The Madras High Court is the high court of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
History :- The court is one of the three High Courts in India established in the three Presidency Towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras by letters patent granted by Queen Victoria, bearing date 26 June 1862. It exercises original jurisdiction over the city of Chennai and appellate jurisdiction over the entire state of Tamil Nadu and Union territory of Puducherry, as well as extraordinary original jurisdiction, civil and criminal, under the letters patent and special original jurisdiction for the issue of writs under the Constitution of India. Covering 107 acres, the court complex is one of the largest in the world, next only to Supreme Court of the United Kingdom, London.
It consists of 74 judges and a chief justice who are in charge of the general policy adopted in the administration of justice. In September 2016, the centre government forwarded names of 15 new judges to the President for his signature on their warrants of appointment. Of the 15, nine are from among lawyers and six from the subordinate judiciary. Justice V. K. Tahilramani of the Bombay High Court has been appointed as Chief Justice of Madras High Court and assumed Office on 12th August 2018, after Justice Indira Banerjee was elevated to the Supreme Court of India.
Supreme Court
| Chief Justice | Term |
|---|---|
| Sir Thomas Andrew Lumisden Strange | 1801–1816 |
| Sir John Henry Newbolt | 1816–1820 |
| Sir Edmond Stanley | 1820–1825 |
| Sir Ralph Palmer | 1825–1835 |
| Sir Robert Buckley Comyn | 1835–1842 |
| Sir Edward John Gambier | 1842–1850 |
| Sir Christopher Rawlinson | 1850–1859 |
| Sir Henry Davison | 1859–1860 |
| Sir Colley Harman Scotland | 1860–1861 |
High Court (British Administration)
| Chief Justice | Term |
|---|---|
| Sir Colley Harman Scotland | 1861–1871 |
| Sir Adam Bittleston | 1866–1867 (acting) |
| Sir Walter Morgan | 1871–1879 |
| Sir Charles Arthur Turner | 1879–1885 |
| Sir Arthur John Hammond Collins | 1885–1898 |
| Charles Arnold White | 1899–1914 |
| John Edward Power Wallis | 1914–1921 |
| Sir Walter George Salis Schwabe | 1921–1924 |
| Sir Murray Coutts-Trotter | 1924–1929 |
| Sir Horace Owen Compton Beasley | 1929–1937 |
| Sir Alfred Henry Lionel Leach | 1937–1947 |
| Sir Frederick William Gentle | 1947–1948 |
High Court (Indian Administration)
| Chief Justice | Term |
|---|---|
| P. V. Rajamannar | 1948 – 10 May 1961 |
| S. Ramachandra Iyer | 10 May 1961 – 23 November 1964 |
| Palagani Chandra Reddy | 23 November 1964 – 1 July 1966 |
| M. Anantanarayanan | 1 July 1966 – 1 May 1969 |
| Kuppuswami Naidu Veeraswami | 1 May 1969 – 8 April 1976 |
| Palapatti Sadaya Goundar Kailasam | 8 April 1976 – 3 January 1977 |
| Padmanabhapillay Govindan Nair | 3 January 1977 – 29 May 1978 |
| Tayi Ramaprasada Rao | 29 May 1978 – 6 November 1979 |
| Muhammad Kassim Muhammad Ismail | 6 November 1979 – 12 March 1982 |
| Krishna Ballabh Narayan Singh | 12 March 1982 – 2 April 1984 |
| Madhukar Narhar Chandurkar | 2 April 1984 – 19 October 1989 |
| Adarsh Sein Anand | 1 November 1989 – 16 June 1992 |
| Kanta Kumari Bhatnagar | 15 June 1992 – 1 July 1993 |
| Kudarikoti Annadanayya Swamy | 1 July 1993 – 7 July 1997 |
| Manmohan Singh Liberhan | 7 July 1997 – 25 May 1999 |
| Ashok Chhotelal Agarwal | 24 May – 9 September 1999 |
| K. G. Balakrishnan | 9 September 1999 – 13 September 2000 |
| Nagendra Kumar Jain | 13 January 2000 – 12 September 2001 |
| B. Subhashan Reddy | 12 September 2001 – 28 November 2004 |
| Markandey Katju | 28 November 2004 – 12 November 2005 |
| Ajit Prakash Shah | 12 November 2005 – 11 May 2008 |
| Asok Kumar Ganguly | 21 May 2008 – 9 March 2009 |
| Hemant Laxman Gokhale | 9 March 2009 – 10 June 2010 |
| M Y Iqbal | 11 June 2010 – 6 February 2013 |
| Rajesh Kumar Agrawal | 7 February 2013 – 23 October 2013 (Acting) 24 October 2013 – 12 February 2014 |
| Satish K Agnihotri | 13 February 2014 – 25 July 2014 (Acting) [18] |
| Sanjay Kishan Kaul | 26 July 2014 – 15 February 2017 [19] |
| Huluvadi G. Ramesh | 16 February 2017 – 4 April 2017 (Acting) 7 August 2018 – 11 August 2018 |
| Indira Banerjee | 5 April 2017 – 6 August 2018 |
| Vijaya Kamlesh Tahilramani | 12 August 2018 – |