This Act may be called The Bengal Civil Courts Act, 1871.

Local extent. It extends to the territories for the time being respectively under the governments of the said Lieutenant-Governors, except such portions thereof as for the time being are not subject to the ordinary jurisdiction of the High Courts and except the Jh ns Division.

Partial exclusion of Mofussil Small Cause Courts. Except this section and sections seventeen, twenty-nine and thirty, nothing herein contained applies to Courts of Small Causes established under Act No. XI of 1865.

Commencement of Act. This Act shall come into force on the passing thereof.

The Regulations and Acts mentioned in the schedule hereto annexed are repealed to the extent specified in the third column of such schedule.

CONSTITUTION OF CIVIL COURTS

The number of District Judges to be appointed under this Act shall be fixed, and may from time to time be altered, by the Local Government.

The number of Subordinate Judges and Munsifs to be appointed under this Act in each District, shall be fixed, and may from time to time be altered, by the Local Government.

Whenever the office of District Judge or Subordinate Judge under this Act is vacant, or whenever the Governor General in Council has sanctioned an increase of the number of District Judges or Subordinate Judges, the Local Government shall supply such vacancy or appoint such additional District Judges or Subordinate Judges, as the case may be.

Whenever the office of a Munsif is vacant, or when the Governor General in Council has sanctioned an increase of the number of Munsifs, the High Court shall nominate such person as it thinks fit to be a Munsif, and the Local Government shall appoint him accordingly:

Provided that the Local Government may, with the sanction of the Governor General in Council, make rules as to the qualifications of persons to be appointed to the office of Munsif under this Act; and on such rules being made, no person shall be nominated to such office unless he possesses the qualifications required by the said rules.

When the business pending before any District Judge requires the aid of Additional Judges for their speedy disposal, the Local Government may, upon the recommendation of the High Court, and subject to the sanction of the Governor General in Council, appoint such Additional Judges as may be requisite.

Such Additional Judges shall perform any of the duties of a District Judge under Chapter III of this Act that the District Judge may, with the sanction of the High Court, assign to them, and, in the performance of such duties, they shall exercise the same powers as the District Judge.

In the event of the death of the District Judge, or of his being incapacitated by illness or otherwise for the performance of his duties, or of his absence from the station in which his Court is held, the Additional Judge, or, if there is no Additional Judge attached to such Court, the senior Subordinate Judge of the District shall, without relinquishing his ordinary duties, assume charge of the Judge's office,

and shall discharge such of the current duties thereof as are connected with the filing of suits and appeals, the issue of processes and the like functions,

and shall continue in charge of the office until it is resumed by the District Judge or assumed by an officer duly appointed thereto.

In the event of the death of a Subordinate Judge, or of his being incapacitated by illness or otherwise for the performance of his duties, or of his absence on leave when no person is appointed to act for him,

the District Judge may transfer all or any of the proceedings pending in the Court of such Subordinate Judge either to his own Court or to the Court of a Subordinate Judge (if any) under his control.

All proceedings transferred under this section shall be disposed of as if they had been instituted in the Court to which they are so transferred.

Temporary charge of Munsifship. A District Judge, on the occurrence within his District of any vacancy in the office of Munsif, may, pending the action of the High Court under section six, appoint such person as he thinks fit to act in such office.

And he shall forthwith report to the High Court the occurrence of every such vacancy and such appointment.

The Local Government may invest with the powers of any Court under this Act any officer in the District of K ch r and the Divisions of Assam, Chota N gp r and Kuch Bihar.

Nothing in sections three to nine (inclusive), thirty-two, thirty-three and thirty-four, applies to any such officer. But all the other provisions of this Act apply, mutatis mutandis, to officers so invested.

The general control over all the Civil Courts in any District is vested in the District Judge, but subject to the superintendence of the High Court.

The present Judges of the Zila Courts, Additional Judges, Subordinate Judges and Munsifs shall be deemed to have been duly appointed to the offices the duties of which they have respectively discharged, and shall be the first District Judges, Additional Judges, Subordinate Judges and Munsifs under this Act.

Every District Judge, Additional Judge, Subordinate Judge or Munsif appointed after the passing of this Act shall, previously to entering on the duties of his office, make and subscribe a solemn declaration according to the following form:

I, A.B., appointed to the office ofdo solemnly declare that, in the trial and determination of all suits which may come under my cognizance, and in the execution of all the other duties of my office, I will act according to the best of my abilities and judgment without partiality, favour, or affection; that I will not directly or indirectly receive, or knowingly allow any other person to receive on my behalf, any money, effects, or property, on account of any suit that may come before me for decision, or on account of any public duty which I may have to execute.

I will strictly adhere to all the rules prescribed for my guidance, and I will, in all respects, truly and faithfully execute the trust reposed in me.

