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INDIAN JOURNAL OF LEGAL REVIEW

Indian Journal of Legal Review is a Part of Institute of Legal Education, which has been established on January, 2021 with a vision of excellence in legal research and we aim to promote savant excellence in the area of law. 

Indian Journal of Legal Review is Quarterly Publishing Double Blind Peer-Reviewed Online Journal 

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IJLR seeks to provide an interactive platform for the publication of Short Articles, Long Articles, Book Reviews, Case Comments, Research Papers and Essays in the field of Law. IJLR welcomes contributions from all legal branches, as long as the work is original, unpublished and un-plagiarized and is in consonance with the submission guidelines.

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The scope of the journal is to provide an academic medium and an important reference for the advancement and dissemination of research results that support high-level learning, teaching and research in the fields of Legal Studies. Original theoretical work and application-based studies, which contributes to a better understanding of Jurisprudence and technical challenges, are encouraged.

1. IJLR aims to promote savant excellence in the area of law. 2. IJLR aims to focus on legal issues currently being in India as well as those being debated international with specific reference to India. 3. IJLR aims to focusing on issues of social justice and human rights, critique of the legal system, developments in alternative practice and community legal education.

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Legal Education and Research in India: The Changes and the Challenges

  • First Online: 14 February 2018

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  • Bhavani Prasad Panda 3 &
  • Minati Panda 4  

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The evolution of the legal profession in the context of globalization presents a very exciting research frontier and opens newer opportunities for legal education and research institutions.

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Priya Vinjamuri, “Strategic Management and Implementation of Legal Education in India, A Perspective”, NLUDLRS , 2012, at 64; 1 NLUD , 2012, Access to Legal Information and Research in Digital Age, at 110, “The Indian legal education and research is one of the prominent streams where transformations occur and multiple forms of domestic social capital are acquired, exchanged, and converted into other forms of capital that can be deployed on the global stage. As Indian corporate lawyers pursue their roles as architects of globalization, they are becoming a part of the new legal elites that form, sustain and propagate their conceptions of law. Developments in India’s corporate legal sector, together with developments in other emerging economies will have implications for the domestic and global rule of law and will also affect the way lawyers conceptualize, teach and practice law in the US and other advanced economies”.

C.R. Kumar, Global Legal Education in India: Opportunities and Challenges (Halsbury’s Law, 2009) at 13; See also John Flood, “Legal Education, Globalisation and the New Imperialism”, in Fiona Cownie (ed.), The Law School — Global Issues , Local Questions (Ashgate Publishing Ltd., UK 1999); Donald B King, “Globalization Thinking for Modern Legal Education”, in Donald B. King (ed.), Legal Education for the 21st Century (Fred B Rothman & Co., 1999).

K. Jayasurya, “The Rule of Law in the Era of Globalization: Globalization, Law and the Transformation of Sovereignty, The Emergence of Global Regulatory Governance”, 6(2) Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies , 1999, pp. 425–456.

The importance of understanding law in a critical and reflective manner is a concomitant necessity due to the ideological nature and function of law. Granfield explained that the corpus of “[law] is a loose collection of propositions that constitute and reify ideas about such principles as rights, authority, obligations, and justice. Law then is ideological, and to study law … is to engage in a course of study in ideology.” To be exposed to ideology in this manner without knowing that one is being exposed to ideology, without knowing what ideology is and what it does would be indoctrination and would be inconsistent with any academic, liberal arts, or civic conception of legal education. Timothy J Berard, “The Relevance of the Social Sciences for Legal Education”, available at: www.ler.edu.au/vol.%2019%20RTFs/berard.rtf [accessed on April 18, 2013].

Roger Brownsword, “Law Schools for Lawyers, Citizens, and People”, in Fiona Cownie (ed), The Law School — Global Issues, Local Questions , 1999, pp. 27–30, 36–38; “Globalization is already molding the legal landscape in emerging economies and blurring the boundaries between global and local. Global law firms spread their operations through corporate groups to expand to fast-growing markets, and local firms are altering their structures and products to globalize—although the extent to which these firms truly conform to global standards remains an open question”.

