Book contents
- Empires of Complaints
- Empires of Complaints
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Map
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Transliteration and Names
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Petitioning, Taxation, and Law in Eighteenth-Century Bengal
- 2 Recasting Mughal Law
- 3 Zamindari Succession Disputes and Persianate Hindu Law
- 4 ‘At the Durbar’ in Calcutta
- 5 A Jagirdar’s Lament
- 6 Conclusion
- Select Bibliography
- Index
2 - Recasting Mughal Law
Company Justice after 1772
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 September 2022
- Empires of Complaints
- Empires of Complaints
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures and Map
- Acknowledgements
- Note on Transliteration and Names
- Abbreviations
- Maps
- Introduction
- 1 Petitioning, Taxation, and Law in Eighteenth-Century Bengal
- 2 Recasting Mughal Law
- 3 Zamindari Succession Disputes and Persianate Hindu Law
- 4 ‘At the Durbar’ in Calcutta
- 5 A Jagirdar’s Lament
- 6 Conclusion
- Select Bibliography
- Index
Summary
This chapter shows how the judicial reforms of Governor Warren Hastings in 1772 attempted to recentre sovereign authority in the British settlement of Calcutta byco-opting and recasting late Mughal venues and practices of petitioning and dispute resolution. It explores how Hastings attempted to found the Company's legal system, not just on 'religious' forms of Muslim and Hindu law, but on Mughal practices of revenue administration. Even after 1772, the chief revenue office in Calcutta (khalisa sharifa or ‘khalsa’) – retained an important role as a site for investigating disputes over land and revenues, and for discovering a new form of ‘civil law’ based on the Company’s interpretations of late Mughal precedents.
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- Empires of ComplaintsMughal Law and the Making of British India, 1765–1793, pp. 71 - 112Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2022