The Role of Technology in Modernizing India’s Legal System: A Public Perspective

This paper seeks to present the well known philosopher G.W.F. HEGEL, who is related to the Historical Law School. He said that at the level of morality a right and wrong is nothing else, but it is matter of individual conscience. He describes his philosophy with the three concepts of will, freedom and rights and he described that what is free will? the paper presents the relevance of his philosophy with the help of Indian Contract Law and the cases that is decided by the courts with the application of his philosophy i.e. the ‘Philosophy of Rights’. In Atlas v Kafko, the court held that it is case of the undue influence and by it the consent is not a free consent. It is not contract and the appeal was rejected by the court. Relevance in world is introduced in India with the help of Indian Contract Law and by the cases in which the Hegelian philosophy has been mentioned. As the Hegel talked about the contract, the Indian legal system has also mentioned about the contract law and Hegelian theory has importance not only with the Indian legal system but in English legal system also. Hegel has mentioned ‘consent’ to the contract especially ‘free consent’; it has great importance in both Indian contract Law and English Legal System. The English legal system has given a lot of emphasis on the consent in terms of contract to save the individuality. In Atlas v Kafko , carrier A agreed to carry B’s certain goods at a certain rate, which was calculated by A on the basis that x cartons of B’s goods could be carried per load. Finding that the calculation was wrong and knowing that B’s survival in the business depended on the goods reaching an important customer, Woolworth Plc, A told B that A would not carry B’s goods to W unless B paid twice rate. B was unable to find an alternative carrier within time and promised to pay the new rate. But later B refused to pay the difference money. A’s action to recover that sum failed because B had agreed to pay under compulsion and under protest. The court held that it is a case of undue influence.

The contemporary Indian legal system owes its origin predominantly to the English common law system. Although this system ushered modernity in India, it has failed to perform optimally on several counts owing to its significant incompatibility with existing Indian traditions. Taking into account indigenously created and evolved legal apparatuses, this volume examines all aspects of the Indian legal system in the context of historical, sociological, and anthropological realities of society. The establishment and growth of common law in India introduced a certain kind of dominant legal apparatus, significantly transforming the understanding of India’s legal plurality. The existence, however, of multiple non-state legal traditions challenges the singular identity of the Indian legal system. Postulating that legal systems cannot be seen or studied in isolation from the cultures of groups whose affairs they regulate, The Indian Legal System explores the preference for non-state legal practices among several communities in India, despite the existence of a formal state legal system.

Indian Legal System is a unique amalgamation of Hindu, Islamic, English and certain other influences and has a diverse and extensive history. Hindu Civilizations ruled the subcontinent until the Muslims invaded the land in the 12th Century AD which marked the beginning of a period of Islamic dominance. Thereafter, the Englishmen rose to power and took control of the subcontinent and introduced its own systems and policies. Thus, the Indian system we see today is perplex and enshrines major portions of the systems of these three eras. In India, Muslim Law has existed from centuries and has been continuously subjected to various amendments and regulations over the period of time. The specific civil matters such as marriage, inheritance and transfer of properties have been adjudicated by the Personal Law, which has been modified and has remained an integral part of the Indian Society. This research article has been written to analyze the promulgation of Islamic jurisprudence in the Indian legal system over the period of time. Herein, the basic principles of Islamic laws are discussed, as it was during its foundation. The paper first attempts to study the true nature of Islamic Jurisprudence i.e. what is it about and what are its key features. Then the article studies the promulgation and historical evolution of the same in the Indian Legal System, with respect to the legislation and amendments made over the period of time. Thus, after having the basic idea of the subject and its implications in India, the author discusses the idea of the Uniform Civil Code.

The foundation of Kautlya, sometimes Chanakya, a figment of a lawyer and political philosopher whose writing commenced in the fourth century BC, is significant in legal and political philosophy. Arthashastra, his foundational works, set the primary notions regarding laws, government, and justice in ancient India. Some of them still exist in the contemporary Indian legal system; his jurisprudence underscored Dandaniti (Rule of Law), Rajadharma (Dues of the King), and Vyavahara (Judicial Procedures). Under Kautilya, Arthashastra' s theories on judicial hierarchy, legal codification, rule of law, and anti-corruption policies are aligned with the Indian Constitution, Indian Penal Code (IPC), Code of Criminal Procedure (Crpc), and Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Specifically, it studies how these ideas help develop modern Indian law concerning constitutional law, administrative law, and human rights. This paper analyzes carefully the various court rulings and legislative actions that can bring forth how the notions of Kautilya are assimilated into the Indian legal theory for a robust and fair legal system. This study argues that by infusing Kautilya's principles, the present-day legal systems in India become more valid and effective; it further suggests other prospects for using these principles in tackling issues of contemporary law. Addendum: There is a reference in some court judgments to Arthashastra by the Indian legal system, thus underlining its historical and cultural importance. However, much of the modern legal approach, especially concerning the individual rights-based approach, cries against Kautlya's tenets. Modern legal systems stress social justice and equality as defined in the Indian Constitution and several international human rights treaties.

