By the mid- eighteenth century, the British had a political presence in the three Presidency towns of Madras, Bombay, and Calcutta, which also saw the emergence of the British judicial system in India.

The Mayor’s Court was established in 1727 for civil litigation in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. In 1772 an elaborate judicial system, known as adalat, established civil and criminal jurisdictions. Both Hindu pandits and Muslim qazis (Sharia court judges) were recruited to aid the presiding judges in interpreting their customary laws, but in general, British common and statutory laws became applicable.