S. Randeria, “The State of Globalization: Legal Plurality, Overlapping Sovereignties and Ambiguous Alliances Between Civil Society and the Cunning State in India”, 24(1) Theory, Culture & Society, 2007, pp. 1–33; See also M.C. Regan, Jr. and P.T. Heenan, “Supply Chains and Porous Boundaries: the Disaggregation of Legal Services”, 78(5) Fordham Law Review , 2010, pp. 2137–2191.

“Trade in Legal Services”, a Consultation Paper on Legal Services under GATS in preparation for the ongoing services negotiations at the WTO, Department of Commerce, Trade Policy Division Government of India, 2006, available at: http://commerce.nic.in/trade/consultation-paper-legal-services-GATS.pdf , [accessed on April 1, 2013].

C. Davis and S. Bermeo, “Who files? Developing Country Participation in GATT/WTO Adjudication”, 71(3) The Journal of Politics , 2009, pp. 1033–1049.

India being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has been working toward removing the barriers to trade in legal services and has enforcement powers that could potentially limit the scope of national policy. See for instance Roy Stuckey, “Preparing Students to Practice Law: A Global Problem in Need of Global Solutions”, 43 South Texas Law Review, 2002, at 649.

Veerappa Moily, “Indian Legal System”, New Legal Review , 2010; “The legal profession must rise to the new opportunities that come about as a result of India moving to take her rightful place among the leading nation’s of the world. India deserves to be a leader in the global legal industry—this is our faith, our belief and vision.”

R. Agarwal and S. Nisa, “Knowledge Process Outsourcing: India’s Emergence as a Global Leader”, 5(1) Asian Social Science , 2009, pp. 82–92.

N. Ahmad, “Adapting Indian Legal Education to the Demands of a Globalizing World”, 10(7) German Law Journal , 2009, pp. 847–858.

Priya Vinjamuri, supra note 1, A Perspective—Creation of a good and effective legal suggestion system and implementation of the key areas that are highlighted to promote and improve in their services induce the confidence and boost the morale of the legal fraternity. Unprejudiced implementation of ideas and security for the position and financial stability are the key areas which need emphasis in the Indian legal system as these are very sensitive and challenging aspects the mar the systematic and effective functioning of the legal system. Effective and quality human resource management is another application aspect of effective quality legal management.

Available at: www.adb.org/Documents/Books/Strengthening.Justice./chap05.pd [accessed on April 1, 2013].

“The polarization of the debate and the need to reform regulation to protect indigenous industry are major barriers to moving forward. In the long term, however, India will have difficulty sustaining its position on foreign lawyers because of both the internal politics of the profession and external political pressure.” With respect to the external political dynamics, India as a signatory of the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is under pressure to engage in the progressive removal of trade barriers and to liberalize services markets generally. The fact that the Indian government maintains a generally pro-free-trade attitude further highlights the difficulties of legal protectionism (Government of India, 2006). As India develops a greater stake in, and dependence on, other legal markets (either through the expansion of Indian law firms or through outsourcing) and demands that other countries pursue liberalization in sectors related to India’s interest, it will necessarily become more vulnerable to foreign influence and more willing to open its legal market. As this debate plays out, Indian lawyers are immersed in another globalization process where boundaries are even less clear: the globalization of knowledge.

Though in a recent Madras High Court case, the petitioner explicitly challenged the mode of entry of foreign lawyers in India, alleging that they were operating out of five-star hotels and violating taxation and immigration laws a charge, which the challenged foreign law firms vehemently deny.

Mihaela Papa and David B. Wilkins, “Globalization, Lawyers, and India: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis of Globalization Studies and the Sociology of the Legal Profession”, 18 International Journal of the Legal Profession 2012, at 7; It is by now common knowledge that globalization is transforming virtually every sector of the world’s economy and the transformation has important implications for the rapidly globalizing market for legal services. At the same time, as economic power shifts, India, China and other emerging economies are becoming central players in this market. While scholars studying the legal profession have been increasingly interested in the globalization of the profession in general, there has been little debate about the effects of various globalization processes—economic and non-economic—on the Indian legal profession, and recent scholarly attention to legal developments in India has largely focused on legal process outsourcing and foreign law firm entry.

