Social legislation of the East India Company : public justice versus public instruction / Nancy Gardner Cassels.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Law, order and power : thagi, dacoity and sorcery -- Law as a weapon against child sacrifice, sati, female infanticide and meriah sacrifice -- The legal rights of coolies, slaves and emigrant labourers -- Civil law and the policy of religious toleration -- Abkarry and pilgrim taxes : excise as a regulating instrument -- Public instruction begets Indian agency, free press, and trial by jury -- Conclusion : social legislation in the arena of public instruction versus public justice.

A hitherto unattempted survey of social legislation by the East India Company, this book identifies the principles of Public Justice and Public Instruction as the inspiration for legislative decisions, some of which resonate in post-colonial India. It dwells particularly on legislation which manipulated Muslim criminal law in order to protect, and in some instances, create, the rights of women, slaves, bonded labourers and victims of crime. It also examines the Company's cautious venture into the realm of civil law affecting the ideals of religious toleration, remarriage of Hindu widows as wel.

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