From dharma to law and back? Postmodern Hindu law in a global world (original) (raw)
Related papers
2001
This study, based on indological and legal scholarship, explores to what extent Hindu law, as a conceptual entity and a legal system, is visibly and invisibly present in contemporary Indian law-making. It is found that, defying many death wishes and contradicting pronouncements of its demise, Hindu law is alive and well in various postmodern manifestations. Both at the conceptual level and within processes of official law-making and policy formulation, postmodern Hindu concepts and rules retain a powerful voice in how India, in the 21st century, is seeking to achieve social and economic justice for over a billion people. Rejecting the agenda of hindutva and its opponents as too narrow and politically motivated, the present study presents a holistic view of Hindu legal systems and concepts and their contemporary and future relevance.
The Displacement of Traditional Law in Modern India
Journal of Social Issues, 1968
Contemporary Indian law is, for the most part, palpably foreign in origin or inspiration and it is notoriously incongruent with the attitudes and concerns of much of the population which lives under it. However, the present legal system is firmly established and the likelihood of its replacement by a revived "indigenous" system is extremely small. The modern Indian legal system, then, presents a n instance of the apparent displacement of a major intellectual and institutional complex within a highly developed civilization by one largely of foreign inspiration. This paper attempts to trace the process by which the modern system, introduced by the British, transformed and supplanted the indigenous legal systems-in particular, that system known as Hindu law.
Rethinking Indian Jurisprudence
What is law? What is the source of law? What is the law for? How does law differ from other norms or codes of conduct? What is the difference between law and morality? Who is obligated to follow the law and why? What is the difference between moral and legal obligation? This book addresses these foundational questions about the law in general, and seeks to reorient our thoughts to the specific nature of law in India, the India of today, and the possible India of the future. This volume: covers relevant foundational elements, concepts and questions of the discipline; brings the uniqueness of Indian Philosophy of Law to the fore; critically analyzes the major theories of jurisprudence; examines legal debates on secularism, rationality, religion, rights and caste politics; and presents useful cases and examples, including free speech, equality and reservation, queer law, rape and security, and the ethics of organ donation. Lucid and accessible, the book will be indispensable to students, teachers and scholars of law, philosophy, politics as well as philosophy of law, sociology of law, legal theory and jurisprudence.
THE DHARMASASTRA AND MODERN LAW Letter and Spirit of Law in Indian Tradition
Vedic Nyaya samagam, 2024
This article on the dharmasastra and modern law uses the concept of legal pluralism that has an important place in recent debates about the nature and aims of law. The concept of legal pluralism means that law should be treated as embedded in the broader culture and tradition of society. In a sense, law is culture. Concept of legal pluralism emphasizes diversity in the professional juristic realm in different countries and societies. It refers to a general consciousness or experience of law that is widely shared by those who constitute a nation. Culture is fundamental-a kind of lens through which all aspects of law is perceived, or a gateway of understanding through which we must pass so as to have any genuine access to the meaning of law in society. 1 In India, the social and cultural concepts of law that emerge out of the several frames of reference in the Veda, Dharmasastra, the constituent assembly debates and the judicial decisions, enable us to view the law in an integrative perspective that is closer to Indian cultural tradition. The value of such historical and sociological approach lies in its unifying vision of the social, cultural and positivist aspects of the concepts of law in Indian tradition. A juridical system that does not correspond to the social and cultural sensitivities of a society can not be owned by the people as their system but will be seen as something foreign and imposed. Without a conducive social and cultural conceptualization mere formal law cannot create willing legal and moral obligation. A holistic concept of law including both ethical and legal perspectives seems to provide a more realistic picture of Indian legal tradition.
Hinduism and Law: An Introduction
2010
Edited by Timothy Lubin, Donald R. Davis Jr., and Jayanth K. Krishnan. Covering the earliest Sanskrit rulebooks through to the codification of 'Hindu law' in modern times, this interdisciplinary volume examines the interactions between Hinduism and the law. The authors present the major transformations to India's legal system in both the colonial and post colonial periods and their relation to recent changes in Hinduism. Thematic studies show how law and Hinduism relate and interact in areas such as ritual, logic, politics, and literature, offering a broad coverage of South Asia's contributions to religion and law at the intersection of society, politics and culture. In doing so, the authors build on previous treatments of Hindu law as a purely text-based tradition, and in the process, provide a fascinating account of an often neglected social and political history. Download: Front matter and introduction.
The author underscores that the patrimonial liberal Rule of Law (ROL) discourse usually disregards alternative traditions. First, it does not permit any reflection on the normative socialist ROL conceptions. Second, it disregards the very existence of other ROL traditions: for example, the precolonial, those shaped by the revolt against the Old Empire, or the non-mimetic contributions by the proud judiciaries in some "developing societies".