Globalization of governance presents two major challenges to the legal education. The first challenge is to understand who regulates the legal education and also the profession; and ensure appropriate mechanism. Second, as international institutions and global governance become more relevant and India transforms into a world power, the country has to have lawyers those can lead and defend its rise and shape the global legal order the way India sees fit.

Ibid, So far the much needed support for the regulation of legal education has not commenced, though the legal system is likely to be affected by these developments. India’s ambitions in other areas of global governance have increased, creating a demand for legal capacity building and strategizing to redesign global institutions. As globalization progresses, the regulatory performance of both Indian and global institutions will be tied to efforts to make those involved in governance more accountable.

N.R. Madhava Menon, “A Transformation of Indian Legal Education”, A Blue Paper, Harvard Law School , Program on the Legal Profession , 2012, the expansion of law colleges continued during this period, enrolling annually about 200,000 students in the over 900 law teaching institutions in the country. Quality remained a casualty in many of these institutions which included university departments of law (roughly 150), Government managed/funded colleges of law (about 150) and the rest privately sponsored self-financing mostly part-time (evening) institutions.

Although the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008 began to address some constraints and removed the restriction on the number of partners, significant challenges remains. For example, Indian law firms are still prohibited from maintaining a web site or distributing brochures that describes the firm’s areas of practice and personnel. Needless to say, it is far from clear how much these remaining regulatory restrictions would actually impede the ability of Indian firms to compete with potential foreign competitors. From the standpoint of economic globalization, however, the important point is that the fate of these domestic regulatory restrictions has now become a part of a broader debate over the way that the Indian legal profession will respond both normatively and structurally to the pressures of the global market place.

A strong domestic public interest constituency and infrastructure is crucial for the evolution of social movements that use law to address globalization’s document. India has been a focal point for such globalization battles, which significantly contributed to the global public policy discourse on development and had repercussions far beyond the domestic sphere. A potent example is a multi-level public interest advocacy effort against massive World Bank funded developmental projects and related land acquisitions in river projects, power plants etcetera is yet to evolve.

The characteristic of traditional legal education concerns what is taught. Traditional legal education is almost entirely concerned with the transmission of content knowledge and, more particularly, with teaching legal rules, especially those drawn from case law. According to Dicey, nothing “can be taught to students of greater value, either intellectually or for the purposes of legal practice, than the habit of looking on the law as a series of rules.” The main teaching resource, aside from didactic lectures, is textbooks and case books. These books are commonly written in treatise style, and do not engage the reader in any activity aside from reading. Often texts are marketed as being as suitable for practitioners as they are for students, and this is so even for some subjects commonly taught in the first year of the law degree. This suggests not only a close connection between legal education and legal practice, but also that there is no appreciation of the students’ intellectual development as they progress through their degree. Legal rules are taught in year or semester long subjects, based on nineteenth century categorisations of law and without any consideration of their theoretical, historical, political, or economic foundations. Subjects are treated as discrete and having little direct interaction. Students are taught the same type of material a detailed analysis of common law rules and given the same type of assessment examinations testing mastery of the legal rules and their application to hypothetical problems semester after semester, in much the same way, focusing often exclusively on learning legal rules from listening to an expert describing them, or reading a text which focuses on legal rules. The only thing which changes between subjects and between semesters in the student’s progression through the degree is the substantive rules which form the content of the subjects. See also R.J. Scragg, “Law, Skills and Transactions: The Opportunity for an Expanded Curriculum”, New Zealand Law Journal, 1995 at 234.

In continuum to the problems of litigations, the law statements, documents and the very language of law and court orders provide a contagious territory for breeding enriched arguments on either side.

Supra note 23.

They (the students at law schools) learn—how not to attend the classes,—how to manage high ranking marks,—how to exploit the impoverished institution and abuse on lines of anomaly of the system,—how to bully around and discount law in every thing that follows in life.

