This Act may he called The Coorg Courts' Act.

Commencement of Act. This section and section twenty-five shall take effeet at once, and the rest of this Act shall come into operation on the first day of December 1868.

There shall be six grades of Civil Courts in the Province of Coorg, which shall be in addition to any Courts of Small Causes and to any other Courts established under any Act hereafter passed by the Governor General of India in Council (that is to say),

(1). The Court of the S bahd r of the second class:

(2). The Court of the Subaliddr of the first class:

(3). The Court of the Assistant Superintendent of the second class;

(4). The Court of the Assistant Superintendent of the first class;

(5). The Court of the Superintendent; and

(6). The Court of the Judicial Commissioner.

The Criminal Courts in the said Province shall be those referred to in the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Subject to any orders that may from time to time be issued by the Governor General of India in Council, the Commissioner of Coorg shall have power to declare to which of the said grades any S bahd r and any Assistant Superintendent shall belong.

The Commissioner may invest any P rbatiyag r and any N ib S bahd r with power to try and determine suits for money due whether on bond or other contract or for rent, or for moveable property, or for the value of such property, or for damages, when the debt, damage or demand does not exceed in amount or value the sum of rupees fifty, and to prescribe the local limits within which the P rbatiyg r or N ib S bahd r so invested shall exercise such power.

The Court of the S bahd r of the second class shall have power to try and determine suits of every description in which the subject-matter does not exceed rupees one hundred in value or amount.

The Court of the S bahd r of the first class shall have power to try and determine suits of every description in which the subject-matter does not exceed rupees three hundred in value or amount.

The Court of the Assistant Superintendent of the second class shall have power to try and determine suits of every description in which the subject-matter does not exceed rupees one thousand in value or amount, and, subject to the provisions and limitations hereinafter prescribed, to hear and determine appeals from the original decisions in suits, and (where an appeal is allowed by the rules of procedure) from the orders of the Courts of the S bahd rs of the first and second classes respectively, and of P rbatiyag rs or N ib S bahd rs invested as aforesaid.

The Court of the Assistant Superintendent of the first class shall have power to try and determine suits of every description in which the subject-matter does not exceed rupees three thousand in value or amount, and, subject to the provisions and limitations hereinafter prescribed, to hear and determine appeals from the original decisions in suits, and (where an appeal is allowed by the rules of procedure for the time being in force in Coorg) from the orders of the Courts of the S bahd rs of the first and second classes respectively, and of P rbatiyag rs or Naib S bahd rs invested, as aforesaid.

The Court of the Superintendent shall have power to try and determine suits of every description and any amount, and to hear and determine appeals from the original decisions in suits and (where an appeal is allowed by the said rules of procedure) from the orders of the Courts of S bahd rs and Assistant Superintendents of both classes' respectively, and of P rbatiyag rs or N ib S bahd rs invested as aforesaid.

The Court of the Judicial Commissioner shall have power to hear and determine appeals from the original decisions of the Superintendent in suits, and (where an appeal is allowed by the said rules of procedure) from the orders of the Superintendent, and also special appeals from the decisions passed by the Superintendent or by an Assistant Superintendent of either grade on regular appeal:

Provided that such special appeals shall lie on the ground of the decision being contrary to some law or usage having the force of law, or of a substantial error or defect in law in the procedure or investigation of the case, which may have produced error or defect in the decision of the case upon the merits, and on no other grounds:

Provided also that no special appeal shall lie from any decision or order passed on regular appeal after the passing of - this Act, in any suit of the nature cognizable in a Court of Small Causes under Act No. XI of 1865, section six, when the debt, damage or demand for which the original suit is instituted does not exceed three hundred rupees; hut every such order or decision shall be final.

The memorandum of appeal prepared in the form and containing the particulars mentioned in the Code of Civil Procedure shall be presented in the Court empowered to hear an appeal within the period hereinafter specified, unless the appellant shows sufficient cause to the satisfaction of such Court for not having presented the memorandum of appeal within such period, that is to say, thirty days if the appeal lie to the Assistant Superintendents or Superintendent, and ninety clays if the appeal lie to the Judicial Commissioner.

