E-Book Overview
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.
E-Book Content
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. Aakash Singh Rathore specializes in Legal Theory (Post-Doctorate) and Comparative Constitutional Law (LL.M.), and is currently Visiting Professor at the Centre for Philosophy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India. He is also an International Fellow of the Center for Ethics and Global Politics in Rome, Italy. His publications include Plato’s Labyrinth: Sophistries, Lies and Conspiracies in Socratic Dialogues (2018), Indian Political Theory: Laying the Groundwork for Svaraj (2017) and Indian Political Thought: A Reader (co-edited with Silika Mohapatra, 2010), also published by Routledge. Garima Goswamy has taught Philosophy at Lady Shri Ram College, St Stephen’s College, Laxmibai College and Hansraj College, University of Delhi, and at BML Munjal University, India. Currently she works in the risk-consulting industry. ‘Legal philosophy has long been dominated by Western ideas and leading figures. This important new book surveys these concepts and contributions, and then brings them into conversation with indigenous Indian thought. The result is fascinating and opens up radically new perspectives for jurisprudence.’ Thom Brooks, Professor and Chair of Law and Government and Dean at Durham Law School, UK ‘Finally a book which rights the wrongs inflicted upon “Jurisprudence” in Indian Law schools. Bridging classic western legal philosophy with Indian intellectual traditions and praxis, Rethinking Indian Jurisprudence will inaugurate a new pedagogical practice in law.’ Kalpana Kannabiran, Professor and Director, Council for Social Development