Syed Mahmood
Encyclopedia
Justice Syed Mahmood was Puisne Judge
of the High Court
, North-Western Provinces
from 1887 to 1893, after having served in the High Court in a temporary capacity as officiating judge on four previous periods since 1882. He was the first Indian jurist to be appointed to High Court at Allahabad
, and the first Muslim to serve as a High Court judge in the British Raj
. Syed Mahmood also had a major role in assisting his father, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
in establishing the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into Aligarh Muslim University
. As a jurist, his judgments dominate the Indian Law Reports: Allahabad Series for the years he was on the bench. He also participated actively in the formation of laws through writing lengthy notes on proposed laws to the legislative councils of both the Governor-General of India
and the Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces. Syed Mahmood was appointed to the N.-W.P. and Oudh Legislative Council from 1896 to 1898.
, Mahmood was young child studying at his family's home in Delhi. He subsequently studied in Moradabad
, Ghazipur
, and Aligarh, all cities to which his father had been posted as a member of the Indian Civil Service. He also studied at the Government College in Delhi and at Queen's College in Benares before passing his Matriculation Examination at the University of Calcutta
in 1868. He then received a scholarship from the British government in India to study in England
. In 1869, Mahmood travelled with his father to London where he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn
; he was called to the Bar
in 1872. Consequently, he was one of the first Indians to study law in India and qualify as a barrister. At the same time, he studied for two years at Christ's College, Cambridge
but without graduating.
. This was his substantive appointment in the Indian Civil Service until 1887 when he was appointed Puisne Judge of the High Court at Allahabad, though this service was interrupted several times with temporary appoinments as officiating judge at the High Court. He also was seconded briefly to the Nizam
in Hyderabad State
, where he assisted with the judicial administration in 1881.
In 1882, Syed Mahmood received his first officiating appointment as a judge to the High Court of the North-Western Provinces in Allahabad, with active lobbying on his behalf by the Viceroy who had replaced Lytton, Lord Ripon
. He served as an officiating judge three more times before he received his full appointment as Puisne Judge in 1887. Throughout his time on the bench, Mahmood was known for his lengthy, detailed written judgments, many of which were published in the Law Reports for those years. Whitley Stokes, Law Member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council
in India during the years 1877 to 1882, later praised Mahmood's judgments in his Anglo-Indian Codes. Likewise, in an obituary he wrote, Tej Bahadur Sapru, a younger contemporary of Mahmood's, commented that his long and detailed judgments were necessary because of the spate of new legislation being enacted that needed to be clarified in a court of law. Nevertheless, it was his prolixity and frequent dissenting opinion
s that led to conflicts with his fellow judges, and eventually to an early retirement in 1893. After his retirement from the judiciary, he returned to his legal practice as a barrister, working in Lucknow
as well as serving on the North-Western Provinces and Oudh Legislative Council from 1896 to 1898.
to serve as the school's principal. He took an active part in teaching English classes and establishing a law program at the school, donating a major portion of his own collection of legal texts to form a legal library. In 1889, his father nominated Mahmood as Joint Secretary of the board of trustees for the school. After his father's death in 1898, he took up his responsibilities as Life Honorary Joint Secretary. The following year he was replaced in this position by Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk
, and was elevated to the post of Honorary President instead.
Syed Mahmood was active in educational ventures outside of the MAOC as well. During the Ripon administration, he was appointed as one of the commissioners of the 1882 Education Commission, investigating the state of education in India. He was also an active participant in the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference
, delivering a series of lectures on the history of English education in India during the annual meetings of 1893 and 1894.
. Mahmood purchased a home in Allahabad which was subsequently sold to Motilal Nehru
who was also serving as a barrister in the Allahabad court at that time. Earlier in 1876, Syed Mahmood had established another residence in the city of Aligarh; this currently houses the Sir Syed Academy. In 1900, after becoming estranged from both his family and the college at Aligarh, Mahmood moved to Sitapur
where he lived with his cousin, Syed Mahomed Ahmed, until his death in 1903.
translation of the 1872 Law of Evidence and subsequent amendments, published in 1876. He revised his lectures to the Muhammadan Educational Conference and published them in English as A History of English Education in India in 1895. He also contributed articles to the Aligarh Institute Gazette and the Calcutta Review. But his major written contribution consisted of the approximately 300 legal judgments recorded in the Indian Law Reports: Allahabad Series between the years 1882 and 1892, a considerable number of which were over twenty pages in length. Contemporaries note that he was preparing a multi-volume work on Muslim law after his retirement from the bench, but this remained uncompleted at the time of his death.
Puisne Justice
A Puisne Justice or Puisne Judge is the title for a regular member of a Court. This is distinguished from the head of the Court who is known as the Chief Justice or Chief Judge. The term is used almost exclusively in common law jurisdictions such as England, Australia, Kenya, Canada, Sri Lanka,...
of the High Court
Allahabad High Court
The Allahabad High Court or the High Court of Judicature at Allahabad is a high court having jurisdiction over the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh since 1950...