For those traditional university educational administrations, legal education is after all—one of the five faculties of disciplines mandatory to attain the seal of approval from University Grants Commission; an unavoidable necessity rather than a component in educational integration. Statistics will certainly reflect that the educational administrators do not want to get marred with the horrific scenario of law schools under their administration. No traditional university authority in India is ever interested in running legal education program within the prevailing model of university system; given the option, probably all the universities in India would remove the “law schools” from their sphere of educational administration.

It may be summed up as—whatever the wisdom in legal scholarship the Nation exhibited has been the individual choice and endeavor of the learned lawyer or a judge or a law teacher despite the fact that the state has failed in its responsibility for legal education.

R. Dhavan, “Means, Motives and Opportunities: Reflecting on Legal Research in India”, 50(6) The Modern Law Review , 1987, pp. 725–749.

S. Gupta, History of Legal Education , (Deep & Deep Publications Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi, 2006); The Bar Council proposed to change this system by phasing out 3-year LLBs (making the 5-year LLB degree the norm and allowing three-year programs only if they focus on specialized areas of law), introducing benchmarking of law colleges, standardizing the academic calendar, creating a new national curriculum and improving teaching and continuing education.

Legally India , July 13, 2010; There are three negative consequences of the teacher-focused nature of traditional legal education. The first is that it leads governments and universities to believe that legal education is inexpensive to provide. Second, students are treated amorphously and as though they are homogenous. Given that law teachers were traditionally predominantly middle class men, third consequence of the teacher focus is that students’ experience of learning is not taken seriously. The assumption is that if the teacher teaches, then the students will learn: if they do not do so successfully, it is the students’ fault. Consistently with this, student learning is not properly evaluated. Evaluation, if it is undertaken at all, is likely to be used in a purely pragmatic sense by both teacher and law school, in which the teacher’s overall satisfaction or popularity rating is used for various purposes and any other feedback received from students is discarded.” Indeed, the former head of the Bar Council recently proposed slashing the number of Indian law schools by more than 80%, from 913 to 175.

In context of Australian Law School it has been analyzed as follow: Mary Keyes and Richard Johnstone, “Changing Legal Education: Rhetoric, Reality, and Prospects for the Future”, 26(4) Sydney Law Review , 2004, at 537, “they conclude with some key challenges facing tertiary legal educators. The first challenge is for Australian law schools to rethink their relationship with the legal profession, to ensure that law schools assert their autonomy in matters of curriculum, teaching and learning and research, so that legal education aims for more than preparing students for work in private legal practice. A second challenge is to take a collective, law school-wide, approach to integrate matters such as legal theory, interdisciplinary, ethics, general and legal skills, and issues of internationalization, gender and indigeneity, so that law students are provided with a coordinated and incremental approach to developing knowledge, skills and attitudes. Third, law schools need collectively to engage with educational theory to develop approaches to structured and activity-based teaching, and to cooperative and collaborative learning in law schools. Finally, the evaluation of teaching and of subjects needs to be rescued from its current use predominantly as a management instrument, and to be used instead by law teachers to understand, reflect upon, and respond to the ways in which students experience law subjects and law teaching”.

There are as many as 15 National Law Universities across the country as on date. The basic premise of most arguments for multi- and inter-disciplinary legal studies (and by extension the relevance of such studies for legal education) is quite simply that legal phenomena and studies of legal phenomena are so various that they necessarily belie the artificial boundaries of established academic disciplines. Moreover, legal phenomena seem to be increasingly various and complex. With the rise of, for example, paralegal professions, competition between law firms and consulting firms for traditional legal work, increasing business interest in multidisciplinary practice, and the increasing interest of law students in joint degrees, legal phenomena are arguably becoming inter-vocational as well as interdisciplinary. The discipline of law has never been up to the task of understanding law in all its facets, and this is becoming increasingly true and increasingly clear as distinctions between law, other vocations, professions and social systems become increasingly contested and confusing. While interdisciplinary scholarship has flourished and its relevance to legal education has not gone unnoticed, the incorporation of interdisciplinary teaching and learning into legal education has certainly not kept pace.

