AND THE LORD SAID UNTO— 51
regulations are subject to the revision of his Majesty in Council. They are all directed to be transmitted to the Secretary of State, and if not altered, they become the law of the provinces by which those courts are governed. It is quite clear, therefore, that the Legislature has distinctly recognized the existence of those courts, the manner in which they are to be regulated, and the law by which they are to be governed. The regulations for the government of the provinces require no registration in the Supreme Court; while those which bind the inhabitants of Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay, and all British subjects, must be registered in and approved by these courts.
Then we come to this section, (sec. 24) ; “That no action for wrong or injury shall lie in the Supreme Court against any person whatesoever exercising a judicial office in the country courts, for any judgement, decree, or order of the said court, nor against any person for any act done by or in virtue of the order of the said court.” So that although a native should be in the service of the East India Company as an officer of a provincial court, and although a British subject should be a Judge of such a court, for acts done in such court, no action lies against him. The same language is to be found in the charters; but although no action is allowed to try whether the act was legal or not in the Supreme Court, yet it is contended that the legality of the proceedings may be examined through the medium of an habeas corpus. This appears an extraordinary argument; and seeing that there is no provision to that effect in any of the Acts, we venture to submit that there is no ground for issuing the writ.
We will now consider the charter recently granted to Bombay ( Morley’s Dig., Vol. II., P. 638). This charter contains a clause on which the whole question turns, and but for which there would be no ground of argument. The clause (clause 10) runs thus : “That the said Chief Justice and the said puisne Justices shall, severally and respectively, be, and they are, all and every of them, hereby appointed to be Justices and Conservators of Peace, and coroners, within and throughout the settlement of Bombay, and the town and island of Bombay, and the limits thereof and the factories subordinate thereto, and all the territories which now are, or hereafter may be, subject to or dependent upon the Government of Bombay aforesaid, and to have such jurisdiction and authority as our Justices of our Court of King’s Bench have and may lawfully