, North-Western Provinces
North-Western Provinces
The North-Western Provinces was an administrative region in British India which succeeded the Ceded and Conquered Provinces and existed in one form or another from 1836 until 1902, when it became the Agra Province within the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh .-Area:The province included all...
from 1887 to 1893, after having served in the High Court in a temporary capacity as officiating judge on four previous periods since 1882. He was the first Indian jurist to be appointed to High Court at Allahabad
Allahabad
Allahabad , or Settled by God in Persian, is a major city of India and is one of the main holy cities of Hinduism. It was renamed by the Mughals from the ancient name of Prayaga , and is by some accounts the second-oldest city in India. It is located in the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,...
, and the first Muslim to serve as a High Court judge in the British Raj
British Raj
British Raj was the British rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; The term can also refer to the period of dominion...
. Syed Mahmood also had a major role in assisting his father, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan
Syed Ahmed Khan
Javad-ud Daula, Arif Jang, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, KCSI , commonly known as Sir Syed, was an Indian educator and politician, and an Islamic reformer and modernist...
in establishing the Muhammedan Anglo-Oriental College, which later developed into Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University
Aligarh Muslim University ,is a residential academic university, established in 1875 by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan as Mohammedan Angelo-Oriental College and later granted the status of Central University by an Act of the Indian Parliament in 1920...
. As a jurist, his judgments dominate the Indian Law Reports: Allahabad Series for the years he was on the bench. He also participated actively in the formation of laws through writing lengthy notes on proposed laws to the legislative councils of both the Governor-General of India
Governor-General of India
The Governor-General of India was the head of the British administration in India, and later, after Indian independence, the representative of the monarch and de facto head of state. The office was created in 1773, with the title of Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William...
and the Lieutenant Governor of the North-Western Provinces. Syed Mahmood was appointed to the N.-W.P. and Oudh Legislative Council from 1896 to 1898.
Education
Syed Mahmood was born in 1850, the second son of Syed Ahmad Khan. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
, Mahmood was young child studying at his family's home in Delhi. He subsequently studied in Moradabad
Moradabad
Moradabad is a city and a municipal corporation in Moradabad district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It was established in 1600 by prince Murad, the son of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan; as a result the city came to be known as Moradabad. It is the administrative headquarters of...
, Ghazipur
Ghazipur
Ghazipur , or Ghazipur City, previously spelt Ghazeepore, is a city/town and a municipal corporation and headquarter of Ghazipur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is the administrative headquarters of Ghazipur Division and Sub-division...
, and Aligarh, all cities to which his father had been posted as a member of the Indian Civil Service. He also studied at the Government College in Delhi and at Queen's College in Benares before passing his Matriculation Examination at the University of Calcutta
University of Calcutta
The University of Calcutta is a public university located in the city of Kolkata , India, founded on 24 January 1857...
in 1868. He then received a scholarship from the British government in India to study in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. In 1869, Mahmood travelled with his father to London where he was admitted to Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
; he was called to the Bar
Call to the bar
The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...
in 1872. Consequently, he was one of the first Indians to study law in India and qualify as a barrister. At the same time, he studied for two years at Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
but without graduating.
Legal Career
After returning to India, Mahmood enrolled as a barrister in the High Court in Allahabad in 1872, the first Indian to achieve that distinction in that court. He worked as a barrister in Allahabad until 1878. The following year he was appointed as a District and Sessions Judge in Oudh by the Viceroy of India, Lord LyttonRobert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton
Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, GCB, GCSI, GCIE, PC was an English statesman and poet...
. This was his substantive appointment in the Indian Civil Service until 1887 when he was appointed Puisne Judge of the High Court at Allahabad, though this service was interrupted several times with temporary appoinments as officiating judge at the High Court. He also was seconded briefly to the Nizam
Nizam
Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad popularly known as Nizams of Hyderabad was a former monarchy of the Hyderabad State, now in the states of Andhra Pradesh , Karnataka , and Maharashtra in India...
in Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...
, where he assisted with the judicial administration in 1881.
In 1882, Syed Mahmood received his first officiating appointment as a judge to the High Court of the North-Western Provinces in Allahabad, with active lobbying on his behalf by the Viceroy who had replaced Lytton, Lord Ripon
George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon
George Frederick Samuel Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon KG, GCSI, CIE, PC , known as Viscount Goderich from 1833 to 1859 and as the Earl de Grey and Ripon from 1859 to 1871, was a British politician who served in every Liberal cabinet from 1861 until his death forty-eight years later.-Background...
