>Serols at 11:21, 16 May 2021

2021-05-16T11:21:01Z

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{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox UK legislation
|short_title =The East India Company Act, 1813<ref>Short title as conferred by the [[Short Titles Act 1896]], s. 1; the modern convention for the citation of short titles omits the comma after the word "Act".</ref><br/>(Charter Act 1813)
|parliament = Parliament of the United Kingdom
|long_title = An Act for continuing in the ''East India'' Company, for a further Term, the Possession of the ''British'' Territories in ''India'', together with certain exclusive Privileges; for establishing further Regulations for the Government of the said Territories, and the better Administration of Justice within the same; and for regulating the Trade to and from the Places within the Limits of the said Company's Charter
|year = 1813
|statute_book_chapter = 53 Geo. 3 c. 155
|introduced_by =
|territorial_extent =
|royal_assent = 21 July 1813
|commencement =
|repeal_date =
|amendments =
|related_legislation =
|repealing_legislation= [[Government of India Act 1915]]
|status = Repealed
|original_text =
|legislation_history =
|use_new_UK-LEG =
|revised_text =
}}

The '''East India Company Act 1813''', also known as the '''Charter Act 1813''', was an [[Act of Parliament|Act]] of the [[Parliament of the United Kingdom]] which renewed the charter issued to the [[East India Company|British East India Company]], and continued the [[Company rule in India|Company's rule in India]]. However, the Company's commercial monopoly was ended, except for the [[tea]] and opium trade and the trade with [[China]], this reflecting the growth of [[British Raj|British power in India]].

The Act expressly asserted [[the Crown]]'s sovereignty over [[British India]], allotted 100,000 [[rupees]], and permitted [[Christian missionaries]] to propagate English and preach their religion. The power of the provincial governments and courts in India over European British subjects was also strengthened by the Act, and financial provision was also made to encourage a revival in [[Indian literature]] and for the promotion of science.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Constitutional History of India 1600–1935|url=https://archive.org/details/constitutionalhi00berr|author-link=Arthur Berriedale Keith|first=Arthur Berriedale|last=Keith|publisher=Methuen|location=London|year=1936|pages=[https://archive.org/details/constitutionalhi00berr/page/128 128–129]}}</ref>

The literary critic and historian Gauri Viswanathan identifies two major changes to the relation between Britain and India that came about as the result of the act: first, the assumption by the British of a new responsibility for Indian people's education; and, second, the relaxation of controls on missionary activity.<ref>{{cite book|last=Viswanathan|first=Gauri|title=Masks of Conquest: Literary Study and British Rule in India|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=New Delhi|year=1989|page=23}}</ref> Whereas previously educational provision was at the discretion of the [[Governor-General of Bengal]], the Act overturned this laissez-faire status quo by establishing an obligation to promote Indian people's "interests and happiness" and "religious and moral improvement" – a responsibility the British state did not bear to British people at the time of the Act's passage.{{sfn|Viswanathan|1989|pages=23–24}} Viswanathan attributes the impetus for the new educational responsibilities to the mood in the English Parliament. Parliamentarians were concerned with the extravagant lifestyles of East India Company officials and the company's ruthless exploitation of natural resources, and, feeling that the British ought to lead by example but lacking the ability to curtail the activities of wealthy [[Nabob]]s, sought to remedy perceived injustices by seeking Indians' welfare and improvement.{{sfn|Viswanathan|1989|page=24}}

Prior to the 1813 legislation, the British Parliament and the East India Company had refused to countenance missionary activity in India, and proscribed the Bible and forbade religious education, in support of a policy of religious neutrality and on the basis that, if exposed to Christianity, Indians may have felt threatened and thus would have posed a threat to British commercial ventures.{{sfn|Viswanathan|1989|p=36}} The lifting of the prohibition, when it occurred, was not however a victory for missionaries, and did not precipitate official support for their activity; instead, they were subject to stringent checks.{{sfn|Viswanathan|1989|pp=36–7}}

The Company's charter had previously been renewed by the [[Charter Act of 1793|Charter Act 1793]], and was next renewed by the [[Charter Act of 1833|Charter Act 1833]].

==See also==
*[[East India Company Act]]

==References==
<references/>

[[Category:United Kingdom Acts of Parliament 1813]]
[[Category:1813 in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:1793 in India]]
[[Category:Legislation in British India]]
[[Category:British East India Company]]

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Charter Act of 1813 - Revision history

>Serols at 11:21, 16 May 2021