of Privy Council have enriched the Indian jurisprudence in many respects. Its contribution to the statute law, personal laws, and commercial laws is of great importance. Thus during the period of and specifically after and onwards, the Privy Council has played a magnificent role in making a unique contribution to Indian laws and the Indian Legal System.
The fundamental principles of laws as laid down by the Privy Council are considered as path finder for the Indian Courts still today.
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