Administrative Policies — Key Changes

Entry	Year	Description	Impact
21 Geo. III, c.70, s.XXIII	1781	Section XXIII of the Act of Settlement, 1781 empowered the Governor-General and Council to frame regulations for the Provincial Courts and Councils. Copies had to be sent within six months to the Court of Directors and a principal Secretary of State; the King in Council could disallow or amend them. The provision also stipulated that the regulations should not impose a new expense on suitors. This amended the earlier administrative framework rather than simply restating a governor’s personal policy.	The practical change concerned who could make rules for provincial institutions and how those rules were supervised. The official Report on the Moral and Material Progress and Condition of India for 1882–83 explains that this power operated without reference to the Calcutta Supreme Court, unlike the earlier registration arrangement. The result was greater room for executive regulation, subject to the specified imperial controls. Distinguish rule-making authority from proof that a particular revenue or judicial policy worked well.