Act of Parliament | |
Long title | An Act to provide for the Redemption or Commutation of the Dividend on the Capital Stock of the East India Company, and for the transfer of the Security Fund of the India Company to the Secretary of State in Council of India, and for the dissolution of the East India Company. |
---|---|
Citation | 36 & 37 Vict. c. 17 |
Dates | |
Royal assent | 15 May 1873 |
Other legislation | |
Amended by | Statute Law Revision Act 1883 |
Repealed by | Statute Law Revision Act 1966 (UK); Statute Law Revision Act 2007 (RoI) |
Status: Repealed |
The East India Stock Dividend Redemption Act 1873 (36 & 37 Vict. c. 17) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed in 1873, that formally dissolved the British East India Company.
The act was one of the East India Loans Acts 1859 to 1893. [2]
By the time of the act's passing, the British East India Company had already effectively ceased to exist. The company's governmental responsibilities were transferred to the Crown and its liquidation was set in motion by the Government of India Act 1858. [3] The company's 240,000-man military force had also been transferred to the authority of the Crown (subsequently being incorporated into the British Indian Army), significantly reducing its influence.
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies, and later with East Asia. The company gained control of large parts of the Indian subcontinent and Hong Kong. At its peak, the company was the largest corporation in the world by various measures and had its own armed forces in the form of the company's three presidency armies, totalling about 260,000 soldiers, twice the size of the British Army at certain times.
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The East India Company Act 1784, also known as Pitt's India Act, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain intended to address the shortcomings of the Regulating Act of 1773 by bringing the East India Company's rule in India under the control of the British Government. Named for British prime minister William Pitt the Younger, the act provided for the appointment of a Board of Control, and provided for a joint government of British India by the Company and the Crown with the government holding the ultimate authority. A six-member board of control was set up for political activities and Court of directors for financial/commercial activities. As the Regulating Act had many defects, it was necessary to pass another Act to remove these defects.
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Events in the year 1873 in India.
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The East India Company Act 1813, also known as the Charter Act 1813, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that renewed the charter issued to the British East India Company, and continued the 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 power in India.
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The Government of India Act 1833, sometimes called the East India Company Act 1833 or the Charter Act 1833, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, later retitled as the Saint Helena Act 1833. It extended the royal charter granted to the East India Company for an additional twenty years, and restructured the governance of British India.
East India Company Act is a stock short title used in the United Kingdom for legislation relating to the East India Company.
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