Available at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/career-law-advocacy-skills-national-law-school-of-india-university/1/166227.html “To some extent, this change in perception can be credited to the rising influence of the National Law Universities (NLU’s), widely acknowledged as the leading institutions of legal learning in the country today. In the words of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh the NLU’s are, “a small number of dynamic and outstanding law schools” in the country, which “remain islands of excellence amidst a sea of institutionalised mediocrity.”

Stuckey Roy, Best Practices for Legal Education: A Vision and a Road Map (the Clinical Legal Education Association, United States, 2007) at 2.

Michael Geist, “Where Can You Go Today? The Computerization of Legal Education from Workbooks to the Web”, 11 Harvard Journal of Law and Technology , 1997, at 141; Andrew Smith, Peter Ling and Doug Hill, “Adoption of Multiple Modes of Delivery in Australian Universities”, 3(2) Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice , 2006, pp. 67–68.

Supra note 34, “Last year, approximately 24,000 candidates appeared for the CLAT exam, of which only 1200 or so were selected for admission to the various NLUs.”.

Duxbury makes a complementary point, that the law and society movement has made impressive and important contributions in showing “how the operation of law is very different from what one would expect were one only to study the law itself,” but he also expresses regret that the contributions of law and society scholarship have been undervalued in traditional legal scholarship.

M. Galanter, “New Patterns of Legal Services in India”, in R. Dhavan and M. Galanter (eds), Law and Society in Modern India (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1989); M. Galanter and L. Krishnan, “Debased Informalism: Lok Adalats and Legal Rights in Modern India”, in E. Jensen and T. Heller (eds), Beyond Common Knowledge: Empirical Approaches to the Rule of Law (Stanford University Press, Palo Alto, 2003).

B. Fischer, “Outsourcing Legal Services In Sourcing Ethical Issues: An Examination of the Ethical Considerations Arising from the Practice of Outsourcing”, 16 Southwestern Journal of International Law , 2010 at 454.

To be sure, even if these hiring trends persist, the fact that the NLUs graduate only a tiny fraction of the total number of Indian lawyers will mean that it will take a very long time for the Indian corporate sector to approach the overall size of the “personal plight” (to use Heinz and Lauman’s original evocative phrase) sector of the Indian bar where most Indian law graduates continue to be employed. But even if the overall size of the corporate sector remains relatively small in relation to the Indian bar as a whole, the pattern of elite replication suggested by these placement patterns from the NLUs is still significant. The fact that similar placement patterns in the US have persisted since at least the 1920s notwithstanding concerted efforts by legal reformers to encourage American law students to pursue public interest careers, illustrates the difficulties of changing this dynamic; see Supra note 17, at 15.

Shamnad Basheer, supra note 34, December 28, 2011, “Little wonder then that many of the leading NLU’s have near perfect placement statistics and their graduates earn some of the highest entry level salaries, competing with the best from the IIT’s and IIM’s. Top graduates from the top NLU’s can earn as much as Rs. 15 lakh per annum soon after graduation.” See also M. Owen, “Legal Outsourcing to India: The Demise of New Lawyers and Junior Associates”, 21(2) Pacific McGeorge Global Business and Development Law Journal , 2008, pp. 175–190.

D. Held and A.G. McGrew (eds.), Globalization Theory: Approaches and Controversies (Polity Press, Cambridge, 2007).

Gaye Lansdell, “The Flexible Learning Paradigm: Have We Forsaken Quality and Professionalism for Technological Convenience in the Training of Lawyers in the 21st Century?”, in Angela T. Ragusa (ed), Interaction in Communication Technologies and Virtual Learning Environments: Human Factors , Information Science Reference, 2010.

C. Krishnamurthy, “Legal Education and Legal Profession in India”, 36(2) International Journal of Legal Information , 2008, pp. 245–257.