(Signed) AB,

District [or Additional or Subordinate] Judge of[or Munsif of]

Such declaration shall be made

by a District Judge, either before his predecessor in such office, or before the Magistrate of the District,

by an Additional Judge, a Subordinate Judge or Munsif, before the District Judge or the Magistrate of the District.

Every Court under this Act shall use a seal of such form and dimensions as are for the time being prescribed by the Local Government.

Every District Judge, Additional Judge, Subordinate Judge and Munsif under this Act shall be deemed to be a Civil Court within the meaning of the Code of Civil Procedure and of this Act.

The Local Government may fix, and from time to time alter, the place or places at which any Court under, this Act is to be held.

Subject to such orders as may from time to time be issued by the Governor General in Council, the High Court shall prepare a list of days to be observed in each year as close holidays in the Courts subordinate thereto.

Such list shall be published in the local official Gazette, and the said days shall be observed accordingly.

ORDINARY JURISDICTION

The Local Government shall fix, and may from time to time vary, the local limits of the jurisdiction of any Civil Court under this Act:

Provided that, where more than one Subordinate Judge is appointed to any District, and where more than one Munsif is appointed to any Munsifi, the Judge of the District Court may assign to each such Subordinate Judge or Munsif the local limits of his particular jurisdiction within such District or Munsif , as the case may be.

The present local limits of the jurisdiction of every Civil Court (other than the High Court) shall be deemed to be fixed under this Act.

The jurisdiction of a District Judge or Subordinate Judge extends, subject to the provisions in the Code of Civil Procedure, section six, to all original suits cognizable by the Civil Courts.

The jurisdiction of a Munsif extends to all like suits in which the amount or value of the subject-matter in dispute does not exceed one thousand rupees.

Appeals from the decrees and orders of District Judges and Additional Judges shall, when such appeals are allowed by law, lie to the High Court.

Appeals from the decrees and orders of Subordinate Judges and Munsifs shall, when such appeals are allowed by law, lie to the District Judge, except where the amount or value of the subject-matter in dispute exceeds five thousand rupees, in which case the appeal shall lie to the High Court:

Provided that the High Court may from time to time, with the previous sanction of the Local Government, order that all appeals from the decrees and orders of any Munsif shall be preferred to the Court of such Subordinate Judge as may he mentioned in the order, and such appeals shall thereupon be preferred accordingly.

Every Court under this Act may require a witness or party to any suit or proceeding pending in such Court, to take such oath as is prescribed by the law for the time being in force.

Where in any suit or proceeding it is necessary for any Court under this Act to decide any question regaining succession, inheritance, marriage or caste, or any religious usage or institution, the Muhammadan law in cases where the parties are Muhammadans, and the Hind law in cases where the parties are Hind s, shall form the rule of decision, except in so far as such law has, by legislative enactment, been altered or abolished.

In cases not provided for by the former part of this section, or by any other law for the time being in force, the Court shall act according to justice, equity and good conscience.

No Munsif, Subordinate Judge, Additional Judge or District Judge shall try any suit in which he is a party or personally interested, or shall adjudicate upon any proceeding connected with, or arising out of, such suit.

No Subordinate Judge, Additional Judge or District Judge shall try any appeal against a decree or order passed by himself in another capacity.

When any such suit, proceeding or appeal comes before any such Munsif, Subordinate Judge, Additional Judge or District Judge, he shall forthwith transmit the whole record of the case to the Court to which he is immediately subordinate, with a report of the circumstances attending the reference.

The superior Court shall thereupon dispose of the case in the manner prescribed by the Code of Civil Procedure, section six.

Nothing in the last preceding clause of this section shall he deemed to affect the extraordinary original civil jurisdiction of the High Court.

SPECIAL JURISDICTION

Every District Judge may from time to time, subject to the orders of the High Court, refer to any Subordinate Judge under his control any appeals pending before him from the decisions of Munsifs; and such Subordinate Judge shall hear and dispose of such appeals accordingly.

The District Judge may withdraw any appeals so referred and hear and dispose of appeals so withdrawn.

The High Court may from time to time, by order, authorize any District Judge to transfer to a Subordinate Judge under his control appeals from orders of Munsifs preferred under the Code of Civil Procedure, sections thirty-six, seventy-six, eighty-five, ninety-four, one hundred and nineteen, two hundred and thirty-one and two hundred and fifty-seven, or under Act No. XXIII of 1861, section eleven.

The High Court may also from time to time, by order, authorize, any District Judge to transfer to a Subordinate Judge or Munsif under the control of such District Judge any of the proceedings next hereinafter mentioned, or any class of such proceedings specified in such order, and then pending, or thereafter instituted, before such District Judge.

The proceedings referred to in the second clause of this section are the following (that is to say),

(1). Proceedings under Bengal Regulation V, 1799 (to limit the Interference of the Zillah and City Courts of Deioanny Adawlut in the Execution of Jeills and Administration to the Estates of Persons dying intestate).