The Indian legal system is deeply intertwined with the country's constitutional framework, which establishes various constitutional bodies to uphold governance, justice, and democratic integrity. These institutions, including the Election Commission of India, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), the Finance Commission, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC), and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), play a crucial role in preserving the balance of power, ensuring accountability, and protecting fundamental rights. The dissertation examines the historical evolution, legal foundations, and contemporary relevance of these bodies in shaping India's legal landscape. This study explores how constitutional bodies function as pillars of democracy by maintaining checks and balances, curbing executive overreach, and fostering transparency in governance. Through an in-depth analysis of constitutional provisions, judicial precedents, and legislative enactments, this research evaluates the effectiveness of these entities in safeguarding constitutional principles. It also investigates their administrative challenges, including political interference, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and evolving regulatory needs. The dissertation critically assesses the role of the judiciary in interpreting and reinforcing the powers of constitutional bodies. By studying landmark Supreme Court judgments and High Court rulings, the research sheds light on how these institutions have evolved to meet the demands of an ever-changing socio-political and legal environment. Additionally, this study compares India's constitutional bodies with similar institutions in other democratic nations, providing a comparative perspective on best practices, structural efficiencies, and mechanisms for institutional strengthening. Furthermore, the research highlights the interplay between constitutional bodies and the broader legislative framework, discussing their contributions to law enforcement, public policy formation, and governance reforms. Special attention is given to their role in electoral integrity, financial regulation, public service appointments, and human rights protection, illustrating their indispensable function in upholding democratic values. By synthesizing constitutional theory, legal analysis, and empirical observations, this dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of how constitutional bodies shape and sustain India's legal system. The findings underscore the need for structural reforms, enhanced autonomy, and greater public awareness to ensure their continued efficacy in protecting constitutional democracy.

The most of the modern problems, Indian law and legal system face have genesis in the British colonial legal strategies. Reception and so called Indianization of English law relegated indigenous knowledge, practices and understanding of law and can be seen as a psychological project of common law and legal scholarship. The project facilitated the objectives of the modernism by eliminating all possible alternative traditions of knowledge, culture, history, legal philosophy, or jurisprudence, prevalent in the ancient societies, for example, in India and other parts of Asia. The historical and comparative study of the Hindu rich traditions of knowledge and cultural heritage have potential to offer practical solutions for many challenges the Indian legal system encounter in this century. There is need to go beyond paradigm of ‘faith of right framework’ and to question the suspicious, predatory, and abductive juridical structure of the modern Indian legal system, interpretation, and concepts in law for salvaging legal philosophy from the spirit of slavery that has produced a deep cultural as well as historical alienation of self. The Indian law and legal education confront massive problems even after seventy years of the independence from the colonial rule. It includes multifarious incidence of ‘exclusion’ from access to social and natural goods, socioeconomic disasters such as hunger deaths, malnutrition, access to justice, education, health, and ecological and environmental tragedies, to name a few, and can directly be traced to be the products of modern common law in India. Historical and comparative studies in the Hindu philosophy and ancient social practices can offer multiple insights for the present law. Indian law makers and legal scholarship can have an entire repository of solutions laying in it. In addition, such studies can be useful in developing a better understanding of ‘the idea of law or legal system itself’ in a globalized world.

Discussing several methods of comparative legal research and emphasizing upon the point that the two or more systems to be compared should not either be so similar that there is nothing for the one to learn from the other, nor should they be so dissimilar that there is no relationship whatsoever between them. Following this principle, this chapter finds that there is enough similarity as well as dissimilarity between the Indian legal system and the legal system of the European Union. Acknowledging that fact, the chapter then proceeds to compare some of the aspects of European and Indian legal systems from which both of them may benefit.

The moral issue of the legal department is an extremely important and controversial issue. The scope of this paper is to discuss the role of morality in the current legal system, with particular emphasis on India 's recent judgments and their implications for society. This paper also focuses on the debate between freedom and security, the importance of intention in determining whether an act is criminal, and the role of the state in promoting and maintaining certain moral standards. It further discusses the impact of moral concepts in the future era and the way forward, distinguishing between illegal and immoral. It also discusses in detail the judgments that mark major changes in the country 's belief system, such as the decriminalization of adultery, the recognition of the rights of LGBTQ + groups, and the right to die with dignity. The purpose of this paper is to present the relationship between law and morality in society and to examine its current relevance, particularly in the Indian legal system.