The said period shall be reckoned from and exclusive of the clay on which the decision or order appealed against was passed, and also exclusive of such time as may be requisite for obtaining a copy of the decree or order from which the appeal is made.

Special appeals shall be presented in the Court of the Judicial Commissioner within the period hereinbefore fixed for appeals.

The Court of the Judicial Commissioner shall have power to remove and to try and determine as a Court of extraordinary original jurisdiction, any suit within the jurisdiction of any Court in the said Province when he thinks proper to do so, either on the agreement of the parties to that effect, or for purposes of justice, the reasons for so doing being recorded on the proceedings of his Court.

The Judicial Commissioner shall have superintendence over all Courts in the said Province, and shall have power to call for returns, and to make and issue general rules for regulating the practice and proceedings of such Courts, and also to prescribe forms for every proceeding in the said Courts for which he thinks necessary that a form he provided, and also for keeping all hooks, entries and accounts to be kept by the officers, and also settle tables of fees to be allowed to the attorneys, vak ls, and all clerks and officers of such Courts, and from time to time to alter any such rale, form or table.

The rules, forms, and tables so made, framed and settled, shall be used and observed in the said Courts: Provided that such rules, forms and tables be not inconsistent with the provisions of any law in force for the time being, and shall before they are issued have received the sanction of the Commissioner.

Whenever the state of the public business requires it, the Governor General of India in Council may invest any person with the powers of a Superintendent or Assistant Superintendent in any part of the Province of Coorg.

Every suit shall be instituted in the Court of the lowest grade competent to try it: Provided that no suit cognizable by a Court of Small Causes which may hereafter be established, shall be heard and determined in any other Court having any jurisdiction within the local limits of the jurisdiction of such Court of Small Causes.

Except when otherwise provided in any law for the time being in force, an appeal shall lie from the decisions of the Courts of original jurisdiction to the Courts authorized by this Act to near appeals from the decisions of those Courts.

The Superintendent may direct the business in the Courts subordinate to him, whether or not they have their sittings in the same place, to be distributed among such Courts in such way as he thinks fit: Provided that no Court shall try any suit in which the amount or value of the claim shall exceed its proper jurisdiction.

The Superintendent shall from time to time, with the concurrence and approval of the Commissioner, prescribe to each of the Appellate Courts subordinate to him such local limits within which they shall respectively exercise their appellate jurisdiction.

The Superintendent may, on the petition of either party, or in the absence of such petition, withdraw any suit instituted in any Court subordinate to him, and try such suit himself or refer it for trial to any other such subordinate Court, and competent in respect of the value or amount of the suit by try the same.

The Superintendent may also withdraw any appeal instituted in the Court of any Assistant Superintendent subordinate to him, and try the appeal himself or refer it for trial to the Court of any other Assistant Superintendent in his province.

The Judicial Commissioner may, order that the cognizance of any suit or appeal instituted in any Court subordinate to his Court, not being a Court of Small Causes, shall be transferred to his own Court or to any other such subordinate Court competent in respect of the value or amount of the subject-matter of the suit or anneal to try the same.

For purposes of criminal jurisdiction, the Superintendent of Coorg shall he taken to be the chief officer charged with the executive administration of a district in criminal matters.

The Governor General of India in Council may from time to time appoint any subject of Her Majesty to be Session Judge of Coorg, and may also from time to time suspend or remove any person so appointed.

The Session Judge shall, as often as may he necessary for the trial of offenders, hold sessions in the said Province: Provided that he and the Judicial Commissioner respectively may hear and determine appeals beyond the limits of the same Province.

Appeals from sentences and orders passed by the Superintendent or by any officer subordinate to him exercising full powers of a Magistrate, from which an appeal is allowed under the Code of Criminal Procedure, shall lie to the Judicial Commissioner, and shall be heard and determined by him:

Provided that nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prevent the Judicial Commissioner from exercising under the said Code all or any of the powers of the High Court vested in him.

All sentences and orders heretofore passed by the Superintendent of Ashtagram in his capacity of Session Judge of Coorg shall be deemed to be as valid as if this Act had then been passed, and he had been appointed, under section twenty-two, Session Judge of Coorg.

The Code of Criminal Procedure shall extend to the said Province, and shall be deemed to have been in force therein from the ninth day of December 1862.