Editing Princely state (section)

==British relationship with the princely states==
[[British Raj|India under the British ''Raj'']] (the "Indian Empire") consisted of two types of territory: [[British India]] and the ''native states'' or ''princely states''. In its [[Interpretation Act 1889]], the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|British Parliament]] adopted the following definitions:

<blockquote>
(4.) The expression "British India" shall mean all territories and places within Her Majesty's dominions which are for the time being governed by Her Majesty through the Governor-General of India or through any governor or other officer subordinate to the Governor-General of India.<br />
(5.) The expression "India" shall mean British India together with any territories of any native prince or chief under the suzerainty of Her Majesty exercised through the Governor-General of India, or through any governor or other officer subordinate to the Governor-General of India.<ref>Interpretation Act 1889 (52 & 53 Vict. c. 63), s. 18</ref>
</blockquote>

In general the term "[[British India]]" had been used (and is still used) also to refer to the regions under [[Company rule in India|the rule of the East India Company]] in India from 1774 to 1858.<ref>'''1.''' ''Imperial Gazetteer of India, volume IV, published under the authority of the [[India Office|Secretary of State for India-in-Council]]'', 1909, Oxford University Press. page 5. Quote: "The history of British India falls, as observed by Sir C. P. Ilbert in his ''Government of India'', into three periods. From the beginning of the seventeenth century to the middle of the eighteenth century the East India Company is a trading corporation, existing on the sufferance of the native powers and in rivalry with the merchant companies of Holland and France. During the next century the Company acquires and consolidates its dominion, shares its sovereignty in increasing proportions with the Crown, and gradually loses its mercantile privileges and functions. After the mutiny of 1857 the remaining powers of the Company are transferred to the Crown, and then follows an era of peace in which India awakens to new life and progress." '''2.''' ''The Statutes: From the Twentieth Year of King Henry the Third to the ...'' by [[Robert Drayton|Robert Harry Drayton]], Statutes of the Realm – Law – 1770 Page 211 (3) "Save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, the law of British India and of the several parts thereof existing immediately before the appointed ..." '''3.''' Edney, M. E. (1997) [https://archive.today/20110521135907/http://www.press.uchicago.edu/presssite/metadata.epl?mode=synopsis&bookkey=40921 ''Mapping an Empire: The Geographical Construction of British India, 1765–1843''], University of Chicago Press. 480 pages. {{ISBN|978-0-226-18488-3}} '''4.''' Hawes, C.J. (1996) [https://books.google.com/books?id=d22WUEmG49IC&q=+%22British+India%22 Poor Relations: The Making of a Eurasian Community in British India, 1773–1833]. Routledge, 217 pages. {{ISBN|0-7007-0425-6}}.</ref><ref>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. II|1908|pp=463, 470}} Quote'''1''': "Before passing on to the political history of British India, which properly begins with the Anglo-French Wars in the [[Carnatic region|Carnatic]], ... (p. 463)" Quote'''2''': "The political history of the British in India begins in the eighteenth century with the French Wars in the Carnatic. (p.471)"</ref>

The [[British Crown]]'s suzerainty over 175 princely states, generally the largest and most important, was exercised in the name of the British Crown by the central government of British India under the Viceroy; the remaining approximately 400 states were influenced by Agents answerable to the provincial governments of British India under a governor, lieutenant-governor, or chief commissioner.<ref name=igi-60>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV|1907|p=60}}</ref> A clear distinction between "dominion" and "suzerainty" was supplied by the jurisdiction of the courts of law: the law of British India rested upon the legislation enacted by the British Parliament, and the legislative powers those laws vested in the various governments of British India, both central and local; in contrast, the courts of the princely states existed under the authority of the respective rulers of those states.<ref name=igi-60/>