In this paper, the author considers the goal of universal harmonization of the interpretation of the doctrine of equivalents and the scope for adopting the same in the Indian legal system. The position in the United States has changed drastically with the Supreme Court failing to maintain any consistency with respect to the tests to determine whether a claim falls within the doctrine of equivalents. These inconsistencies have been discussed and the approach charted by the Supreme Court has been elaborated on. Thereafter, the author has adopted a comparative approach and has discussed the position of the law in the Germany, European Union, Japan and the United Kingdom. While discussing the position in India, the author has discussed the recent recognition granted to the doctrine within the Indian legal system, and pursuant to the comparative analysis seeks to determine the interpretation best suited to the Indian legal system.

This article deals with the development of a legal regime for liability of regional navigation satellite systems, especially in context of the Republic of India. In the near future, various significant sectors and applications in India will depend on the Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS). However, navigation satellite systems and applications relying on information provided by the navigation satellites are not immune from irregularities. In case of any damage caused on account of such malfunction, there is a need for developing a legal regime governing civil liability for satellite systems. The development for a liability regime for satellite based services captured the attention of International Organizations and various interested parties twenty years ago, and intensive consultations have taken place at Unidroit and various international institutions, however the subject has eluded any consensus among stakeholders till date. In light of recent developments in international policy on satellite navigation, an international convention is the appropriate but unlikely answer. Development of regional agreements or national legislations may pave way for a future convention. Hence, a study on liability for satellite navigation systems at national level holds more relevance today. An Indian perspective on legal liability for navigation satellite systems is significant because it is one of the few countries to have developed self-sufficient navigation satellite systems and while there have been plenty of legal studies on American or European satellite systems, legal literature on the Indian system is scarce. This article aims at analyzing concepts relating to a normative liability law for IRNSS.

Legal education plays an important role in developing lawyers who act as social engineers and work towards the cause of nation building. In a globalized world, law schools face the challenges of increased foreign competition and reduction of the role of the state. At the same time, globalization affords space for re-examining higher education systems by affording opportunity for establishing global universities with international collaborations and programs. This article examines the role of law schools in India and proposes reforms in Indian legal education system in the light of globalization. It examines how the private sector in India can contribute to imparting legal education in public service. Keeping in tune with the developments brought about by globalization, the article proposes setting up global universities with global curricula, faculty, and programs. This article also examines the challenges before the Indian legal education system, including the need to develop good infrastructure, the difficulties in hiring good quality faculty and attracting young lawyers to a career in academia, the lack of research initiatives within Indian law schools, and the lack of academic freedom available to faculty members. The article addresses how a global university can overcome these challenges, creating an environment that promotes teaching, learning, and researching in a manner that inspires future lawyers to work toward establishing a rule of law society in India.

The article examines the standard of assistance provided by Indian legal aid lawyers in light of the international human rights normative framework. It demonstrates that the Indian legal aid system seeks to establish a functional framework to secure justice for all. However, it is not able to ensure that legal aid providers render effective assistance to the beneficiaries. As a result, the system complies with the international human rights standards in terms of legal provisions only; the quality of service delivered does not meet those standards. The article, therefore, recommends some measures to remedy the shortcomings of the Indian legal aid system to bring it into conformity with the international human rights standards and, eventually to guarantee effective assistance from legal aid lawyers.

“Justice delayed is justice denied” and “justice hurried is justice buried” are oft quoted proverbs in legal studies. While the latter is rarely prevalent in India, the former has maligned the image of the Indian legal system considerably. Delay in disposal of cases, pendency of cases, especially those of civil and commercial nature, and inducing unnecessary procedural complexities in litigation process are hindrances that come in the way of access to justice. Several reports of the Law Commission of India have pointed out that the present situation is very grim with escalating number of pending cases in the courts in India. To add to this compelling situation, the COVID-19 pandemic has further disrupted the court proceedings by increasing burden, moving the hearings from physical to virtual courtrooms. The endeavour of the authors in this chapter has been to search for convincing reasons that have led to inordinate delays in disposal of civil cases and to find out possible solutions to this problem plaguing the Indian legal system.

COVID-19 has uncovered cracks in the Indian legal system and the public healthcare system. The Government of India, on March 24, 2020, imposed a lockdown across the entire country to contain the outbreak of the virus. Interestingly, this lockdown was imposed by invoking not only Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act of 1897 but also the Disaster Management Act of 2005 to handle the pandemic. In the present chapter, it is argued that the Indian legal system has proved insufficient to handle the situation created by the pandemic and totally ignores the right to health of citizens. A pandemic like this not only affects the health of people but also leaves the economy in shambles. The sudden lockdown of the nation took the unorganized sector by surprise. Thousands of migrant workers and domestic workers were left to the mercy of their employers. In the chapter, we try to argue that an appropriate health emergency law could accommodate many demands which emerge during a pandemic.

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