Abstract
The territory of India is the locus of an ancient and deeply philosophical culture. This land not only gave birth to the epic religion of Hinduism but also to the first urban civilization, the Indus Valley Civilization. Many different kingdoms such as Mauryan Empire and Mughal Empire with customary authoritative decision practices also emerged in the Indian subcontinent. However, the impact these deep and distinct cultures, civilizations and empires have had on decision-making and official behavior in India over the decades has not been studied. This article seeks to study the notion of law/interstate law in pre-colonial India, how it was formulated during and in what way/s the process of making law was different from western traditions of law-making. To achieve this end, the New Haven methodology will be adopted. This work will also provide some preliminary conclusions in relation to Indian foreign policy which remains “formalist dualism” from ancient to current times.
Highlights
In the 19th Century the doctrine of common interests in Europe was supposed to form “the standard of civiliza-How to cite this paper: Lone, F
International law is Hobbesian in character because it is based on fear and an idea to guard itself from “the anarchy of prepolitical societies outside the ordered system of European states” (Moloney, 2011: pp. 189-204)
A society relies on law to develop at least the minimum degree of cohesion inevitable for its existence; law reflects the normative state of a society and relies on it for its implementation” (Paulus, 2013). Keeping in view these general western notions on international law/law, this work proposes to study the eastern tradition of law as used in pre-colonial India during the Mauryan Empire in an interstate capacity
Summary
In the 19th Century the doctrine of common interests in Europe was supposed to form “the standard of civiliza-. A society relies on law to develop at least the minimum degree of cohesion inevitable for its existence; law reflects the normative state of a society and relies on it for its implementation” (Paulus, 2013) Keeping in view these general western notions on international law/law, this work proposes to study the eastern tradition of law (authoritative decision) as used in pre-colonial India during the Mauryan Empire in an interstate capacity. This study aims to explore whether there was a particular pre-colonial Indian vision of law (including interstate law), legal process, power and collectivism; whether classical Indian approaches to interstate law were liberal or non-liberal when compared to the Westphalian understanding of international law; whether under the conceptual tools of positivism, is there a gap in understanding of law between European and non-European world. In order to put the precolonial understanding of interstate law in perspective a brief colonial and post-colonial history will be reviewed with an aim to establish whether such interstate law and foreign policy remains unchanged or not
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