The Madras High Court is a constitutional institution, specifically one of the oldest High Courts in India, established as a superior court of record for the state of Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry. Its origin dates back to June 26, 1862, when it was established by a Letters Patent granted by the English Crown under the authority of the British Parliament's Indian High Courts Act, 1861. This creation solved the problem of a fragmented judicial system by replacing and merging the existing Supreme Court of Judicature at Madras and the Sadr Diwani Adalat.
The court primarily works under the framework of the Constitution of India, which recognizes its status. It exercises appellate jurisdiction over all subordinate courts in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Crucially, it also retains original jurisdiction over the city of Chennai (formerly Madras). Its mechanism for upholding fundamental rights and the rule of law is through the power to issue writs, which is a special original jurisdiction under the Constitution. The court's sanctioned strength is 75 judges, including the Chief Justice.
The Madras High Court connects directly to the Supreme Court of India, which hears appeals from its judgments. A significant structural connection is its permanent bench at Madurai, which was established on July 24, 2004, under the Madras High Court (Establishment of a permanent bench at Madurai) Order, 2004, issued by the Government of India by virtue of Section 51(2) of the States Re-organisation Act, 1956. While the city was renamed Chennai in 1996, the institution has stayed the same, continuing to function under the name Madras High Court. A recent example of its function is its stay on the Tamil Nadu government's amendments that aimed to strip the Governor of the power to appoint Vice Chancellors in state-run universities.