The High Court of Bombay, which is the chartered High Court and one of the oldest High Courts
in the Country. It has Appellate Jurisdiction over the State of Maharashtra, Goa, Daman & Diu
and Dadra & Nagar Haveli. In addition to the Principal Seat at Bombay, it has benches at
Aurangabad, Nagpur, Panaji(Goa).
The Legal history of Bombay may be said to have begun in 1661, when it became a British
possession. The Town and Island of Bombay was received by the British as a part of the dowry
of the Portuguese Princess Catherine of Braganza, sister of Alphonso VI, the then Portuguese
Monarch, when she married King Charles II . Bombay then was little more than a small fishing
village consisting of a few straggling huts of Kolis, its indigenous inhabitants; and its harbour,
destined in the course of years to develop into the greatest and most important commercial
seaport in the East, sheltered only a few fishing boats. Charles II transferred it to the East India
Company in 1668 for an insignificant annual rent of 10 Pounds
The remote ancestry of the High Court, though interesting is not quite inspiring, until we come to
the Recorder's Court established under the Charter of 1798. Confining ourselves to the British
period- for there is no conceivable connection between our High Court today and such Courts of
law as existed in the Portuguese, and still earlier Muslim eras- the judicial history of Bombay
commences with the Charter of 1668 accompanying the transfer of Bombay from the Crown to
the East India Company. In 1670, the administration of Justice was in the hands of Justices who
held their sittings in the Custom Houses of Bombay and Mahim. The system of 1670 was very
elementary and suffered from several drawbacks and the judicial system was too much identified
with the executive government of the Island.
The main architect of the Judicial system during this period was Gerald Aungier, the Governor of
Surat Factory. He has been described as the "true founder" of Bombay. He was a man with
liberal ideas and believed in a impartial administration of justice without fear or favor. But he
was conscious of these defects and he was himself dissatisfied with the judicial machinery.
Aungier was advised by the Company to select someone knowing something of law from
amongst the Company's servants in India. Aungier chose George Wilcox as the Judge and the
First British Court of Justice was inaugurated in Bombay in 1672 with due pomp and ceremony.
Fawcett quotes a detailed description of the opening ceremony on 8th August 1672.
There was a ceremonial procession from the Fort through the Bazaar to the Guildhall (court-
house) in the following order :-
Fifty Bandaries in Green liveries marching two by two.
Centues (Hindus) 20 Mooremen (Muslims) 20 Christians each representing their several caste or
sect marching two by two.
His Honour's horse of State led by an Englishman.
Two trumpets and Kettledrums on horse back.
The Justice of the Peace and Council richly habited on horse back. The Governor in his
Pallankeen with fower (four) English pages on each side in rich liveries bareheaded surrounded
at distance with peons, and blacks.
The Clerke of the Papers on foot.
The flower (four) Atturneys, or Common pleaders on foot
The keeper of the prisons and the two Tipstaffs on foot, bareheaded before the Judge.
The Judge on horse back on a Velvet foot cloth.
His servants in Purple serge liveries.
Gentlemen in Coaches and Palankeens.
On this occasion, he delivered a speech full of very noble sentiments, eulogizing the impartial
execution of laws, and exhorting the court to do justice without distinction of nationality or
religion, not only in cases between private parties, by even against the government. He promised
to protect the Judge in the discharge of his duties to the best of his power and authority. In the
concluding paragraph of his speech addressed to the court he said :
"The Inhabitants of this Island consist of several nations and religions, like English, Portuguese
and other Christians, Moores and Gentoos, but you, when you sit in this seat of justice and
judgment, must look upon them with one single eye as I do, without distinction of nation or
religion, for they are all His Majesty's and the Hon'ble Company's subjects as the English are,
and have all an equal title and right to justice."
The speech does credit to the character of Aungier. He exhibited a passion for fair, impartial and
evenhanded justice. No one could have kept a higher ideal of justice than Aungier. It was a good
augury for the judicial system, but unfortunately the later Governors did no to follow Aungier's
traditions.
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