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![handle is hein.slavery/ssactsengr0602 and id is 1 raw text is: VII MOORE IND. APP., 476 SECRETARY OF STATE IN COUNCIL OF INDIA
further advise Her Majesty that the Respondent should be condemned in all the costs
incurred in this litigation.
[For subsequent proceedings see 10 Moo. Ind. App. 47.]
[476] THE SECRETARY OF STATE IN COUNCIL OF INDIA,-Appellant;
KAMACHEE BOYE SAHABA;-Respondent * [July 1, 4, 9, 1859].
On appeal from the Supreme Court at. Madras.
Transactions of Independent Sovereign States between each other, are governed
by other laws than those which Municipal Courts administer. Such Courts
have neither the means of decreeing what is right, or the power of enforcing
any decision which they may make.
The Rajah of Tanjore, a native independent Sovereign, but in virtue of Treaties
under the protection of the East India Company, died without leaving issue
male, when the East India Company, in the exercise of their Sovereign power,
and in trust for the British Government, seized the Raj of Tanjore, and the
whole of the property of the deceased Rajah, as an escheat, on the ground that
the dignity of the R.aj was extinct for want of a male heir, and that the pro-
perty of the late Rajah lapsed to the British Government. Held, that as the
seizure was made by the British Government, acting as a Sovereign power,
through its delegate, the East India Company, it was an act of State, to
inquire into the propriety of which a Municipal Court had no jurisdiction.
Semble.-There is a distinction between the public and private property of a
Hindoo Sovereign, as upon his death his private property goes to one set of
heirs, and the Raj and the public property to the succeeding Rajah.
The general rule of the Hindoo law of inheritance is partibility. The succession
of a single heir, as in the case of a Raj, is the exception.
An act done by an agent of the Government, though in excess of his authority,
being ratified and adopted by the Government, held to be equivalent to
previous authority.
Ameer Sing, a former Rajah of Tanjore, was in the year 1787, the absolute
Sovereign of the fort and country of Tanjore, in the Presidency of Madras. In that
and subsequent years three Trea-[477]-ties were entered into between the Rajahs of
Tanjore and the East India Company. The first of these Treaties was dated the 10th
of April, 1787, and made between Sir Archibald Campbell, then Governor of
Madras, and Ameer Sing; but as this Treaty was annulled by the Treaty next
mentioned, it is unnecessary to state its provisions. The second Treaty, dated the
l1th of June, 1793, was made between Sir Charles Oakley, Bart., then Governor of
Madras, and Ameer Sing, which annulled the former Treaty, and the stipulations of
which, so far as material here to be stated, were as follows :- Art. 1. The friends
and enemies of either of the contracting parties shall be considered the friends and
enemies of both. Art. 2. In order to execute the foiegoing Article in its full extent,
the East India Company agrees to maintain a military force; and the Rajah of
Tanjore agrees to contribute annually a certain sum of money hereinafter mentioned
as his share of the expense of the said military force; the said Rajah further
agreeing that the disposal of the said sum, together with the arrangement and
employment of the troops supported by it, shall be left entirely to the said Company.
Art. 3. It is hereby also, agreed, that for the further security and defence of the
countries belonging and subject to the contracting parties in the Carnatic, etc., that
all forts shall be garrisoned by the troops of the said Company. Art. 8. In case the
* Present: Members of the Judicial Committee,-The Right Hon. Lord Kings-
down, the Right Hon. Dr. Lushington, the Right Hon. Sir Edward Ryan, and the
Right Hon. Sir John Taylor Coleridge. Assessor,-The Right Hon. Sir Lawrence
Peel.](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.slavery/ssactsengr0602&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)