THE ADVENT OF THE BRITISH RULE IN INDIA: THE CHARTER OF 1600

The advent of the British in India begins with Queen Elizabeth’s Charter of the
year sixteen hundred to some merchants of London who formed the East India
Company to trade with the East Indies. As a consequence of this Charter the
British East India Company set up trading establishments on the east and west
coasts of India and in Bengal, called factories. Here in this article we are giving
you list and details of those Charters.

The East India Company (EIC), also known as the Honourable East India
Company (HEIC), East India Trading Company (EITC), the English East India
Company or the British East India Company, and informally known as John
Company, Company Bahadur, or simply The Company, was an English and later
British joint-stock company. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region,
initially with the East Indies (India and South East Asia), and later with Qing
China. The company ended up seizing control of large parts of the Indian
subcontinent, colonised parts of Southeast Asia and Hong Kong after the First
Opium War, and maintained trading posts and colonies in the Middle Eastern
Gulf called Persian Gulf Residencies.

Originally chartered as the "Governor and Company of Merchants of London

Trading into the East-Indies", the company rose to account for half of the
world's trade particularly in basic commodities including cotton, silk, indigo
dye, salt, spices, saltpetre, tea, and opium. The company also ruled the
beginnings of the British Empire in India. In his speech to the House of
Commons in July 1833, Lord Macaulay explained that since the beginning, the
East India Company had always been involved in both trade and politics, just as
its French and Dutch counterparts had been.

The company received a Royal Charter from Queen Elizabeth I on 31 December

1600, coming relatively late to trade in the Indies. Before them the Portuguese
Estado da Índia had traded there for much of the 16th century and the first of
half a dozen Dutch Companies sailed to trade there from 1595. These Dutch
companies amalgamated in March 1602 into the Dutch East India Company
(VOC), which introduced the first permanent joint stock from 1612 (meaning
investment into shares did not need to be returned, but could be traded on a
stock exchange). By contrast, wealthy merchants and aristocrats owned the
EIC's shares. Initially the government owned no shares and had only indirect
control until 1657 when permanent joint stock was established.

During its first century of operation, the focus of the company was trade, not
the building of an empire in India. Following the First Anglo-Mughal War, the
company interests turned from trade to territory during the 18th century as
the Mughal Empire declined in power and the East India Company struggled
with its French counterpart, the French East India Company (Compagnie
française des Indes orientales) during the Carnatic Wars of the 1740s and
1750s in southern India. The battles of Plassey and Buxar, in which the
company defeated the Nawabs of Bengal, left the company in control of the
proto-industrialised Mughal Bengal with the right to collect revenue, in Bengal
and Bihar, and a major military and political power in India. In the following
decades it gradually increased the extent of the territories under its control,
controlling the majority of the Indian subcontinent either directly or indirectly
via local puppet rulers under the threat of force by its Presidency armies, much
of which were composed of native Indian sepoys. The company invaded the
Dutch island of Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1795.

THE CHARTER OF 1600

The first Charter of 1600 was mainly designed for trade in order to meet
competition with the Portuguese and the Dutch. Charter of 1600 laid the
foundations for British Government in India, although at that time no one in
England dreamed for the establishment of British rule in India. However, this
Charter contained all the provisions necessary for the constitution of a
government according to law in any territory. This Charter granted permit to
traffic and use the trade of merchandise and to assemble themselves in any
convenient place, to make reasonable laws and ordinances for the good
government of the East India Company. The factories, on the other hand, were
given power to make reasonable laws and impose punishments.
PROVISIONS

 The company was to have a life span of 15 years.

 Charter could be revoked also on two years’ notice.
 Exclusive trading rights to company.
 India, Asia, Africa and America fall within their geographical limits.
 Without a licence from company no British subject Could carry on the
trade in India.
 Unauthorised traders were liable to forfeiture of ships and merchandise.
 The affairs of the company were to be conducted on Democratic lines.

IMPORTANCE

 Despite its limited scope the early grant of legislative Power to the
company is of historic interest.
 It is out of this modest beginning in the year 1600 that the vast powers
of legislation grew in course of time.

SHORTCOMINGS

 The legislative powers thus conferred on the company Was very limited.
 Serious crimes could not be adequately dealt with.
 No power to the company for governing any territory.

Thus, The East India Company, with its official title as “The Governor and
company of merchants of London trading into East Indies” was incorporated in
England on the 31st December 1600, by a charter of Queen Elizabeth which
settled its constitution, powers and privileges.
 THE CHARTER OF 1661

During the year 1661 Charles II issued a new charter which increased the
authority of the Company and that it was allowed "to keep away and exercise
power and command over its fortresses" in India.

By the Charter of 1661, the company was empowered to appoint Governor and
Council to decide civil and criminal cases of all persons of the company. The
Governor and his Council were given general judicial authority "to judge all
persons belonging to the said Governor and Company or that shall live under
them in all cases, whether civil or criminal according to the laws of this
kingdom and to execute judgment accordingly

Charter of 1661 gave the East India Company power to make peace or war
with non-Christians, erect fortifications, and seize interlopers. Thus it will be
seen that various aspects of sovereignty were conferred by the first Charter of
sixteen hundred and they were further extended by the Charter of 1661.

The second Charter of 1661 gave East India Company the power to coin
money, to administer justice and to punish the interlopers. It also empowered
the Company to constitute Governor’s council and appoint other officers for
their government. The Governor and councils were authorized to administer
justice in all causes, civil as well as criminal, according to the laws of the
kingdom and to execute judgment accordingly. Charter of 1661 gave the East
India Company power to make peace or war with non-Christians, erect
fortifications, and seize interlopers. Thus it will be seen that various aspects of
sovereignty were conferred by the first Charter of sixteen hundred and they
were further extended by the Charter of 1661.