
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.