The motivating factor—“excellence in legal education” need be reminded from time to time, yet the learning process need be nurtured with joy and ecstasy of time. The students need be cultured to realize the satisfaction of sacrifices made in studying law lies in contributing to the legal resources of the new world. It is an overwhelming task. Most of the law schools could inculcate the “feel good” in the learning process. There has been divergence, most of the students learn more from their peers and mimic seniors and fail in their creative learning process. They learn shortcuts and mess their learning time with other deviations. Many of the students undergo a stress not being able to cope up with the law school environment. Counseling of the appropriate students also needs to be part of education system.

Vivienne Brand, “Decline in the Reform of Law Teaching? The Impact of Policy Reforms in Tertiary Education”, Legal Education Review, 109 , 1999, pp. 139–140; Mary Keyes and Richard Johnstone, “Changing Legal Education: Rhetoric, Reality and Prospects for the Future”, 26(4) Sydney Law Review , 2004, pp. 537–538; The Monash PDLP ceased in 2009 due, in part, to these factors. Prior to this in 2007 the Law School also withdrew its Skills, Ethics and Research courses (SERs), removing key vocational elements from the curriculum. See for instance M. Sako, “Global Strategies in the Legal Services Marketplace: Institutional Impacts on Value Chain Dynamics”, 2009, available at: http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/centres/professionalservices/Documents/SAKO.pdf [accessed on April 27, 2013].

Mark Blaxill & Ralph Eckardt, “The Invisible Edge: Taking your Strategy to the Next Level Using Intellectual Property”, Portfolio, March 2009; Strengthening the legal education-strategies—“The simulation courses of legal education such as legal research and writing, appellate advocacy, interviewing and counseling, negotiation, alternative dispute resolution, trial advocacy should be taught with the lawyering skills of problem solving, legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, factual investigation, oral and written communication skills, client counseling, negotiation, litigation and ADR procedures, organization and management of legal work, and recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas. Lot of home work coupled with sufficient financial allocation need be done to augment the position to an uniform homogenous system”.

“The breadth of the idea of fundamental legal research illustrates the point about overlapping categories. Legal research today may be thought to be considerably broader than the tripartite classification of the Pearce Report, as it embraces empirical research (resonating with the social sciences), historical research (resonating with the humanities), comparative research (permeating all categories), research into the institutions and processes of the law, and interdisciplinary research (especially, though by no means exclusively, research into law and society). The T. Shanahan, “Legal Scholarship in Ontario’s English-Speaking Common Law Schools”, 21(2) Canadian Journal of Law and Society, 2006, at 36. Pearce Report did not really capture these extended elements of legal research, yet in some ways they are not so much new categories as new or newly emphasized perspectives or methodologies. They highlight law as an intellectual endeavor rather than as a professional pursuit, though the latter is undoubtedly enriched by the former.

The students need be exposed to newer place of learning with a newer environment every year. The teachers and the students need to have complete faith on the system and their respective role play. The students need to spend quite some time in association with learned advocates, bureaucrats, legislators, judges and with all such other ports of learning. The course and the class room exercises need be done with defined goals and evaluated accordingly. The course work need be scientifically designed by the teacher in consultation with the faculty improvement trainers.—See generally G.W. Russel, “The New Legal Architects”, India Business Law Journal, 2010, available at: http://www.indialaw.com/pdfs/Top%20foreign%20law%20firms.pdf [accessed on April 1, 2013].

Examination schemes need be creative, imaginative and self evaluating. Examination strain need be done away by making the evaluation model continuous and perennial. One is examined at every time and evaluated accordingly. In other words there is nothing to be so serious about examination, for “examination at all times is no examination.”

The suggested objects of the Australian Academy of Law according to the proposal developed by Professor David Barker, Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Technology, Sydney are: to promote excellence in and encourage the advancement of legal practice in Australia; to promote collegiality among members of the judiciary, legal profession and law teachers; to promote excellence in legal research and the publication of contributions to legal knowledge; to promote the professional development of members of the legal profession; to promote views relating to legal reform to the Government, community and other professions; and to promote high standards of ethical conduct within the legal profession.

Robert Lloyd, “Investigating a New Way to Teach Law: A Computer-Based Commercial Law Course”, 50(4) Journal of Legal Education , 2000, pp. 587–590; which discusses the costs in terms of workload for staff using discussion boards.

