Bengal (including Eastern Bengal and Assam), Madras, Bombay and the old
North-Western Provinces each has a high court, established by charter
under an act of parliament, with judges appointed by the crown. Of the
other provinces the Punjab and Lower Burma have chief courts, and Oudh,
the Central Provinces, Upper Burma, Sind and the North-West Frontier
Province have judicial commissioners, all established by local
legislation. From the high courts, chief courts and judicial
commissioners an appeal lies to the judicial committee of the privy
council in England. Below these courts come district and sessions
judges, who perform the ordinary judicial work of the country, civil and
criminal. Their jurisdictions coincide for the most part with the
magisterial and fiscal boundaries. But, except in Madras, where the
districts are large, a single civil and sessions judge sometimes
exercises jurisdiction over more than one district. In the
non-regulation territory judicial and executive functions are to a large
extent combined in the same hands.
The law administered in the Indian courts is described in the article
INDIAN LAW.
Indian Services.
The chief of the Indian services is technically known as the Indian
civil service. It is limited to about a thousand members, who are chosen
by open competition in England between the ages of twenty-one and
twenty-four. Nearly all the higher appointments, administrative and
judicial, are appropriated by statute to this service, with the
exception of a few held by military officers on civil duty in the
non-regulation provinces. Other services mainly or entirely recruited in
England are the education department, police, engineering, public works,
telegraph and forest services. In addition to the British officials
employed in these services, there is a host of natives of India holding
superior or subordinate appointments in the government service.
According to a calculation made in 1904, out of 1370 appointments with a
salary of £800 a year and upwards, 1263 were held by Europeans, 15 by
Eurasians and 92 by natives of India. But below that line natives of
India greatly preponderate; of 26,908 appointments ranging between £800
and £60 a year, only 5205 were held by Europeans, 5420 by Eurasians and
16,283 by natives.
These figures show that less than 6500 Englishmen are employed to rule
over the 300 millions of India. On the other hand, natives manage the
greater part of the administration of the revenue and land affairs and
magisterial work. The subordinate courts throughout India are almost
entirely manned by native judges, who sit also on the bench in each of
the High Courts. Similarly in the other services. There are four
engineering colleges in India, which furnish to natives access to the
higher grades of the public works department; and the provincial
education services are recruited solely in India.
The Army.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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