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Lord William Bentinck became the
Governor-General of India in July,
1828 and held that office up to
march,1835.
He made several reforms in
judicial administration which in
many respects were original .
Many of the institutions created
by him form the basis of our
present judicial system.
They figure as an outstanding
mark in our legal history next to
those made by Lord Cornwallis.
Various reforms made by him are
discussed in this project.
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Öarlier there was only one Sadar Adalat at
Calcutta.
People had to travel long distances to seek
justice from that court.
Therefore in many cases, people instead of
going to the Adalat, preferred to suffer
injustice.
It was necessary that a Sadar Adalat should be
created in those far situated areas which had
now come under the jurisdiction of the
company.
By regulation VI of 1831, Lord William
Bentinck met that demand and established a
Sadar Diwani Adalat and a Sadar Nizamat
Adalat at Allahabad from 1st January, 1832.
The constitution and the powers of the
Adalat were the same as that of the Adalat
at Calcutta.
The territorial jurisdiction of the Adalat
extended to Banaras province and other
conquered areas including the districts of
Meerut, Saharanpur, Muzzafarpur Nagar
and Bulandshahr.
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In the administration of criminal justice,
Bentinck made far-reaching changes which may
be discussed as follows:-
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The Circuit Court which was the man court of
criminal judiciary, was suffering from many
defects ²
firstly the court had heavy workload and
therefore, the arrears went on piling and justice
was delayed.
Secondly, in many cases reference was to be
made to the Sadar Nizamat Adalat which did
not entertain the cases for years
Certain prominent
persons of the area to
work as jurors.
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Lord Bentinck made very important
contributions to the administration of justice.
It can be said with certainty that the main
outlines of the present Indian legal system were
settled during his time.
According to Dr. M.P. Jain. ´the key note of
Bentinck·s judicial reforms was indianisation and
economyµ.
The reforms of Lord Bentinck were more far-
reaching in effect and vouchsafed greater
efficiency within quite reasonable pecuniary
limits.
The most distinguished of all these reforms was the
increased employment of Indians in the civil and
criminal judicature with substantial powers given to
them.
However, they suffered from may drawbacks, for
e.g.,
They had a limited monetary jurisdiction.
The suits of high amount which were decided by the
principal Sadar Ameen were not filed in his court.
The Americans and the British were excluded from
the jurisdiction of the courts of the Indian judges.
No power of final adjudication was given to any
court presided oven by an Indian judge.
In all matters, their decisions were appealable to
the court of Önglish judges.