Introduction to Indian Legal system

India has one of the oldest legal systems in the world. The legal history of India dates back to
centuries and kept evolving through the changing times. It's a delusion that the Indian legal
system gained a systematic shape and development only during the British rule. Rather we
have a traditional mindset of following laws and regulations and doing our duties for the
society which can be inferred from the verses of Manusmriti that Dharma i.e. Rule of Law is
the supreme power in the state and the King is also subject to Law to realize the goal of
Dharma.

During India's history, there have been several civilization from Indus valley civilization to
Vedic Age era to Haryanka and Mauryan dynasties in North followed by Sangam and Chola
dynasties in southern India and then the Islamic Delhi Sultanate empire followed by Mughals
and finally The Britiegal System In Medieval India:

During the Medieval period in India, the Mitakshara school of law was the most prevalent
law compiled by a Chalukya ruler in the 11th century, which was a very definite
interpretation of the law. Today this law has become the basis of Hindu Joint Family laws.
Then Islam came into India during the 11th century when Mohammed Ghori defeated
Prithviraj Chauhan at the Second Battle of Tarain in 1192 AD, with which QutubuddinAibak
became the first Sultan of Delhi, belonging to the Slave Dynasty.

For Muslims Koran is the supreme and the only book that contains the words of Allah During
the Islamic era in India, the Hanafi school of law was administered and practiced, which
required non-muslims to pay a tax called jeziya, and conversion to Islam for non-Muslims
was not mandatory10. The Islamic rule in India under the title Delhi Sultanate ruled from
Slave Dynasty to Lodhi Dynasty(1206-1526) after that Babur defeated Ibrahim Lodhi which
started the rule of the Mughal Empire effectively up to A.D. 1707 and then after the death of
BahadurshahZafar, the Muslim rule in India came to an end.

During the Sultanate period, there were seven courts of Justice, related to seven different
branches of law. For Example- Diwan-i-Mazlim deals with disputes concerning with
administration or bureaucracy. The Qazi did not come under any judicial supervision and
they deal with religious laws. Non-Muslims had their autonomy to practice their personal
laws and to had their separate courts. Thus the judicial system during the Sultanate period
was not properly organized.12

During the Mughal period courts were divided into two categories:

Courts Of Religious or Personal Laws.

But the hierarchy at the administrative level or the defined jurisdiction of courts was missing
in the Mughal era. The judicial decisions were very subjective and vary from judges to judges
which results in inconsistency in judgments.

Legal System During the Colonial Period in India:

The common law system a system of law based on recorded judicial precedents- came to
India with the British East India Company. The Mughal judicial system was not very
organized and efficient due to which, the English Governor of Surat, where the first English
factory was set up after the permission was given by Emperor Jehangir, decided to have their
own legal procedures and rules to govern the workers who worked at the factory.

The East India Company was granted a charter by King George-1 to establish the mayor�s
court in Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta (now Chennai, Mumbai, and Kolkata respectively14.
These courts had the authorities to decide cases related to both civil and criminal matters, but
they derived their source of power from the Company15.

The Charter issued by King George led to the establishment of Mayor's Courts, which had
jurisdictions over all other courts and they try to deal with cases that arise within their
territory or company's area. After the victory of the Britishers in the Battle of Plassey (1757),
the Regulating Act of 1773 was passed by the British Parliament, under which a Supreme
Court at Calcutta was established, whose powers are very similar to our present-day Supreme
Court at Delhi.

After the First War of Independence, the control of India from East India Company passed on
to the British Crown, with the passing of Acts like the High Courts Act 1861 and the Indian
Council Act, which led to the establishment of three high courts at Calcutta, Bombay and
Madras and the abolition of Supreme Courts, with Privy Council as the highest court of
Appeal for nearly 200 years16. After the passing of the Government of India Act 1935, India
under British rule became a Federal Structure, with a new Federal Court at Delhi with
jurisdiction over both states and provinces. It has both appellate and advisory jurisdiction and
also interpret any substantive question of law like the Supreme Court of India.sh Empire in
India, whose legal system and machinery we still use in India.