Image of The trial of James Creassy was met with indignation by

The trial of James Creassy was met with indignation by many British residents in Bengal,...

IMAGE number: BL3311578
Image title: The trial of James Creassy was met with indignation by many British residents in Bengal, who published this commentary on the case to accompany the petition to the House of Commons in 1779. Ignoring Creassy's crime, the authors of the commentary criticised the Supreme Court of Judicature for denying trial by jury to British subjects. In support of Creassy's request for a jury, the commentary argued that the 'indubitable and unalienable Privilege' of British law extended to Britons living in India; this privilege, it claimed, had been rejected by Sir Elijah Impey (d. 1809), the Chief Justice, who argued that 'the Bill of Rights and Magna Charta' had 'merely a local Influence' confined to Britain, and that Creassy 'was running his Head against a Wall, and would dash his Brains out' if he persisted in the appeal. The petition and its accompanying commentary eventually forced Parliament to reform the Bengal Supreme Court in 1781.
Location: British Library, London, UK

Image description: Observations on the Foregoing Petition of the British Subjects residing in Bengal, &c. to the Parliament of Great Britain; and on the Situation of the Inhabitants of the Country at large London, 1779 Source/Shelfmark: ORB 30/655 p.36
Photo credit: From the British Library archive / Bridgeman Images
Image keywords: written language / legal concept / event / events / 18th century / legacy / text / british library exhibitions / magna carta exhibition / liberty / magna carta anniversary / british library exhibition / law

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	Dimension [pixels]	Dimension in 300dpi [mm]	File size [MB]
Large	1336 × 2478 px	113 × 210 mm	3.5 MB
Medium	552 × 1024 px	47 × 87 mm	805 KB

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