We examine the evolution of fishing rights in colonial Bengal through a series of cases heard at the Calcutta High Court in the 1880s and culminating in the passage of legislation in 1889. We posit an implicit relational contract between the colonizing British and the landowning class in colonial Bengal as a way to understand the concurrent evolution of fishing rights and institutions of governance in the region. The system of incentives created by this contract determined the development of fishing rights at a crucial moment in the history of colonial Bengal and, more broadly, became a primary mechanism of institutional change in the region. The analysis also shows the High Court to have acted, albeit in vain, as a truly independent judiciary; had its resolution of the cases prevailed, the institutional development of the region might have been substantially different than it was.

中文翻译：

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捕捞权与殖民政府：孟加拉国总统制下的体制发展

我们通过一系列在1880年代在加尔各答高等法院审理并最终在1889年通过立法的案件来考察孟加拉殖民地捕捞权的演变。我们在殖民地英国人和殖民地的地主阶层之间建立了隐含的关系契约孟加拉国是了解该地区捕捞权和治理机构同步发展的一种方式。由该合同创造的激励机制决​​定了在孟加拉殖民地历史上关键时刻捕鱼权的发展，并且更广泛地成为该地区体制变革的主要机制。分析还表明，高等法院虽然是徒劳的，但实际上是一个真正独立的司法机构。以胜诉的方式胜诉，