John Biggs, “Teaching for Better Learning”, 2(2) Legal Education Review , 1989–1990, pp. 133, 144; See also S. Nathanson, “Developing Problem-Solving Skills”, 44 Journal of Professional Legal Education, 1994, at 215, the divergence in subjects like taxation, environment, human rights, criminal justice administration, banking, corporate administration, governance, personal law, arbitration & mediation and international law (both private and public) all have to go hand in hand. The teachers need to produce their respective courses with newer designs, newer goals, and newer methods of teaching every succeeding year.

L.B. Snyder, “Teaching Students How to Practice Law: A Simulation Course in Pre-Trial Practice”, 45 Journal of Legal Education , 1995, at 513 See also Rob Nadolski and Jurgen Woretshofer, “The Use of ICT in the Training of Legal Skills”, 39 Law Teacher, 2005, at 29 ; Note—“May be the teachers are allowed to avail academic holiday of three–six months every alternate year to update by attending refresher courses/ associate with other relevant interdisciplinary institutions and give newer orientation for the year that follows. May be the teacher be allowed to visit other similar institutions and work as an adjunct faculty with two or more institutions.” See also Jeremy Webber, “Legal Research, the Law Schools and the Profession”, 26(4) Sydney Law Review , 2004, at 565, the different aspects of strategic quality management that need to be thoroughly understood and applied to create an effectively efficient quality legal educational management system which include financial strategy, basic business strategy, research strategy, and most importantly a wage system based on ability. A quality feedback system with a creation of an understanding and awareness of the overall direction of the legal organization in particular and the legal system in specific, as there is nothing general about a law functionary, and the importance of reinvesting the profits of knowledge and finance to promote further growth and technological advancement is crucial to the growth of a technologically savvy legal knowledge system.

A. Slaughter, A New World Order (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2004); See also J. Schukoske, “Meaningful Exchange: Collaboration among Clinicians and Law Teachers in India and the United States” in L. Trublek and J. Cooper (eds), Educating For Justice Around the World: Legal Education, Legal Practice, and the Community (Ashgate Publishing, Dartmouth, 1999).

“The ten highest scoring characteristics (out of a possible 65) were: (1) Knowledge of substantive law; (2) A professional attitude to the practice of law; (3) An ability to identify legal issues raised by a fact situation; (4) A commitment to timely communications with his/her client; (5) Knowledge of legal practice and procedure; (6) An ability to give clients practical advice; (7) Knowledge of professional or ethical standards; (8) A commitment to staying up to date with the law and legal practice generally; (9) Concern/care for well-being of clients; (10) Being diligent or persevering in his/her work.”

A. Sechooler, “Globalization, Inequality, and the Legal Services Industry”, 15(3) International Journal of the Legal Profession, 2008, pp. 231–248; see also D.B. Wilkins, “Some Realism about Legal Realism for Lawyers: Assessing the Role of Context in Legal Ethics”, in L. Levin and L. Mather (eds) Lawyers in Practice: Ethical Decision Making in Context (University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2012).

D.M. Katz, J.R. Gubler, J. Zelner, M.J. Bommarito, E.A. Provins and E.M. Ingall, “Reproduction of Hierarchy? A Social Network Analysis of the American Law Professoriate”, 61(1) Journal of Legal Education, 2011 pp. 1–28.

D. Subbnarsimha, “Retrieving Indian Law: Colonial Erasures, Postcolonial Pedagogies”, in M. John and S. Kakarala, En - culturing Law: New Agendas for Legal Pedagogy (Tulike Books, New Delhi, 2007); See also Contrast Harry T. Edwards, “The Growing Disjunction between Legal Education and the Legal Profession”, 91 Mich LR , 1992, at 36; by awareness of total non-legal environment, it is meant that the first-class lawyer’s ability to comprehend the non-legal environment of the problem at hand, to evaluate the impact that non-legal considerations will have upon the outcome, and to perceive the ways in which the knowledge and insight of non-lawyers can be mobilized and brought to bear. Every legal problem arises in its own unique setting of economic and political considerations, historical and psychological forces; each legal situation raises its own problems of data accumulation, ordering, and weighting.

