The Shift of Authority

Abstract

This chapter seeks to dwell on how colonial power worked to create the process of assumption that colonial administration was salvaging the customs and practices of the Nagas through the intervention of colonial courts. It will discuss how ‘customs’ were upheld according to the circumstances and needs of the colonial administration. In the Naga Hills, the chiefs enjoyed certain authorities which the British needed to influence and hence recognizing their status became imperative. Most of the litigation brought to the magistrate’s court in Naga Hills, as the case records show, initiated a whole process of legal procedures which originated and ended with the magistrate. The cases brought to court were oral presentations as the litigants had no written documents to cite from. Indigenous authorities often failed to grasp the colonial intentions when they rushed for momentary gratification and participated in what became measures to further the practical convenience and expediency of the colonial administration.