. He served as an officiating judge three more times before he received his full appointment as Puisne Judge in 1887. Throughout his time on the bench, Mahmood was known for his lengthy, detailed written judgments, many of which were published in the Law Reports for those years. Whitley Stokes, Law Member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council
Council of India
The Council of India was the name given at different times to two separate bodies associated with British rule in India.The original Council of India was established by the Regulating Act of 1773 as a council of four formal advisors to the Governor-General at Fort William...
in India during the years 1877 to 1882, later praised Mahmood's judgments in his Anglo-Indian Codes. Likewise, in an obituary he wrote, Tej Bahadur Sapru, a younger contemporary of Mahmood's, commented that his long and detailed judgments were necessary because of the spate of new legislation being enacted that needed to be clarified in a court of law. Nevertheless, it was his prolixity and frequent dissenting opinion
Dissenting opinion
A dissenting opinion is an opinion in a legal case written by one or more judges expressing disagreement with the majority opinion of the court which gives rise to its judgment....
s that led to conflicts with his fellow judges, and eventually to an early retirement in 1893. After his retirement from the judiciary, he returned to his legal practice as a barrister, working in Lucknow
Lucknow
Lucknow is the capital city of Uttar Pradesh in India. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of Lucknow District and Lucknow Division....
as well as serving on the North-Western Provinces and Oudh Legislative Council from 1896 to 1898.
Educational Work
Shortly after returning to India after his studies in England in 1872, Syed Mahmood wrote a proposal for the establishment of a self-supporting Muslim college in India based on the model he had experienced at Cambridge University. He then assisted his father, Sir Syed, in founding the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College at Aligarh, and continued to play a vital role in its administration even while working as a lawyer and judge in Allahabad. In 1883, he returned to England to recruit Theodore BeckTheodore Beck
Theodore Beck was a British educationalist working for the British Raj in India, who was invited by Sir Syed Ahmed Khan to serve as the first principal of the Muhammadan Anglo-Oriental College in Aligarh, which would later evolve into the Aligarh Muslim University.Beck was educated at the...
to serve as the school's principal. He took an active part in teaching English classes and establishing a law program at the school, donating a major portion of his own collection of legal texts to form a legal library. In 1889, his father nominated Mahmood as Joint Secretary of the board of trustees for the school. After his father's death in 1898, he took up his responsibilities as Life Honorary Joint Secretary. The following year he was replaced in this position by Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk
Mohsin-ul-Mulk
Nawab Mohsin-ul-Mulk, Munir Nawaz Jang, Syed Mehdi Ali was a prominent Indian Muslim politician...
, and was elevated to the post of Honorary President instead.
Syed Mahmood was active in educational ventures outside of the MAOC as well. During the Ripon administration, he was appointed as one of the commissioners of the 1882 Education Commission, investigating the state of education in India. He was also an active participant in the All India Muhammadan Educational Conference
All India Muhammadan Educational Conference
The All India Muhammadan Educational Conference was an organisation promoting modern, liberal education for the Muslim community in India. It was founded by Syed Ahmed Khan, also the founder of the Aligarh Muslim University...
, delivering a series of lectures on the history of English education in India during the annual meetings of 1893 and 1894.
Family
In 1888, Syed Mahmood married Musharraf Jahan, the daughter of Nawab Khwajah Sharfuddin Ahmad, his father's maternal cousin. They had one son Ross MasoodRoss Masood
Sir Ross Masud , was the only grandson of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the father of Muslim renaissance in Indian subcontinent. Born to Syed Mahmood, he was educated at Aligarh and Oxford.-Services to education:...
. Mahmood purchased a home in Allahabad which was subsequently sold to Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru
Motilal Nehru was an early Indian independence activist and leader of the Indian National Congress, who remained Congress President twice, and...
who was also serving as a barrister in the Allahabad court at that time. Earlier in 1876, Syed Mahmood had established another residence in the city of Aligarh; this currently houses the Sir Syed Academy. In 1900, after becoming estranged from both his family and the college at Aligarh, Mahmood moved to Sitapur
Sitapur
Sitapur formerly spelled as Citapore is a town and a municipal board in Sitapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. It is in the Lucknow Division of Uttar Pradesh...
where he lived with his cousin, Syed Mahomed Ahmed, until his death in 1903.
Writings
Syed Mahmood's first contribution to the legal literature of British India was an UrduUrdu
Urdu is a register of the Hindustani language that is identified with Muslims in South Asia. It belongs to the Indo-European family. Urdu is the national language and lingua franca of Pakistan. It is also widely spoken in some regions of India, where it is one of the 22 scheduled languages and an...
translation of the 1872 Law of Evidence and subsequent amendments, published in 1876. He revised his lectures to the Muhammadan Educational Conference and published them in English as A History of English Education in India in 1895. He also contributed articles to the Aligarh Institute Gazette and the Calcutta Review. But his major written contribution consisted of the approximately 300 legal judgments recorded in the Indian Law Reports: Allahabad Series between the years 1882 and 1892, a considerable number of which were over twenty pages in length. Contemporaries note that he was preparing a multi-volume work on Muslim law after his retirement from the bench, but this remained uncompleted at the time of his death.