Court of Wards (India)
The Court of Wards was a legal body created by the East India Company on a model similar to the Court of Wards and Liveries that had existed in England from 1540 to 1660. Its purpose was to protect heirs and their estates when the heir was deemed to be a minor and therefore incapable of acting independently. Estates would be managed on behalf of the heir, who would also be educated and nurtured through the offices of the Court in order to ensure that he gained the necessary skills to manage his inheritance independently. Control of the estates would in normal circumstances return to the heir on his coming of age.[1]
Rulers in India had some informal provisions for the physical protection of their young heirs before the European control of large parts of the sub-continent, as exemplified by
The Court of Wards continued in the era of the British Raj. Estates sometimes welcomed the intervention of the Court of Wards because the stewardship of the British authorities, who invested funds wisely, had a tendency to boost their economic position. They were often badly managed prior to the involvement of the court because complex systems, influenced by both nepotism and sycophancy, dramatically affected the rental income of the ruling families. The bureaucratic system introduced by the Court, whose appointed officials had no ties to the area, resolved the issue although, being focussed entirely on what was best for the owners, it did so without considering the consequences for the tenants.[2]
References
Citations
- ^ a b Cohen (2007)
- ^ Yang (1989), pp. 83–86
Bibliography
- Cohen, Benjamin B. (March 2007), "The Court of Wards in a Princely State: Bank Robber or Babysitter?", Modern Asian Studies, 41 (2): 395–420, JSTOR 4132357(subscription required)
- Yang, Anand A. (1989), The Limited Raj: Agrarian Relations in Colonial India, Saran District, 1793-1920, University of California Press, ISBN 978-0-52005-711-1