On a hot, humid day, on March 12, 1872, thirteen members of the Viceroy’s Executive Council had met in Calcutta to debate and pass the Indian Evidence Bill. John Strachey said “India owed to Stephen a great debt of gratitude,” predicting “a really great improvement in the administration of justice in India.”
The Indian Evidence Act, 1872 (IEA) authored by Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, is the statute equivalent of Michelangelo’s statue which rests in the Accademia Gallery in Florence, Italy.
Stephen, as the legal member of the Viceroy’s Executive Council, had truly imbibed the soul of India which stood reflected in his two most significant contributions to Indian law – the IEA and the Indian Contract Act.
That Stephen’s Law of Evidence that had continued in the Indian subcontinent and many Commonwealth nations well into the post-colonial era is indeed a fitting recognition of the genius of this work!
Source: Barandbench
