of March 5, 1891, providing for the constitution of the Executive Council (ibid. p. 4); and Letters-Patent of November 29, 1902, providing for the appointment of a Deputy Governor (ibid. p. 7). The Combined Court is the Court of Policy, with the addition of six elected financial representatives. The privilege accorded in 1842 to the Combined Court of free discussion of the annual colonial estimates has by Order in Council of December 12, 1904 (Stat. R. & O. 1904, p. 670) been continued to December 31, 1907. The Roman-Dutch law is the basis of the law of the colony; but English mercantile and criminal law has been introduced by statute. In 1894 a new and revised edition of the laws of British Guiana was prepared by Mr. (now Sir) J. W. Carrington. See also Dalton's History of British Guiana, published in 1855; and see PRIVY COUNCIL as to conditions of appeal.

The Imperial Coinage Acts are in force in British Guiana (Stat. R. & O. Rev. 1904, vol. ii., "Coin Colonies," p. 114); but in addition to British sterling, United States, Spanish, and Mexican gold coins are legal tender under Orders in Council of September 14, 1838, August 19, 1853, and March 9, 1854 (ibid. pp. 96-99). Silver dollars were demonetised by Law No. 6 of 1876. The Colonial Probates Act, 1892, and sec. 20 of the Finance Act, 1894, have been applied by Order in Council to the Colony (Stat. R. & O. Rev. 1904, vol. i., " Administration," p. 2, vol. iv., "Death Duties," p. 9). The Colonial Extradition Ordinances of 1886 and 1897 have been by Order in Council incorporated with the Imperial Act, and British Guiana has been grouped with the West Indies for the purpose of intercolonial backing of extradition warrants under Part II. of the Fugitive Offenders Act, 1881 (Stat. R. & O. Rev. 1904, vol. v., "Fugitive Criminal," pp. 294, 295, 325).

British Honduras.-A colony on the east coast of Central America, formed about 1638 by settlers from Jamaica, who were attracted by the fine timber (logwood and mahogany). The country was claimed by Spain, and in 1763 Great Britain agreed to abandon it, but the British settlers remained, and the Spanish authorities were not able to reduce them to obedience. A superintendent was appointed by the Home Government, but this alone was not enough to make the settlement a colony, and it was in fact held not to be a colony (see Clark, Colonial Law, p. 2n.). In 1839 an executive council was established, and in 1853 a legislative assembly. In 1862 British Honduras was declared a colony, and a Lieutenant-Governor was appointed, subordinate to the Governor of Jamaica. In 1884 the colony became independent of Jamaica. See Letters-Patent of October 2, 1884, Stat. R. & O. Rev. 1904, vol. i., "British Honduras," p. 1. The legislature now consists of the Governor and a Legislative Council of five official and not less than four unofficial members. The Chief Justice is sole judge in the Supreme Court; there is an appeal to the King in Council, and under an Order in Council of 1882 (Stat. R. & O. Rev. 1904, vol. i., "British Honduras," p. 4) to the Supreme Court of Jamaica. The laws of British Honduras are English in their origin; the customs and resolutions of the original settlers were recognised and confirmed after the visit of Admiral Burnaby in 1756: they are known as "Burnaby's Laws." The laws of the colony have been revised and consolidated, and as so revised were brought into operation by Ordinance No. 7 of 1888. The common law of England, and all imperial statutes in abrogation or derogation, or in any way declaratory of the common law, are in

force in the colony, so far as the local jurisdiction of the Courts and local circumstances permit (Consol. Laws, Part IV. c. 7, s. 3). See PRIVY COUNCIL as to conditions of appeal.

By Ordinance No. 31 of 1894, a gold standard was introduced, the United States gold dollar being the standard coin. The Colonial Probates Act, 1892, has been applied to the colony. For the purpose of intercolonial backing of warrants, British Guiana forms part of the West India group of colonies, and the Colonial Extradition Ordinance, 1877, has been incorporated with the Imperial Act (Stat. R. & O. Rev. 1904, vol. i., “Administration," p. 1; vol. v., "Fugitive Criminal," pp. 296, 325).

British India.-A term which includes all the territories governed by His Majesty through the Governor-General of India or any officer subordinate to him (see the Interpretation Act, 1889, s. 18 (4)). The term does not include the territories of independent native princes. In the native States the Governor-General has only such powers as have been ceded to him by the local governments; the exercise of these powers is regulated by an Order in Council issued in 1902, superseding the Indian Foreign Jurisdiction Act of 1879; but the subjects of native princes are recognised for various purposes as persons enjoying His Majesty's protection (Hall on Foreign Jurisdiction, 127 and 228n.). The boundaries of British India are defined by a long series of treaties, engagements, and sanads (see the official collection, edited by Sir C. Aitchison, and published in 1892). The steps by which full sovereignty has been acquired over this vast territory may be summarised as follows:

