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Madras Law Journal – Article

(2024) 1 MLJ

KNOW YOUR CHIEF JUSTICE

9. SIR COLLEY HARMAN SCOTLAND

The 9th Chief Justice of Madras, Sir Colley Harman Scotland, was born in Antigua in the West Indies in 1810. After spending his initial years in Ireland, Scotland
joined the Middle Temple and was called to the Bar on 9th June 1843. He later became a Law Reporter at the Queen’s Bench where he came to the notice of the Lord
Chancellor Lord Campbell. The untimely demise of Sir Henry Davison, the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of Madras, necessitated an urgent replacement. Scotland was handpicked for this role and was appointed soon thereafter upon receiving
his customary knighthood. Sir Colley Harman Scotland took his seat as the Chief
Justice of the Supreme Court of Madras on 24th March, 1861. A few months later,
on 6th August 1861 the Indian High Courts Act, 1861 received Royal Assent. The
immediate consequence was that the Supreme Courts of Calcutta, Madras and
Bombay were abolished. The Crown was now vested with the power to issue Letters
Patents for the erection of High Courts in these cities in place of the erstwhile Supreme Courts. The Sudder Courts manned by the erstwhile East India Company
were abolished and their jurisdiction was now subsumed by the High Court.
On 15th August 1862, the Crown issued the Letters Patent erecting and constituting the High Court of Judicature at Madras with Sir Colley Harman Scotland as its
Chief Justice. Sir ADAM BITTLESTON, a puisne judge of the Supreme Court was appointed the senior most puisne judge of the High Court, along with four judges T.L
STRANGE, H.D PHILLIPS, HATLEY FRERE and WILLIAM HOLLOWAY, who were formerly judges of the Sudder Courts. The Letters Patent, thus, started a convention
MLJ-29-02-2024

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