The Common Law in India - College of Social Sciences and ...

The Rise of the Common Law 351872 or the still uncodified law of torts applied inIndia, not only do they all bear the unmistakableimpress of the English common law but the fundamentalideas on which they rest are by and largethe principles of the English common law.The most striking feature of the common law is itspublic law. "It is primarily a method of administeringjustice." We shall examine the extent towhich some of these features have infiltrated intoand now govern the Indian system.The jury systemThe jury system under which no man can be convictedof serious offences unless he has been foundguilty by his fellow citizens, considered to be themost effective safeguard against exercise of arbitrarypower, has played a great part in preserving thefreedom of the citizen in England. In civil trialsthe jury represents " the reasonable man" of thelaw and its purpose perhaps was to make judges andlawyers alive to the notions and standards of theordinary man so that they may be in touch withthose for whose service they existed. Trial by jurywas the invariable practice in the common law courtsin civil matters until 1854, and thereafter there hasbeen a decline in its popularity.The system of trial of criminal offences by jurystarted early in India. We have seen how as earlyas 1672 the offences of mutiny and witchcraft weretried in Bombay with the help of juries. Except,however, in the very early years and in some places