Court : Kolkata
Reported in : AIR1925Cal108,(1924)ILR51Cal861,84Ind.Cas.102
Page, J.1. At 1-45 A.M. on the 4th of April 1922, a terrible disaster befell the Punjab Up Mail. It was travelling at a speed of between 42 and 45 miles an hour round a curve about a quarter of a mile above Jainti Bridge, 173 miles from Calcutta, and 8 miles from Madhupur, when the passengers became aware of a loud, grating noise; the lights went out, and a few moments later, the engine, tender and six carriages were precipitated down an embankment 30 feet in depth. Eight persons were killed, and 25 were injured. The plaintiff was travelling with some members of his family in the train, and this suit is brought to recover damages in respect of the alleged negligence of the defendant Company causing damage to him. On the issue as to whether or not the defendant Company is liable in respect of negligence, this case is a test case, and the determination of it will govern other cases. On the issue of liability a number of cases were cited to me, and I propose to state the principles of law...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : (1878)ILR3Cal64
Markby, J.1. Two persons, Burah and Book Singh, have been convicted on a charge of murder by the Deputy Commissioner of the Cossyah and Jynteeah Hills and sentenced to death. The sentence was commuted to transportation for life by the Chief Commissioner of Assam on the 23rd April 1876.2. On the 9th July, 1870 the officer, in charge of the Kamrup jail forwarded to this Court petitions of appeal from these prisoners, unaccompanied by copies of the judgment.3. The first question which arises in the case is, whether the High Court has any power to entertain these applications; and this question is one of so much importance that it has been referred to a Full Bench, and has been on two occasions very fully argued.4. The Cossyah and Jynteeah Kills comprise a considerable tract of country on the eastern frontier of Bengal, and they contain a population which, in 1862, was estimated at 120,000. The Jynteeah Hills were formerly under the independent Rajah of Jynteeah. The Cossyah Hills were div...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : AIR1921Cal1,59Ind.Cas.143
Ashutosh Mookerjee, Acting C.J.1. On the 11th July 1919 Satis Chandra Chakrabarti, the petitioner in the present Rule, made an application to this Court and prayed that disciplinary action might be taken against Mr. Ramdayal De. a Vakil of this Court, who had acted on behalf of one Chandra Kumar Chakrabarti with whom he had been involved in a protracted litigation, It is not necessary for our present purpose to narrate the history or review the progress of that litigation; it is sufficient to state that the application made by the petitioner contained grave charges of misconduct against Mr. De. The application was supported by an affidavit which recited that the facts mentioned in the petition were true to the knowledge of the deponent except those contained in paragraphs 10, 25 and 27, and that a part of paragraphs 4, 47 and 50 were true to his information and belief. The application was heard in the first instance by Fletcher and Duval, JJ. On the 17th July 1919 the matter was referr...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : (1909)ILR36Cal433
Francis W. Maclean, C.J.1. The plaintiff is a zemindar residing in the District of Mymensingh. The defendant is a member of the Indian Civil Service, and, at the date of the transaction in question, was District Magistrate of Mymensingh. The plaintiff seeks to recover damages for a trespass alleged to have been committed by the defendant in searching the plaintiff's cutchchery at Jamalpur on the 28th of April 1907. The defendant, in substance, pleads not guilty by Statute and relies upon th6 Statutes to which reference will be made later on.2. The facts appear to be these: For sometime previous to the 28th of April 1907 the state of feeling between the Hindus and Mahomedans at Jamalpur ran very high and there can be no doubt but that for some days the town had been in a condition of very great excitement. On the 28th of April 1907, the date of the search which undoubtedly took place on the afternoon of that day the defendant was at Mymensingh; and in consequence of a telegram, which he...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : (1882)ILR8Cal985
Pontifex, J.1. The question whether the territory of Mohurbhunj is within the limits of British India is a question of evidence.2. There is nothing to show whether the Mahrattas exercised direct authority over this territory, or whether they treated it merely as tributary. From its situation and character, however, the probability would seem, to be that the Mahrattas only exacted tribute from it. Nor does the cession by the Mahrattas to the East India Company throw any further light upon the matter. If the Mahrattas had only the rights of a paramount power, the East India Company could, under the cession, gain no higher rights.3. In this state of circumstances the Regulations of 1804 and 1805 were passed, the Government being probably in doubt as to what rights they actually took from the Mahrattas. Nothing was done under the Regulation of 1804 (which applies only to the territory ceded by the Mahrattas) to this particular territory. And the Regulation of 1805 seems to me to show that ...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : AIR1936Cal593,167Ind.Cas.615
