52 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
exercise within that part of Great Britain called England, as far as circumstances will admit.” Now, is it possible to construe this section otherwise than as saying that they are to be Justices and Conservators of Peace throughout the Presidency of Bombay, and to have such jurisdiction and authority secundum subjectam materiam ? that is, as such Justices and Conservators of Peace as the Justices of the King’s Bench, who we know are Justices of Peace, have and may exercise in that character throughout the whole realm of England, as far as circumstances will admit. Unquestionably, the Judges of the Supreme Court are so with respect to ail British subject throughout the provinces; and as such, the jurisdiction they have is of the nature of the jurisdiction which is possessed by the Judges of the King’s Bench when acting as Justices and Conservators of Peace.
It is insisted, however, that by this clause all the powers of the Court of King’s Bench in England are granted to the Supreme Court at Bombay, not merely throughout the settlement of Bombay, but throughout the territories subject to the Presidency of Bombay, unlimited in any manner whatever with respect to persons; and that the Court of King’s Bench has authority to issue such a writ to any part of the provinces subject to the different Presidencies of India; a position into which it is not necessary to enter at large, but which, we apprehend, is founded upon an expression in one of Lord Mansfield’s judgements (Cowle’s Case, 2nd Burrows, P. 856), in which he mentions, “the plantations”. In that very judgement, however, his Lordship says he does not recollect or know of any instance of a writ of habeas corpus having been issued to such dominions. Applications, he says, had been made to this Board upon the subject, and we all know that this Board has a general superintendence in matter of law over the colonies. If, therefore, an affidavit should be laid, before the court, in which some individual was bold enough to swear to circumstances giving a prima facie jurisdiction to it, according to the doctrine contended for, an individual imprisoned at the foot of the Himmalayah Mountains must be brought from thence to the Court of King’s Bench at Westminster, provided that the Court of King’s Bench should think fit to issue a writ. It is said that the court possessed this power, and