Of these imperfections no person can be more conscious than myself. I trust, nevertheless, that I may at least have facilitated the future labours of others, and thereby have contributed somewhat towards promoting the welfare of a portion of the human race in whom I have ever taken the deepest interest. Your already expressed opinion of the object and plan of my undertaking encourages me to hope, that however inadequately I may have accomplished my task, I may not, in this respect, be altogether disappointed. I have the honour to remain, SIR, Your faithful servant, WILLIAM H. MORLEY. November 1850. 15 SERLE STREET, LINCOLN'S INN. I. HER MAJESTY'S COURTS OF JUDICATURE, ix. 1. The Supreme Courts of Judicature, ix. (1) History of the Supreme Courts, their Powers, and Jurisdic- (2) Law administered in the Supreme Courts, xxii. 2. The Court of the Recorder of Prince of Wales' Island, Singapore, (1) Origin of the Adawlut system, lxii. (3) Alterations since 1802, lxv. 2. Institution of Appeals in India, cxxvii. 3. Procedure in England, cxxxiv. V. OF THE LAWS PECULIAR TO INDIA, clii. 1. The Law enacted by the Regulations and Acts of the Legislativ (a) Of the Sources of the Law, clxxxviii. (b) On the various Schools of Hindú Law, clxxxix. (c) On the Hindú Law-books, excii. (a) On the Sources of the Law, ccxxvii. (b) On the principal Muhammadan sects, and their Lega (c) On the Muhammadan Law-books, cexli. 3. Laws of the Portuguese, Armenians, Pársís, &c., cexcviii. VI. ACCOUNT OF THE REPORTS OF DECIDED CASES, AND CONCLUSION INTRODUCTION. EVERY one who has attempted the study of the Law as administered in the British territories in India must have felt, and will be ready to acknowledge, the want of elementary and comprehensive works treating of this most important subject. The laws themselves are so diverse and complicated in their nature, and are spread over such a multitude of volumes, that, in the absence of such works, a long course of laborious investigation and patient study becomes requisite, before the student can see his way through the mass of legislation, which must appear to all, at the outset, an impenetrable chaos. It is true that the Regulations and the Acts of the Legislative Council of India have been printed and published, and that various treatises on native law, both by European authors and in translations from the works of Hindú and Muhammadan lawyers, have appeared at different times. The Regulations, however, are frequently vague, and not easily to be construed, and from their voluminousness, and the manner in which they are framed, are always difficult of reference; whilst, with regard to the native laws, a difficulty arises, on the other hand, from the paucity of the materials, and still greater obstacles present themselves on the ground of obscurity. The works on native law by European writers are unfortunately few in number; and those translated from the original languages, though more numerous, are, from their nature, not calculated to be of much assistance to a beginner: the latter class treat of the doctrines of different schools, in many instances totally opposed to each other, without adverting to the distinction; they abound with subtleties of reasoning supporting contradictory interpretations of the texts of the ancient lawgivers; and they are in every case couched in terms difficult to be understood, unless after a long acquaintance with the method pursued by the Indian jurists in treating of legal subjects, and some preliminary knowledge of those religious systems with which the laws. are intimately connected, and of which, in fact, they form an integral part. Thus this want of elementary books presents a serious difficulty at the very commencement of the legal education of those destined to exercise judicial functions in India; and, were it not for the system of progressive advancement, which wisely assigns the lighter labour and the more limited authority to those newly arrived in that country, would long since have been productive of consequences totally subversive of justice, and fatal to our interests. The system of progressive advancement to which I have alluded, has, it is true, by granting time for the gradual acquirement of the laws by study on the spot, and for the accumulation of knowledge by actual experience, in proportion to the increasing duties which the judicial officers are called upon to perform, supplied, to some extent, the absence of facilities for preliminary study. But it must not be concluded from this that such facilities are unnecessary. It cannot be disputed that men have succeeded very well, and have become distinguished as Judges and Magistrates, without having turned their attention to the laws of India previously to their going to that country; but no one can say how much greater might have been their success, or how much sooner they might have attained, the same distinction, had the study of those laws formed a part of their early education. The Judges of Her Majesty's Courts of Judicature, in nearly every instance, arrive in India totally unacquainted with more than one branch of the laws which they are called upon to administer, and frequently return to England before they have had time to acquire the requisite knowledge, either by study or experience. They are appointed at a more advanced age than the civil servants of the Honourable East-India Company; |