The territorial area of Bangladesh originally being a part and parcel
of the then Indian Sub-continent, the history of its legal system
may be traced back from the year of 1726,when King George-I issued
a Charter changing the judicial administration of the Presidency
towns of Calcutta, Bombay and Madras, through which the Civil and
Criminal Courts, as established, started deriving their authority
from the King. It is to be noted that during Mughal Empire the East
India Company by taking settlement and with permission from Mughal
Badshah created the three presidency towns namely Madras, Bombay
and Calcutta and said East India Company introduced the English
legal system for administration of the presidency towns and thus
the English Judicial system got entry into the territory of Indian
Sub-continent. The filing of the appeals from the then India in
the Privy-Council in England was introduced by the said Charter
of 1726 and thereafter to bring about change in the management of
the then East India Company, the East India Company Regulating Act,
1773 was introduced to place the East India Company under the control
of the British Government and provision was made for establishment
of a Supreme Court of judicature at Fort William, Calcutta, through
Charter or Letters Patent. The Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort
William in Bangal was established by Letters Patent issued on March
26, 1774, which as a Court of Record had power and authority to
dispose of all complaints against the Majesty's subjects in respect
of any crime, suit or action arisen within the territory of Bengal,
Bihar and Orissa. By an Act passed in 1833 the Privy-Council was
transformed into an Imperial Court of unimpeachable authority, which
played a great role as an unifying force for establishment of rule
of law in the Indian Sub-continent. The judicial system of the then
India was reorganized by introducing the Indian High Court's Act
1861 by which High Courts were established, abolishing the Supreme
Courts at Fort William (Calcutta), Madras and Bombay, and the High
Courts established were conferred with Civil, Criminal, Admiralty,
Testamentary, Matrimonial jurisdictions with Original and Appellate
Jurisdiction. With the transfer of power from the British Parliament
to the people on division of the then India, the High Court of Bengal
(order) 1947 was promulgated under the Indian Independence Act,
1947, and the High Court of judicature for East Bengal at Dhaka
was established as a separate High Court for the then East Pakistan
and the said High Court was commonly known as the Dhaka High Court
and the same was vested with all Appellate, Civil and Original jurisdictions.
With the enforcement of the Constitution of Islamic Republic of
Pakistan in 1956, the Supreme Court of Pakistan was established
as the apex Court of the country, consisting of East Pakistan and
West Pakistan, in place of Federal Court, with the appellate jurisdiction
to hear the decisions of the High Courts established in the provinces
of the Pakistan. The Dhaka High Court had the jurisdiction to issue
writs in the nature of Habeas Corpus, Mandamus, Prohibition, Quo-warranto
and Certiorari, with further authority to declare any law promulgated
violating the provisions of the Constitution as bad and void.
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