The Evernight: Darkness, Law and Policing in Early Colonial Calcutta, 1770s-1800s

Night unsettled the social and urban order that colonial governance sought to secure through the rule of law. Under cover of darkness, threats to life and property—at once individual and collective—repeatedly exposed the fragility of legal authority in early colonial Calcutta. Nocturnal disorder was not merely a backdrop to challenges to urban governance; it played a decisive role in the emergence of policing in the city. Yet the institutionalization of policing, rather than simply reinforcing law, also generated a crisis within law itself.

Darkness thus acquired a double significance. On the one hand, the conquest of night became a fundamental condition for establishing the rule of law. On the other, the expansion of police power—often through practices of summary justice—became one of the principal means through which that legal order was asserted.

Drawing on the intertwined histories of night, crime, and policing, this presentation explores the analytical possibilities of the category of the “everynight” in understanding the relationship between darkness, law, and urban order in colonial Calcutta.