AND THE LORD SAID UNTO— 59
detention of persons, there are particular regulations, all which the Magistrates are bound by their oaths to carry into execution; and if they act corruptly they are subject to be proceeded against in the Supreme Court, for which there is a special provision by statute. In Regulation XII, the manner in which the senior Magistrate is to superintend all subordinate officers is pointed out, and by Regulation XIII, the Judge is bound to visit all the gaols, for the purpose of ascertaining whether persons are unlawfully detained there; he is to visit both the criminal and civil gaols, to notice to the officer concerned erroneous judgements, and to forward cases, if necessary, to the Suddur Foujdaree Adawlut for revised decision.
It is not intended to say that a man who is in the service of the Company as an officer of a Provincial Court is therefore exempted from the jurisdiction of the Supreme Courts in matters where he acts as an individual; but it is declared, that if he detains any person by the orders of the Provincial Court he is subject to no action for such an act, nor is the Judge subject to an action. The only proceeding against him in the Supreme Court is by information, in case of corruption. When a person is detained under the orders of the courts in the Provinces the Supreme Court cannot order such person to be brought up for the purpose of investigating his case. That court has no such superintending jurisdiction over the courts in the Provinces as that which Lord Coke in his fourth Institute states the Court of King’s Bench to possess, by virtue of which it superintends and restrains the excesses of all the inferior jurisdictions of the country. Such an authority has not been given to the Supreme Court, and consequently the issuing of the writ of habeas corpus in the cases mentioned in the petition were illegal acts.
Mr. Denman, in reply.–The Supreme Court at Bombay is made a Court of Oyer and Terminer, it has also the jurisdiction of the Court of King’s Bench in England, and it is as incident to that court that the present power is claimed.
It has express power (clause 59, Morley’s Dig. ii. p. 677) over the Court of Requests and the Court of Quarter Sessions, “to issue