The question about the applicability of this part of the Crown prerogative in India was considered by the Bombay High Court as early as 1868. In The Secretary of State in Council for India v. The Bombay Landing & Shipping Co. (Limited)., (2 ) Westropp, J. has elaborately examined this problem. The learned Judge held E that a judgment debt due to the Crown was in Bombay_entitled to the same precedence in execution as a like judgment debt in England, if there be no special legislative provision affecting that right in the particular case. Similarly, it was held that a judgment debt due to the Secretary of State in Council for India was in Bombay entitled to the like precedence for the reason that such F debt is vested in the Crown, and when realised, falls into the State Treasury. Tracing the origin of this doctrine, the learned Judge referred to the Commentary of Lord Coke on Littleton, where Lord Coke has put the matter in these words; "The King, by his prerogative, regularly is to be preferred, in payment of his duty or debt, before any subject although the King's debt or duty be the G latter" (p. 48). The learned Judge then referred to some English decisions bearing on this point and concluded that "in England the right of the Crown to precedence does not arise out of any peculiar quality in the writ of extent. The reasoning of Lord Coke and Chief Baron Parker rests on a broader foundation, namely, that the destination of the debt, when recovered, is the State Treasury" H (p. 50).