On December 31, 1600, the English merchants trading to the East received a charter of incorporation from Queen Elizabeth. The East India Company built its factories on land held under the Mogul and his feudatories; but the English traders never submitted themselves to Mohammedan law. In 1618 the Mogul recognised Surat as a privileged place; and in the three Presidency towns-Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay-English law was administered among the English traders. and their dependants, much as in a settled colony. The island of Bombay, ceded by Portugal to Charles II., as part of his wife's dowry, was granted to the Company in 1668. In 1726 the English statute law, so far as it might be found applicable, was introduced; and each of the Presidency towns was provided with a Mayor's Court, from which there was an appeal to the Governor and Council, and, if the matter in dispute was over 1000 pagodas (£400) in value, to the King in Council. The local jurisdiction of these Courts was limited in extent; the provinces were governed by officers who derived their authority from the Mogul.. In 1765 Clive induced the Mogul to grant the Dewanny, or civil government of Bengal, to the Company. The Dewanny was nominally subordinate to the Nizamut (military power and criminal justice), which was vested in the Nabob; but the Company finally succeeded in organising a complete system of provincial Courts, including Sudder (chief). Courts of Dewanny Adawlut and Nizamut Adawlut, from which the final appeal was to the King in Council. Under an Act of Parliament, 13 Geo. III. c. 63, the office of Governor-General was constituted, and a Council was appointed; shortly afterwards, the Board of Control was established in England as a check on the political action of the Company. Under the same Act a Supreme Court was appointed to administer

English law at Calcutta. We may acquit this tribunal on some of the darker charges made against it (see Sir J. F. Stephen, Nuncomar and Impey), but there can be no doubt that it wrought great mischief by applying the rules of Westminster Hall to people whose customs the judges did not understand. In dealing with the Courts, the GovernorGeneral was hampered by doubts as to his legislative authority; but regulations were passed from time to time, and combined into a code in 1793. Supreme Courts were afterwards established at Madras and Bombay.

In 1833 the trading privileges of the Company were taken away. A commission was appointed in the same year to provide India with a body of laws. To secure uniformity of legislation, the Governor-General in Council was made the sole legislative authority. It is important to observe that all the powers of the Company were derived from the Crown; it was, strictly speaking, only an agency or delegacy, through which certain rights of the Crown were exercised. But the political authority of the Company was so far independent that our Courts were disposed to recognise it as being, for certain purposes, a foreign government; hence the "anomalous" rules as to Anglo-Indian domicile, discussed by Mr. Dicey (Conflict of Laws, p. 149). In the year after the Mutiny (1858), the government of India was transferred from the Company to the Crown; under the Royal Titles Act of 1876 His Majesty assumes the title of "Emperor of India." In 1861 the Supreme Courts and the Sudder Courts were amalgamated to form the new High Courts; and, in the same year, a limited power of legislation was restored to the Governors of Madras and Bombay.

Executive authority over India is exercised by His Majesty, on the advice of a Secretary of State, through the Governor-General. In subordination to the Governor-General are the Governors of Madras and Bombay (with Sind); the Lieutenant-Governors of Bengal, Eastern Bengal (with Assam), the United Provinces, the Punjab (with Delhi), and Burma; the Chief Commissioners of the Central Provinces, etc. The more important places in local administration are filled by members of the Indian Civil Service (formerly known as the "covenanted" service); smaller offices by members of the local or "uncovenanted" service. The unit of administration is the district (zillah, or collectorship). The village is also treated as a unit in some cases, but the mode of assessment varies according to the land tenure, etc. (see Baden Powell, Land Tenures of British India). The distinction between "regulation" and "non-regulation" provinces is not so important as it was; the marks of a non-regulation province used to be that the chief officer had large discretionary powers, that executive and judicial duties might be combined, and that military men were qualified for civil employment.

The chief legislative authorities of British India are the Imperial Parliament and the Governor-General in his legislative council, which includes the members of his Executive Council, together with the additional members nominated under 24 & 25 Vict. c. 67, and 55 & 56 Vict. c. 14. The Governors of Madras and Bombay, and the LieutenantGovernors of Bengal, Eastern Bengal and Assam, the United Provinces, the Punjab, and Burma, are also assisted by legislative councils. Some notion of the scope and methods of Indian legislation may be obtained from the general introduction to Mr. Whitley Stokes' Anglo-Indian Codes. The law embodied in the codes and codifying Acts is the territorial law of British India, but in matters relating to marriage, succession,

caste, or any religious usage or institution, the native inhabitants retain their hereditary customs and rules. See HINDU LAW and MOHAMMEDAN LAW.

The chief judicial authorities are the High Courts established in the three Presidency towns in 1861; the High Court for the North-Western Provinces, since established at Allahabad (which retains its title, though the North-Western Provinces are united, for administrative purposes, with Oudh); the Chief Court of the Punjab; the Chief Court of Lower Burma; the Courts of the Judicial Commissioners for Oudh, etc. From the highest Appellate Court of each province there is an appeal to the King in Council; the conditions on which the appeal may be granted are prescribed in secs. 594-616 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1882. See PRIVY COUNCIL.

[See Ilbert, Government of India; The India Office List; Lee-Warner, Protected States of India; and the general description of India in the works of Sir J. Strachey, Sir T. Holdich, etc.]

