Calcutta High Court — the one with the oldest paper trail

If Indian High Courts have a family tree, Calcutta sits at the root: it traces its lineage back to the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William, chartered by King George III in 1774, nearly a century before the modern High Court system existed. The 1862 charter that makes it officially India's "oldest High Court" is really just the point where that older institution got renamed. Its jurisdiction reaches the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, hundreds of kilometres out to sea, through a dedicated Circuit Bench at Port Blair.

Jurisdiction Map: Covers West Bengal, Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Principal seat: Kolkata, West Bengal. It also reaches outlying parts of its territory through: Circuit Bench at Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar Islands); a permanent Circuit Bench has also been established at Jalpaiguri for North Bengal.

Citation: Indian High Courts Act 1861.