(2). Proceedings under Act No. XL of 1858 (for making better provision for the care of the persons and property of Minors in the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal), or Act No. IX of 1861 (to amend the law relating to Minors).

(3). Claims to attached property under the Code of Civil Procedure, section two hundred and forty-six.

(4). Applications by judgment-debtors under section two-hundred-and-seventy-three or section two-hundred-and-eighty of the same Code.

(5). Applications to file awards under section three-hundred-and-twenty-seven of the same Code.

(6). Applications for permission to sue or appeal as a pauper.

(7). Applications for certificates under Act No. XXVII of 1860 (for facilitating the collection of debts on successions, and for the security of parties paying debts to the representatives of deceased persons).

The District Judge may withdraw any proceedings so transferred and may either himself dispose of them, or, with the sanction of the High Court, transfer them to any other Subordinate Judge or Munsif under his control.

Subject to the provisions of the last clause of section twenty-seven, all proceedings transferred under the second clause of the same section shall be disposed of by the Subordinate Judge or Munsif (as the case may be) according to the rules prescribed for the guidance of District Judges in like cases:

Provided that an appeal from the order of the Subordinate Judge or Munsif in such cases shall lie to the District. Judge.

An appeal from his order thereon shall lie to the High Court if an appeal from the decision of the Judge in such proceedings is allowed by the law in force for the time being.

The Local Government may invest, within such local limits as it from time to time appoints, any Subordinate Judge with the jurisdiction of a Judge of a Court of Small Causes for the trial of suits cognizable by such Courts, up to the amount of five hundred rupees, and any Munsif with similar jurisdiction up to the amount of fifty rupees; and may, whenever it thinks fit, withdraw such jurisdiction from the Subordinate Judge or Munsif so invested.

Section fifty-one of Act No. XI of 1865 (to consolidate and amend the law relating to Courts of Small Causes beyond the local limits of the Ordinary Original Civil jurisdiction of the High Courts of Judicature) shall be read as if, for the words Principal Sadi Am n, the words Subordinate Judge were substituted.

MISFEAZANCE

Any District Judge, Additional Judge, Subordinate Judge, or Munsif may, for any misconduct, be suspended or removed by the Local Government.

The High Court may, whenever it sees urgent necessity for so doing, suspend any Subordinate Judge under its control.

Whenever the High Court exercises this power, it shall forth with report to the Local Government the circumstances of the suspension, and the Local Government shall make such order thereon as it thinks fit.

The High Court may appoint a Commission for enquiring into the alleged misconduct of any Munsif.

On receiving the report of the result of any such enquiry, the High Court may, if it thinks fit, remove the Munsif from office, or suspend him, or reduce him to a lower grade.

The provisions of Act No. XXXVII of 1850 (for regulating enquiries into the behaviour of public servants) shall apply to enquiries under this section, the powers conferred by that Act on the Government-being exercised by the High Court.

The High Court may also, previous to the appointment of such Commission, suspend any Munsif pending the result of the enquiry.

The High Court may, without appointing any such Commission, remove or suspend any Munsif, or reduce him to a lower grade.

Any District Judge may, whenever he sees urgent necessity for so doing, suspend from office any Munsif under his control.

Whenever a District Judge suspends from office any such Munsif, he shall forthwith send to the High Court a full report of the circumstances of the suspension, together with the evidence, if any, and the High Court shall make such order thereon as it thinks fit.

MINISTERIAL OFFICERS

The Judges of the District Courts shall appoint the Ministerial Officers of such Courts, and, subject only to the general control of the Local Government, the said Judges may remove or suspend such Officers or fine them in an amount not exceeding one month's salary.

The Ministerial Officers of the Courts of Subordinate Judges and Munsifs shall be nominated and appointed by those Courts respectively, subject to the approval of the District Judge within whose jurisdiction such Courts are situate.

Power to punish such Officers. Every such Court may, by order, remove or suspend from office, or fine in an amount not exceeding one month's salary, any of its Ministerial Officers who is guilty of any misconduct or neglect in the performance of the duties of his office. And the District Judge, subject only to the general control of the Local Government, may on appeal or otherwise reverse or modify every such order.

Nothing in this section, or in section thirty-five shall exempt the offender from any penal or other consequences to which he may be liable under any other law in force for the time being.

The Local Government may, at the instance of the District Judge, transfer from any Court in the territories subject to such Government, to any other Court in the same territories, all or any of the Ministerial Officers of such Judge or of any Subordinate Judge or Munsif under his control.

The District Judge may transfer all or any of the Ministerial Officers of any Court under his control to any other such Court.

Any fine imposed under this Chapter shall, if the order imposing it so directs, be recovered by deduction from the offender's salary.

SCHEDULE

Part I. Bengal Regulations.

Part II. Acts.