LegislationEast India Company rule

Charter Act of 1833 centralises lawmaking

· London

The Government of India Act 1833 removed the Madras government's power to make its own laws and centralised it in Calcutta.

The Government of India Act 1833 renewed the Company's charter and gave the Governor-General in Council exclusive legislative powers for the whole of British India. It deprived the governors of Madras and Bombay of the legislative powers they had held until then. The presidencies had no representation in the central legislative council. The over-centralisation was criticised for making the governance of distant Madras slow, a concern later partly addressed by the Charter Act of 1853 and the Indian Councils Act of 1861.

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