#THE SONTHAL PARGANAS ACT, 1855 

##ACT NO. XXXVII OF 1855 

[Passed on the 22nd December, 1855.]

1. *Certain specified Districts taken out of the operation of the general laws; and (cl. 2,) to be placed 
under a special officer.*

2, 3,4. *Administration of Civil and Criminal Justice and Collection of Revenue vested in that officer; 
(3). Who shall be bound by the spirit and principle of the Criminal and Civil Law but not by futwa, and may 
hold Courts where ordered: and (4) his decisions to be final, except in sentence of death and in cases in 
which appeal is specially permitted by Lt. Governor.*

4, *cl. 2. Prescribes what on appeal the Sudder Court shall do.*

5. *Saves Europeans from operation of Act.*

6. *Act to come into operation, when.*

Schedule. Name of districts and places under Act. 

An  Act  to  remove  from  the  operation  of  the  general  Laws  and  Regulations  certain  districts 
inhabited by Sonthals and others, and to place the same under the superintendence of an officer 
to be specially appointed for that purpose.

**Preamble.**—Whereas the general Regulations and Acts of Government now in force in the Presidency 
of Bengal are not adapted to the uncivilized race of people called Sonthals, and it is therefore expedient to 
remove from the operation of such laws the district called the Damin-I- Koh. and other Districts which are 
inhabited principally by that tribe, It is enacted as follows: —

I. **Clause 1.**—*Certain Districts removed from the operation of the general Regulations of the Bengal 
Code.*—The Districts described in the Schedule to this Act are hereby removed from the operation of the 
general  Regulations  of  the  Bengal  Code  and  of  the  Laws  passed  by  the  Governor  General  of  India  in 
Council,  except  so  far  as  is  hereinafter  provided;  and  no  Law  which  shall  hereafter  be  passed  by  the 
Governor General of India in Council shall be deemed to extend to any part of the said Districts, unless the 
same shall be specially name therein. Proviso. Provided that nothing herein contained shall extend to or 
affect any case now pending in any Court, nor remove any part of the said Districts from the operation of 
Regulation X. of 1804 of the Bengal Code; nor shall this Act affect any Revenue Settlement,  Land Revenue 
due under the same, nor any Law relating to the sale of lands for arrears of Revenue, or relating to Putnee 
Talooks, or to the sale thereof for arrear of rent, nor any Law relating to Mutations or Butwara, or to any 
other matter to which the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal shall at any time notify in the Calcutta Gazette 
that the General Laws and Regulations shall extend. 

**Clause 2.** — *Districts  to  be  under  the  superintendence  of  Officers  subject  to  the  control  of  the 
Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal.*—The  said  Districts  shall  be  placed  under  the  superintendence  and 
jurisdiction of an Officer or Officers to be appointed in that behalf by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, 
and such Officer of Officers shall be subject to the directions and control of the said Lieutenant-Governor. 

**II. Administration  of  Justice  and  collection  of  Revenue  vested  in  such  Officers.**—The 
administration of Civil and Criminal justice, and the collection of Revenue, not being permanently settled 
Land Revenue, within the said Districts, are hereby vested in the Officer or Officers to be so appointed. 
Proviso as to suits exceeding the value of Rs. 1,000. Provided that all Civil suits, in which the matter in 
dispute shall exceed the value of one thousand Rupees shall be tried and determined according to the general 
Laws and Regulations, in the same manner as if this Act had not been passed. Collection of permanently 
settled Land Revenue. Provided also, that all permanently settled Land Revenue shall be collected and paid 
at the same places and in the same manner as if this Act had not been passed.  

