The Press.
London, England, 1856-03-15 00:00:00

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His Lordship proceeded to stamp the nomi-
nation of Mr. KEOGH as discreditable on
" account of the position in which during the
" whole course of the elections in 1852 he had
" placed himself," and his Lordship referred
particularly to Mr. KEOGH'S astounding declara-
tion at Athlone.
And recollecting, also, the subsequent his-
tory of the Brass Band, it is impossible not to
be struck with the penetrating sagacity of
Lord DERBY in the following remark. Refer-
ring to the lenient treatment given by the
Irish law officers to the priestly rioters in the
sanguinary affray at Six-mile Bridge, Lord
DERBY said :
When the time comes I shall say that the course pursued
by the law officers of the Crown (Mr. Brewster and Mr.
W. Keogh) gives a signal corroboration to the opinion
that offences which have been committed, provided they
have been committed by persons who have a certain political
influence, will be lightly treated.
We do not know whether "my dear Duke
of NEWCASTLE " would still be inclined to taunt
the Earl of FOLINGTOUN with his Lordship's
remarks on the appointment of Mr. WILLIAM
KEOGH.

JUDICIAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN
INDIA.

THE first and second Reports of her Majesty's
Commissioners appointed to consider the
reform of the judicial establishments, judicial
procedure, and laws of India, have now been
laid before Parliament, and we purpose to
offer some comments on the suggestions they
contain. But before doing so we shall
explain as briefly as possible what the actual
system is that they were called upon to
reform. In India, then, there are two descrip-
tions of courts, the Queen's and the Com-
pany's. There are, to be sure, the small-cause
courts at the Presidency capitals in addition,
superintended usually by barristers ; but
these are minor affairs of an exclusively civil
nature, and whose business is confined to the
adjudication of petty-debt cases, like that of
the county courts in this country. The
Queen's Courts in India are called the Su-
preme Courts of Judicature, and were first
established by Parliament in 1773, to correct
the monstrous evils then prevailing in India,
and which were foreseen. The first was estab-
lished at Calcutta, and consisted of a chief
justice, and three puisne judges, and was eat-
p mered (we are quoting IVlLsos's " Continua-
tion of Mill") to administer in India all the
departments of the English law. It was a
court of common law, and a court of equity ;
a court of oyer and terminer, and general gaol
delivery ; an ecclesiastical court, and a court
of admiralty. In civil cases its jurisdiction
extended to all claims against the Company
and against British subjects, and to all such
claims of British subjects against the natives
as the party in the contract under dispute
had agreed, in case of dispute, to submit to its
decision. In affairs of penal law its powers
extended to British subjects, and to another
class of persons who were described as all
persons directly or indirectly in the service of
the Company or of any British subject at the
time of the offence. It may be here as well
for us to remark that in India the term Bri-
tish subject bears a local meaning different
from its ordinary one, as it excludes natives
who are in allegiance to her Majesty, and
embrace only persons who were born in Great
Britain, or who are of pure or mixed British
descent. It may also be observed that the
rendering natives who were in the service of
the Company, or of British subjects, amenable
to the new court, was essential to its effi-
ciency for the purposes in view; because
otherwise the Company and Britons living in
India under licences issued by it, which all
were then compelled to have, might still have
continued ther career of crime and spoliation
unchecked, the only difference being that
they would thenceforth have had to do
through native agency what they had hitherto
done directly themselves. As to other natives,
it was left optional with them to allow their
suits to be decided in the Supreme Courts or
not, excepting, of course, those natives
actually dwelling within their immediate pre-
cincts at the Presidency Capitals. These were
rendered entirely amenable to their jurisdic-

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