The oldest High Court in India, established on 1 July 1862, is the:

The Calcutta High Court is the oldest High Court in India. It was established on 1 July 1862 under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, passed by the British Parliament, and the Letters Patent issued by Queen Victoria. It replaced the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William (set up under the Regulating Act of 1773) and the Sadar Diwani Adalat.

Key facts:

• Its first Chief Justice was Sir Barnes Peacock.
• Its building in Kolkata, completed in 1872, was designed in the Gothic style, modelled on the Cloth Hall of Ypres in Belgium.
• Its jurisdiction covers West Bengal and the Union Territory of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, with a circuit bench at Port Blair (now Sri Vijaya Puram).
• Romesh Chandra Mitter was its first Indian officiating Chief Justice (1882), and Sambhunath Pandit was its first Indian judge (1863).

The three oldest High Courts, all established under the Indian High Courts Act, 1861, are:

• Calcutta High Court: 1 July 1862.
• Bombay High Court: 14 August 1862.
• Madras High Court: 15 August 1862.

They are called "chartered High Courts" because they were set up by royal charter (Letters Patent). The fourth High Court, at Allahabad (then called the High Court of the North-Western Provinces), was set up in 1866 at Agra and moved to Allahabad in 1869.

High Courts in the Constitution:

Articles 214 to 231 deal with High Courts. Article 214 says there shall be a High Court for each state, but Parliament can set up a common High Court for two or more states (Article 231).

India now has 25 High Courts. The newest were set up in 2019, when the Andhra Pradesh High Court (at Amaravati) was created separately from the Telangana High Court.

Why not the other options?

• ✗Bombay High Court was set up on 14 August 1862.
• ✗Madras High Court was set up on 15 August 1862.
• ✗Allahabad High Court was set up in 1866 (at Agra), the fourth oldest.