148 



THE PREDECESSORS OF THE 



Government of all the territories and dependencies of the 

 Carnatic Pay en Ghat, together with the full and exclusive 

 right to the revenues thereof (with the exception of such 

 portion of the said revenues as should be appropriated for 

 the maintenance of the Nawab and the support of his 

 dignity) and the sole power and authority of appointing officers 

 for the collection of the revenues, and of establishing Courts 

 for the administration of Civil and Criminal Justice, was 

 vested in the East India Company. 



In 1724 all the Dutch establishments on the continent of 

 India, and the town and fort of Malacca with its dependencies 

 which had been ceded by the King of the Netherlands to 

 the Crown of England in exchange for the factory of 

 Bencoolen and the English possessions in Sumatra, by a treaty 

 dated the 17th March of that year, were transferred to the 

 East India Company together with the island of Singapore, 

 which had already been for some years in their occupation, 

 by the Statute 5 Geo. IV, c. 108. 



This statute provided that the new acquisitions should be held 

 by the East India Company in the same manner and subject 

 to the same authorities, restrictions, and provisions as the fac- 

 tory of Bencoolen, and the possessions in the island of Sumatra 

 were vested in and holden by the Company immediately 

 before the exchange. 



They were thus brought under the operation of the Statutes 

 42 Geo. Ill, c. 29, by which the Company's settlement at 

 Fort Marlborough was made a factory subordinate to the 

 Presidency of Fort William in Bengal, and 39 and 40 Geo. 

 Ill, c. 79, s. 20, whereby it was enacted that the power and 

 authority of the Supreme Court at Calcutta, and all such 

 regulations as had been or might thereafter be framed and 

 provided by the Governor- General and Council of Fort 

 William for the better administration of justice among the 

 native inhabitants and others, should extend to and over all 