**III. Mode of administering Civil and Criminal justice.**— In the administration of Civil and Criminal 
Justice, the Officer or Officers appointed under this Act shall be guided by the spirit and principle of the 
Civil and Criminal Laws administered in the Courts of the East India Company in the Presidency  of Bengal, 
but shall not be bound to take the futwa of a Law Officer ; and he or they may hold his or their Courts either 
within  the  said  District  or  at  any  place  or  places  that  may  be  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  the  said 
Lieutenant-Governor;  and  any  person  liable  to  be  imprisoned  in  any  civil  or  criminal  jail,  may  be 
imprisoned in any civil or criminal jail, as the case may be, which the said Lieutenant-Governor may order, 
whether the same be in or out of the said District. 

**IV. Clause 1.** — *Decisions to be final.* —All decisions in Civil suits and sentences in Criminal cases, 
which shall be passed by such Officer or Officers, to the extent of the powers which may be from time to 
time conferred upon them respectively by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, according to the provisions 
of this Act, shall be final. Proviso. Provided that no sentence of death, passed by any such Officer, shall be 
carried into effect until it shall have been confirmed by the Sudder Court, and provided also that it shall be 
lawful  for  the  said  Lieutenant-Governor  to  direct  that  an  appeal  shall  lie  in  any  class  of  Civil  suits  or 
Criminal trials form any Officer appointed under this Act, to any other Officer appointed under the same, 
and also to direct the Officer or Officers appointed under this Act, to refer to the Sudder Court for sentence 
any class of Criminal trials.

**Clause 2.** —*Procedure on references to the Sudder Court.* — Upon the receipt of any Criminal trial 
referred to the Sudder Court under Clause 1 of this Section, the said Court shall, without submitting the 
proceedings for the futwa of their Law Officer, proceed to pass final judgment, or such other order as may 
seem to the Court requisite and proper, in the same manner as if  the trial had been referred in ordinary 
course by a Sessions Judge; and in any case in which sentence of death passed by an Officer under this Act 
shall be transmitted to the Sudder Court for confirmation, the said Court may either confirm the same, or 
pass such other judgment warranted by Law, as may appear to the said Court to be just and proper.

**V. Saving of Laws relating to European British subjects.** —Nothing in this Act shall alter the laws 
now in force with respect to the amenability of European British subjects to any Court or Officer for any 
act of a criminal nature committed within the District.

**VI. Act when to take effect.**—This act shall take effect from such day as shall be fixed for that purpose 
by the said Lieutenant-Governor by notice to be published in the *Calcutta Gazette*.
 
 
 
##SCHEDULE 

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###BHAUGULPORE 

Pergunnath 		Bhaugulpore,.. 	(So much of it as is embraced within the Police jurisdictions of Colgong and Pursa.)
’’ 		Bahaderpore.
’’ 		Chetowleeah. 
’’ 		Colgong, ……… 			(So much of it as lies to the East of the Gerooa Nullah and to the South of the river Ganges.) 
’’ 		Godda. 
’’ 		Hendwa. 
’’ 		Jamoonee. 
’’ 		Kankjole. 
’’ 		Pussye. 
’’ 		Sooltanabad. 
’’ 		Teleeagurhee. 
’’ 		Umbar. 
’’ 		Akbernuggur. 
” 		Huzzar Tukkee. 
’’ 		Inayutnuggur. 
’’ 		Mukraeen. 
’’ 		Sooltangunj. 
’’ 		Umloo Moteea. 
Tuppeh 	Belputta. 
’’ 		Muneeharee. 
The 		Damun-i-Koh… 			(Including the Rajmahal Hills.)

____________ 

###BEERBHOOM. 

Pergunnath 		Dureen Molisser, (Northern portion.) 
Tuppeh 			Kundit Kurayeh. 
” 				Mohumdabad. 
Pergunnah 		Nonee.
” 				Pubbia 
Tuppeh 			Saruth Deoghur. 
Pergunnah 		Mullarpore. 
” 				Hurripore. 
” 				Hookmapore, ….. (So much of it as lies North of the River More.)

					Such  portions  of  Pergunnahs  appertaining  to  Purneah,  Malda,  and 
				Moorshedabad, as lie on the right bank of the Ganges above the village of 
				Downapore, in the Bhaugulpure Pergunnah of Kankjole.