How a Company Bankrupted an Empire
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18335977Keywords:
East India Company; Charters, Colonial Power; Exploitation; Tax; Land Revenue; Mughal Empire; Crown; Subject; NawabsAbstract
Much has been written about East India Company (EIC) from trading to treading into power. However, certain critical aspects of her transformative journey have remained obscure yet whose impact was so enormous that it shaped the politico-legal system of the British India while its foundational influence remains intact till date in the politics of the subcontinent. The article attempts not only to highlight those aspects of her policies and practices but also analyse as to how far the company remained observant to the then principles of justice, equity, and good conscience in her journey of paradigm-shift from a trading corporation to become the master of India. It is interesting to note that the policies and actions of the EIC were so grave that they attracted attention of the British parliament at one point of time and were subjected to critical debates and discussions in the House of Commons leading up to trials in the House of Lords. On the other hand, this is also an irony that the abundance of fortunes amassed by the EIC in the subcontinent and brought to England also influenced the direction of the debates, deliberations and particularly judicial verdicts in the parliament against the EIC.
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