– 150 years old

High Court Buildings – North view

Queen Victoria by Letters Patent of June 26, 1862, and published in the Fort St. George Gazette of August 19, 1862, established in Madras “for the Presidency of Madras... a High Court of Judicature (to) be called the High Court of Judicature at Madras... (to) consist of a Chief Justice and Five Judges, the first Chief Justice being Sir Colley Harman Scotland, Kt., and the five Judges, being Sir Adam Bittleston, Kt., William Ambrose Morehead, Esq., Thomas Lumsden Strange, Esq., Henry Dominic Phillips, Esq., and Hatley Frere, Esq.”*...The High Court was given the power “to approve, admit, and enrol such and so many Advocates as to the ... High Court shall seem meet, who shall be... authorized to appear and plead for the suitors of the ... High Court, subject to the Rules and directions of such Court.” Also, the Court was authorized to enrol Vakeels and Attorneys-at-Law. The Vakeels could “appear, plead and act for the suitors” while the Attorneys-at-Law could only “appear and act.”...

* Sir Colley Scotland had been the last Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and Sir A. Bittleston had been a Puisne Justice of the Supreme Court at Madras from 1858. The four Judges, T.L. Strange, W.A. More- head, H. Frere and H.D. Phillips, were all Indian Civil Servants; T.L. Strange and H. Frere had been Puisne Judges of the Court of Sudder and Foujdari Adawlut; W.A. Morehead had been the Chief Judge of the Court of Sudder and Foujdari Adawlut; and H.D. Phillips had acted as Puisne Judge of the Court of Sudder and Foujdari Adawlut.

It was ordained that the High Court of Judicature at Madras “shall be a Court of Appeal from the Civil Courts of the Presidency of Madras, and from all other Courts, whether within or without the said Presidency” ... On the Criminal Side: (a) a point worth noting is that there was no provision for an appeal in criminal trial before the Courts of original criminal jurisdiction constituted by one or more Judges of the High Court. The High Court of Judicature at Madras was constituted a Court of appeal from the Criminal courts of the Presidency. The Court was provided with Admiralty and Vice-Admiralty jurisdiction, Testamentary and Intestate jurisdiction and Matrimonial jurisdiction. The Code of Civil Procedure and the Code of Criminal Procedure were made to regulate proceedings in Civil and Criminal cases respectively. In civil and criminal matters appeals were provided to the Privy Council; in civil matters the value of the appeal should be above ten thousand rupees, failing which the High Court should declare that the case was a fit one for appeal; in criminal cases it was necessary for the High Court to declare that the case was a fit one for such appeal.

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The new High Court was formally opened on Friday, August 15, 1862. The newly-appointed Chief Justice and the Puisne Judges were present. The Judges walked into the Court hall about half an hour after noon, and took their seats on the Bench. The Master and the Sheriff took their seats on either side of the Bench.

The Chief Justice spoke as follows: “The Supreme and Sudder Courts have ceased to exist, and the jurisdiction exercised by the Courts is now amalgamated and transferred to Her Majesty’s High Court of Judicature of this Presidency. A little time will be necessary to make the arrangements and alterations required for the conduct of the business and practice of the High Court in respect of both the original and appellate jurisdiction under the several provisions of the Charter, and to issue new tables of fees... All the Officers of the late Supreme and Sudder Courts will continue in the discharge of their duties as at present for four months... Until new rules have been made, the rules of practice of the late Supreme Court will extend as far as applicable to the ordinary original jurisdiction of the High Court (civil and criminal), if not contrary to the Letters Patent or the Act authorising them or the Code of Civil Procedure... With reference to the Practitioners of the High Court, the Barristers or Advocates and the Solicitors and Attorneys who were admitted and on the rolls of the late Supreme Court, and the Vakeels of the Sudder Court will be admitted and enrolled as Advocates, Vakeels and Attorneys respectively of the High Court. The Advocates will be entitled to appear and plead in all business before the Court. The Vakeels will be entitled to appear and plead and act for the suitors in such appellate and other business as would have been within the jurisdiction of the late Sudder Court, but not in any matter of ordinary original jurisdiction. The Attorneys will be admitted to appear and act for the Suitors in all business before the Court.”...

