For quite some time now, lawyers and politicians in Tamil Nadu have been demanding the establishment of a Bench of the Supreme Court in Chennai. But what many may not know is that a Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras was, indeed, in existence in Chennai for more than 60 years until it was replaced by the present High Court of Judicature at Madras. The justice delivery system in vogue in the State is as old as its hoary colonial past. The British constructed Fort St. George, the power centre, in Chennai in the 1640s and began encouraging human settlements around it to further their trade interests. Over the years, the population grew and so did the need for a mechanism to adjudicate civil and criminal disputes.

A town becomes Corporation

Finding that the martial law could not be invoked for trivial issues, the Governor and Company of Merchants of London Trading to the East Indies issued a charter, with the approval of King James II, on December 30, 1687, declaring the “Town of Fort St. George, commonly called the Christian Town and Citty of Madrassapatam upon the Coast of Choromandel in the East Indies, and all the Territorys thereunto belonging, not exceeding the distance of 10 miles from Fort St. George, to be a Corporation”.

The charter paved the way for the election and appointment of a Mayor, 12 Aldermen, and 60 Burgesses from among the inhabitants through perpetual succession. Apart from being empowered to levy and collect taxes, the Mayor and three of the eldest Aldermen were declared as Justices of the Peace to form a court of record to try and adjudge civil as well as criminal cases according to equity, good conscience, and the existing laws.

So began the history of the Mayor’s Court in Tamil Nadu and it was also this 1687 charter that led to the practice of Mayors as well as judges in this part of the State wearing robes and being preceeded by bearers of silver maces (three-and-a-half feet in length) in order “to attract respect and reverence from the common people” and also for greater solemnity.

Commission for trying pirates

In 1726, the British established the Mayor’s Courts in Mumbai (then Bombay) and Kolkata (then Calcutta), too, and in 1753, an amended charter was issued with respect to those Mayor’s Courts. On January 27, 1761, another charter was issued for the establishment of a Commission at Fort St. George for trying the pirates. However, the next major change in judicial administration in the State took place only in 1798.

On February 10, 1798, King George III issued a charter for constitution of the Court of the Recorder of Madras, which replaced the Mayor’s Court. The new court was headed by a principal judge called the Recorder of Madras, who must be a Barrister of England or Ireland with no less than five years of standing. Apart from him, three senior Aldermen were appointed to act as judges of the Recorder’s Court.

The Recorder was empowered to hold courts either with the Mayor or one of the Aldermen, and his court was given the powers equivalent to those of the Court of King’s Bench in England. The salary of the Recorder was determined to be 5,000 pounds a year. The charter read, “No fees of office, perquisites, emoluments or advantages, whatsoever, other than and except the said salary, shall be accepted, received, or taken, by such Recorder, in any manner, or on any account or pretence whatsoever.”

The Recorder’s Court was empowered to hear and determine all suits and actions against inhabitants of Madras. “Yet, nevertheless, in the cases of Mahomedans or Gentus (Hindus), their Inheritance and succession to lands, rents, and goods, and all matters of contract and dealing, between party and party, shall be determined, in the case of Mahomedans, by the laws and usages of the Mahomedans, and where the parties are Gentus, by the Laws and Usages of the Gentus,” the charter read. Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange was appointed as the first Recorder of Madras and his large portrait could be spotted at the majestic Chief Justice’s court hall in the Madras High Court even today.

Immunity to Governor

Within three years, King George III issued another charter on December 26, 1800, to seize the functioning of the Recorder’s Court and instead establish the Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras “with full powers to exercise civil, criminal, admiralty, and ecclesiastical jurisdictions”. The charter provided immunity to the Governor and the Council of Madras from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court.

The salary for the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court was fixed at 6,000 pounds a year and that of the two puisne judges of the court at 5,000 pounds a year. The former Recorder, Strange, assumed charge as the first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in 1801 and continued in office till 1816. Henry Gwillim, a barrister from England, and Benjamin Sullivan, a barrister from Ireland, were appointed as the first two puisne judges of the court.

The Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras was led by nine different Chief Justices during its existence for about 61 years. It was during the tenure of the ninth Chief Justice, Colley Harman Scotland, in 1862 that the Supreme Court as well as the Courts of Sudder Adawlut and Foujdarry Adawlut were abolished and replaced with the High Court of Judicature at Madras by a Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria.

Chief Justice Scotland of the abolished Supreme Court was appointed as the first Chief Justice of the High Court. However, even now, the Madras High Court administration interestingly counts its Chief Justices beginning from Chief Justice Strange in 1801 and not from Chief Justice Scotland’s tenure, but considers its year of establishment to be only 1862.