ABSTRACT
The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It was established as the ‘High Court of Judicature at Fort William’ on 1 July 1862 under the High Courts Act, 1861. It has now jurisdiction over the state of West Bengal and the Union territories of the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The High Court building, designed by the then government architect, Walter Granville, is an exact replica of the thirteenth-century StadtHaus (Cloth House/Hall) in Ypres, Belgium. It is recorded that when the original Stadt-Haus burnt down during the First World War, a blue print of Granville’s Calcutta High Court had to be consulted before rebuilding it.