British Islands.-The expression "British Islands" shall mean the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man (Interpretation Act, 1889, 52 & 53 Vict. c. 63, s. 18 (1)). This definition is in substance the same as that given in the Bills of Exchange Act, 1882, 45 & 46 Vict. c. 61, s. 4.

British Museum.-The great national museum and library was instituted, and is still principally regulated, by the Statute 26 Geo. II. c. 22; but the nucleus of the library, the Cottonian Manuscripts, had been previously purchased for the nation (12 & 13 Will. III. c. 7, and 5 Anne, c. 30), and lodged in Sir Robert Cotton's house at Westminster. To these were added the Sloane Collection and the Harleian Manuscripts, and by the Act first referred to provision was made for the purchase of Montague House, the present site of the museum, and for the permanent preservation there and management of the three collections and additions to be made to them. Some of the later additions were the subject of special Acts (Townleian Collection, 45 Geo. III. c. 127; Elgin Marbles, 56 Geo. III. c. 99; Payne Knight's Collection, 5 Geo. IV. c. 60).

By the principal Act the museum and collections are vested in "the Trustees of the British Museum," who are incorporated under that name. Power was given to them to make by-laws and ordinances, statutes and rules for the purposes of the Act, and for the custody, preservation and inspection of the collections. The trustees may act by a majority, if seven of them at least are present (27 Geo. II. c. 16, s. 3). The principal Act (26 Geo. III. c. 22, s. 20) provides for "free access to be given "to all studious and curious persons, at such times, and in such manner, and under such regulations for inspecting and consulting the said collections" as the trustees direct; in Chaffers v. Taylor, 1896, 12 T. L. R. 278, it was held that an action for assault would not lie against an official of the museum for forcibly preventing a member of the public who had been refused a reader's ticket. The Court declined to say whether the refusal was right or the regulations ultra vires.

The trustees have power to purchase and hold lands, and to accept gifts, grants and devises of land for the purposes of the Acts relating to the museum, and for its enlargement and endowment, notwithstanding the Statutes of Mortmain (5 Geo. IV. c. 39). They are not subject to the Charitable Trusts Acts. See CHARITIES.

They are authorised to sell or give away duplicate objects which are not required for the purposes of the museum (7 Geo. III. c. 18; 41 & 42 Vict. c. 55), but this authority does not extend to objects comprised in the Royal Library presented by George IV., or in the Cracherode, Grenville, or Branksian Libraries, or to any objects presented to the museum for use or preservation therein (41 & 42 Vict. c. 55, s. 3).

The great growth of the library in recent years is in part due to the vigorous enforcement of their rights under the Copyright Acts by the museum authorities. By the Copyright Act, 5 & 6 Vict. c. 45, a printed copy of every book published after the commencement of the Act, together with all maps, prints, or other engravings belonging thereto, printed and coloured in the same manner as the best copies of the same are published, and of every subsequent edition into which alterations are introduced, bound or stitched, and printed on the best paper on which the book is printed, must be delivered to the trustees at the museum within one calendar month from the date of publication if the work is published in London, within three months if it is published in the United Kingdom outside London, and if published in other parts of the British Dominions within one year (s. 6). The requirement extends to books obtaining copyright in this country under the International Copyright Act, 7 & 8 Vict. c. 12, s. 3. By the British Museum Act, 1902, 2 Edw. VII. c. 12, the trustees are empowered, with the consent of the Treasury, to remove to "The Hendon Building" any newspapers and other printed matter which appear to them to be rarely required for public use, subject to their making arrangements for the matter removed being available for use by the public at the British Museum Buildings when required on due notice being given.

In Martin v. Trustees of the British Museum, 1894, 10 T. L. R. 338, it was held that neither the trustees nor the librarian are liable to an action for libel if they catalogue and place in the library for the use of readers a defamatory pamphlet. In that case the jury found that the librarian in doing the acts complained of believed he was acting in discharge of his duty, and that he did not know, and ought not to have known, that the books contained libels. They also returned contradictory findings as to negligence. The decision was based upon the ground that there was no publication under the circumstances of the case, but in the unlikely event of the question again arising, it can hardly be held to have been finally settled by the authority cited.

British New Guinea.-New Guinea (the largest island in the world, if Australia be excluded) was discovered in 1511. The Dutch claim the western portion as suzerain of the Sultan of Jidore: in 1883 the Government of Queensland annexed the part not so claimed to the Empire, but the Imperial Government refused to ratify this act, with the result that the next year Germany annexed more than a third of the whole, and the British protectorate, established in November 1884, was confined to some 90,000 square miles-considerably less than half the island. On September 4, 1888, the protectorate was, by LettersPatent of June 8, 1888 (Stat. R. & O. Rev., 1st ed., vol. i., p. 468), erected into a separate government with an administrator and nominal legislative council, New South Wales, Queensland, and Victoria guaranteeing the costs of administration (see Order in Council of May 17, 1888, ibid. p. 482). By Order in Council of February 8, 1896, the