Page:Indian Constitutional Documents 1773-1915.djvu/85

 INDIAN CONSTITUTIONAL DOCUMENTS PART I. GENERAL DOCUMENTS, (1773-1858). I. THE EAST INDIA COMPANY ACT, 1773.* (13, Geo. 3, C 63). AN ACT FOR ESTABLISHING CERTAIN REGULATIONS FOR THE BETTER MANAGEMENT OF THE AFFAIRS OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY, AS WELL IN INDIA AS IN EUROPE. "Whereas the several Powers and Authorities granted by charters to the United company of Mer- chants of England trading to the East Indies have been found, by Experience, not to have sufficient Force and Efficacy to prevent various Abuses which have pre- vailed in the Government and Administration of the Affairs of the said United Company, as well at Home as in India, to the manifest Injury of the Publick Credit, and of the commercial interests of the said company ; and it is therefore become highly expedient that certain further Regulations, better adapted to the'r present circumstances and condition, should be provided and established : And whereas the electing and chusing of Directors of the said United company every year, in such manner as at present prescribed by charter, has not ans- wered the good Purposes intended thereby, but, on the contrary, by limiting the Duration of their Office to so short a Time, evi- dently tends to weaken the Authority of the Court of Direc- tors, and to produce Instability in the Councils and Measures of the said Company :" May it therefore please your Majesty that it may be enacted ; and be it enacted by the King's most
 * This Act is commonly known as "the Regulating Act,"