1. These two appeals have arisen out of two suits which were instituted by the respective plaintiffs for recovery of possession of properties which, even apart from the entity which they collectively form under a recent enactment, have for a long series of years been popularly known as constituting the Bijni Raj. The properties, with the exception of a few solitary items which are comparatively recent acquisitions, lie in the Province of Assam and are extensive and valuable, covering an area of 1200 sq. miles and yielding a gross annual income of over 5 lacs of rupees. The Rajas of Bijni belong to a very ancient house which may be traced as far back as the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The Maharaja of Cooch Bihar in Bengal still represents the main line of this dynasty, and the Rajas of Darrang, Sidli and Bijni also belong to the same stock. History traces the House to an aboriginal tribe of Kochos or Rajbansis who rose to power and who on the dismemberment of the ancient Hindu kingd...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : 36Ind.Cas.749
Asutosh Mookerjee, J.1. This appeal is directed -against a decree made in favour of the plaintiff-respondent, in a suit instituted by him against the Trustees for the Improvement of Calcutta. The allegations in the plaint, which form the basis of the claim, may be briefly summarised. The plaintiff is the owner of premises No. 40-10 Chaulpati Road within the Municipal limits of Calcutta, recently sub-divided into Nos. 40-10 and 40-10-1, The area comprised therein is more than one-and-a-half bighas and is situated at a distance of about 126 feet away to the west of the present Russa Road, whereof Chaulpati Road is a branch. Since his purchase of the land, the plaintiff had filled up a large tank that lay within the boundaries thereof, baa raised its level and made it fit for building purposes, had contracted, with the sanction of the Municipal Corporation, a two storied building on a portion of the land, and had collected materials for the erection of other suitable buildings thereon. Wh...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : 81Ind.Cas.353
Mookerjee, J.1. This is an application for review of a criminal case on the certificate of the Advocate-General under Clause 26 of the Letters Patent. The petitioner Barendra Kumar Ghosh was tried on the 16th and 17th August at the Fourth Criminal Sessions of this year, by Mr. Justice Page and a Special Jury, on a charge of offences punishable under Sections 302 and 394 of the Indian Penal Code. He pleaded not guilty to the first count and guilty to the second count. The Jury returned a unanimous verdict of guilty of murder, with the result that the accused was convicted and sentenced to deatli under Section 302. On the 22nd August, an application was made on his behalf to the Advocate-General for a certificate under Clause 26 of the Letters Patent. On the 27th August, the Advocate-General heard Counsel for the prisoner in support of the application. On the 29th August, the Advocate-General granted a certificate in the following terms:2. 'Certificate of the Advocate General of Bengal u...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : (1884)ILR10Cal166
Richard Garth, C.J.1. Whatever doubts may have arisen upon the subject of this reference in consequence of recent legislation, it is at least satisfactory that we are all now agreed upon one very material point, namely, that at the time of the passing of the Indian Carriers Act in 1865, the English law relating to common carriers was in force in this country. My brother WILSON and myself, when we referred this case, had some doubt about that point, but, so far as I am concerned, I am glad to say that my doubts have been entirely removed.2. It is obvious that the Carriers Act itself assumes two things: first, that there were a class of persons here at that time, who were recognized as common carriers; and, secondly, that there was some special law, which regulated the duties and responsibilities of those persons. It is difficult to imagine what that law could have been, unless it were the English common law; and it seems only reasonable to suppose that, as common carriers were introduce...
Tag this Judgment!Court : Kolkata
Reported in : 18Ind.Cas.149
Carnduff, J.1. Section 110 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1898 provides that, whenever a Sub-Divisional Magistrate receives information that a person within the local limits of his jurisdiction is in the habit of committing such offences as theft, robbery, extortion, breach of the peace and so forth, or is so desperate and dangerous as to render his being at large without security hazardous to the community, he may require him to show cause why he should not be ordered to execute a bond for his good behaviour; and Section 117, Sub-section (3), enacts that the fact that a person is such a habitual offender as aforesaid may be proved by evidence of general repute or otherwise.2. Under these provisions, the petitioner, who is an Honorary Magistrate of twenty years' standing and a zemindar of good family and position residing in the Supaul Sub-Division of the Bhagalpur District, was, on the 18th May last, called upon to show cause by Babu Satis Chandra Mukerjee, the Sub-Divisional Ma...
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