On August 28, 1862, the Chief Justice and the Puisne Judges framed rules relating to Advocates, Vakeels and Attorneys, and also a set of temporary rules for regulating the practice of the Court. By the latter it was provided among other things that the ordinary original civil jurisdiction may be exercised by one Judge, or by a division of two Judges; that the extraordinary original civil jurisdiction shall be exercised by a Division Court composed of two or more Judges; that the ordinary and extraordinary original criminal jurisdiction shall be exercised by one Judge; that a single Judge may in his discretion refer any matter before him for the decision of a Court composed of two Judges; that all appeals from the decisions of two Judges shall be heard and determined by a Court composed of not less than three Judges; that when the Court consists of two Judges, the Chief Justice or Senior Judge shall in case of difference of opinion have a double or casting voice; and that lists shall be made of the appellate business ready for hearing, and that the cases shall be called in its order in the list for the day.

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In the old days, the Courts had to struggle for proper places to sit. The Supreme Court, on its formation at the beginning of the 19th Century, had found the Old Court House in Choultry Gate Street in decay, as it had been “undermined by bandicoots.” Then a commodious house belonging to one Lautour, which had been the residence of the sons of Tippu Sultan when they were hostages in British hands, had been rented to house the Supreme Court. In 1817, there was a change in the abode of the Supreme Court. It was moved into a building “on the site of Marine Yard” near the Custom House (Bentinck’s Building), where the Judges sat in dignity on daintily-carved wooden chairs, many of which descended as heirlooms to the High Court. When the High Court was established in 1862, the old Supreme Court was located in the First Line Beach, and the Sudder Courts were functioning at the Sudder Gardens in Luz.

July 12, 1892 was a memorable day for the High Court of Madras. It was on that day that the great and imposing building, which houses the High Court at present, was formally proclaimed open by the Governor of Madras. The Governor arrived at the main entrance of the building to a salute of seventeen guns, and was received by the then Chief Justice, Sir Arthur Collins, the Puisne Judges and others. There was a procession which passed through “the Courts” and arrived at one of the principal Courts where a dais had been prepared. The British National Anthem was played before the distinguished visitors took their seats on the dais. Then the Secretary to Government in the Public Works Department offered the key of the building to the Governor, who, after accepting the key, delivered it to the keeping of the Chief Justice.

The Governor stated that the work on the building had started in 1888, and that the cost of the building was well near thriteen lakhs of rupees. “The style of the building,” declared the Governor, “is Hindu-Saracenic, freely treated according to local requirements.” The novelty was the lighthouse tower. A thing of interest was the fact “that almost all the material used in the construction of the building, with the exception of the heavy steel girders to carry the floor, and roof, and some ornamental tiling, was manufactured locally.” The Government brickfields had supplied all the bricks, and a large quantity of the flooring-tiles.

While handing over the key, the Governor concluded with the words, “And now, my Lord Chief Justice, I have pleasure in handing you the key, as a token that the building has been entrusted to your hands by the Government, in full confidence that the adminitration of justice will be carried on with the ability and integrity that has always marked the Madras High Court. To you, my Lord, and to the other gentlemen who hold with you the high position of Judges of the High Court, and to those gentlemen who occupy themselves in the Honourable and learned profession of law, in all your hands the administration of justice may be safely left, and we may look forward, for many years to come, with the full knowledge and full satisfaction that the best years of your lives will be devoted to carrying on one of the noblest of works, the uninterrupted administration of Justice.”

The key was received by His Lordship the Chief Justice, who said in solemn gravity, “I fervently hope that long after you and I, Your Excellency, have passed away to that undiscovered country, of which we know so little, there may also continue to be found men of ability and courage, who will administer the law in these Courts without distinction of class, creed or race.” Generations of Judges and Lawyers who have since succeeded, have fulfilled, in not unworthy measure, the fond hope the Chief Justice, Sir Arthur Collins, expressed in that speech.

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FOOTNOTE: A historical fact, which may also be viewed as a beautiful coincidence, is that within the very area of the present High Court buildings and enclosures, the old Temple of Chennakesava appears to have stood till about 1762, when the Company made an equivalent grant of land South of China Bazaar and the Chennaikesava and Chennai Malleswarar Temples were erected there. The edifice of jutice thus rests on consecrated ground.