<P> Cornwallis received critical assistance from others in his effort to introduce legal reforms . William Jones, an expert on languages, translated existing Hindu and Muslim penal codes into English so that they could be evaluated and applied by English - speaking judges . Cornwallis began in 1787 by giving limited criminal judicial powers to the company's revenue collectors, who already also served as civil magistrates . He also required them to report regularly on detention times and sentences given . In 1790 the company took over the administration of justice from the nawab, and Cornwallis introduced a system of circuit courts with a superior court that met in Calcutta and had the power of review over circuit court decisions . Judges were drawn from the company's European employees . These reforms also included changes to the penal codes to begin harmonising the different codes then in use . By the time of his departure in 1793 his work on the penal code, known in India as the Cornwallis Code, was substantially complete . </P> <P> One consequence of the Cornwallis Code was that it, in effect, institutionalised racism in the legal system . Cornwallis, in a manner not uncommon at the time, believed that well - bred gentlemen of European extraction were superior to others, including those that were the product of mixed relationships in India . Of the latter, he wrote "as on account of their colour & extraction they are considered in this country as inferior to Europeans, I am of opinion that those of them who possess the best abilities could not command that authority and respect which is necessary in the due discharge of the duty of an officer ." In 1791 he issued an order that "No person, the son of a Native Indian, shall henceforward be appointed by this Court to Employment in the Civil, Military, or Marine Service of the Company ." Cornwallis's biographers, the Wickwires, also observe that this institutionalisation of the British as an elite class simply added another layer on top of the complex status hierarchy of caste and religion that existed in India at the time . Cornwallis could not have formalised these policies without the (tacit or explicit) agreement of the company's directors and employees . </P> <P> Cornwallis's attitude toward the lower classes did, however, include a benevolent and somewhat paternalistic desire to improve their condition . He introduced legislation to protect native weavers who were sometimes forced into working at starvation wages by unscrupulous company employees, outlawed child slavery, and established in 1791 a Sanskrit college for Hindus that is now the Government Sanskrit College in Benares . He also established a mint in Calcutta that, in addition to benefiting the poor by providing a reliable standard currency, was a forerunner to India's modern currency . </P> <P> The Company's acquisition of the territories of Bengal in the 1760s led to its decisions to collect taxes as high as 89% of land produce in the area as a means of reducing investment capital directed toward India . A variety of taxation schemes were implemented in the following years, none of which produced satisfactory results, and many of which left too much power over the natives in the hands of the tax collectors, or zamindars . The company's directors gave Cornwallis the task of coming up with a taxation scheme that would meet the company's objectives without being an undue burden on the working men of its territories . </P>

Which of the following is the first step in the general plan to refusing requests