CHAPTER XIII.
ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE.
Early Methods—Under native rule—Under the Chiefs and Councils. The Present System—In the plains—In the Agency. Civil Justice—Existing Courts—Amount of litigation—Registration. Criminal Justice—The various Courts—Crime—The Yanadis or Nakkalas—Other criminal classes. Police—Former systems—The existing force, jails.
Under native rule, and also in the early days of British administration, the regular courts of justice were few. The Committee of Circuits,[1] in its report of December 1786, describes as follows the system which was in force:—
'During the Mogul Government there were courts of justice established at Rajahmundry and Ellore, where Kazis administered justice according to Muhammadan law. The Foujidars[2] reserved to themselves the infliction of capital punishments and the determination on causes of considerable property. There was also at each place a Cutval (kotwál) with an establishment of peons to superintend the police, and a Nurkee whose duty it was to regulate the price of provisions.
'Of these nothing but the names remain, and the inhabitants are without any Courts of Justice. Trifling disputes are settled by the Karnams and head inhabitants. Matters of greater consequence are referred to the Renter or the Chief and Council; but the distance at which some of the farms are from the seat of Government renders an appeal to the latter troublesome and expensive. For heinous crimes (which are seldom perpetrated) the only imprisonment at present inflicted by cur Government is confinement of the culprit's person.'
In the early days of British rule the only civil court having any jurisdiction within the district was that of the Chief and Council at Masulipatam, and the activities of this were confined almost exclusively to the limits of Masulipatam town and factory. 'Of criminal jurisdiction there was none. There was no law providing for the infliction of death or any other penalty. . . . The Chiefs in Council had very little authority in their districts; and of course every zamindar could interfere in the direct administration of justice.' A brief but vivid picture of the lawlessness which naturally