Jack Goldring, Charles Sampford and Ralph Simmonds (eds), New Foundations in Legal Education (Routledge-Cavendish, 1998); Greater synthesis of globalization studies and the sociology of the legal profession would produce benefits for both fields. Scholars and practitioners have vigorously debated the advantages and disadvantages of globalization in different areas of study. The globalization of the legal profession represents a new frontier for globalization scholars, and acts as a test case for applying the lessons learned over the past decades. As such, it would benefit from a greater integration into the mainstream globalization literature and policy debates. Indian debates on market opening, shaping legal education or reforming “Regulatory frameworks illustrates that concerns about globalization’s discontents are much alive, and that there is an ongoing search for innovative solutions. Insights from the sociology of the legal profession can help globalization scholars set the stage for more vigorous and nuanced empirical studies on the globalizing Indian legal profession. The results of these studies would in turn shed important light on the tension between the economic opportunities created by globalization and questions of equality, inclusion, and the rule of law studied by socio-legal scholars, Wilkins, supra note 58.

David Spencer and Samantha Hardy, “Deal or No Deal: Teaching On-Line Negotiation to Law Students”, 8(1) QUTLJJ, 2008, pp. 93,100.

John Zerelli, “Reflections on Legal Education and Philosophy: The Critical Role of Theory in Practice”, Legal Education Review, 2007, pp. 103; 107, the combination of the two is important as it allows for a stringent analytical and substantive understanding of the subject area of law.

Therefore, a good clinical teaching of law does far more than wed knowledge of legal doctrine and legal analysis with common sense. Though expensive, the live client clinics owing to their simulation focus may be considered as an alternative to seminars, moot courts and law reviews and may be considered as an add-on to the main course of substantive legal education Development of multi-year strategies for clinical implementation of the live-clinics of substantive law, negotiation subjects, which is a key to litigation and the practice of law, should be implemented so as to promote a live dealing of the legal procedure during the course of study.

Karl Mackie, “Lawyers’ Skills: Educational Skills” in Neil Gold, Karl Mackie and William Twining (eds) Learning Lawyers’ Skills (Commonwealth Legal Education Association, 1989) pp. 9–18; Bobette Wolski, “Why, How and What to Practice: Integrating Skills Teaching and Learning in the Undergraduate Law Curriculum”, Journal of Legal Education, 2000, at 287; Sharon Christensen and Sally Kift, “Graduate Attributes and Legal Skills: Integration or Disintegration”, 11 Legal Education Review, 2000 at 207 ; Note: The simulation courses of legal education such as legal research and writing, appellate advocacy, interviewing and counseling, negotiation, alternative dispute resolution, trial advocacy should be taught with the lawyering skills of problem solving, legal analysis and reasoning, legal research, factual investigation, oral and written communication skills, client counseling, negotiation, litigation and ADR procedures, organization and management of legal work, and recognizing and resolving ethical dilemmas. The coalitions with law schools in India formalizing the need for simulation clinics as a part of the legal curriculum, integrated approach to the learning and application of law and legal studies is important to facilitate a thorough understanding of the need for a change in the strategy in the implementation of legal education.

Herbert L. Packer and Thomas Ehrlich, New Directions in Legal Education (McGraw Hill, New York, 1972); Packer and Ehrlich suggest that a proper study of law focuses the student’s attention on the conception of a legal system; who operates in it, how they function, what impact they have, how the system changes, the impact the system has on other elements in our society, and vice versa. Here the effort is to give the student an idea of law as a social process, the functions it performs, the institutions involved, and how change takes place. It gives at least an introductory idea of the structures and processes involved in society’s efforts to shape and organize individual and group behavior a view of law as an ordering process a study of law opens up questions of how social ends and means interact and reveals the complications involved in attempting to create or recreate the ongoing, working institutions of a society. Theory and practice meet and interact. Values, ends, means, information, and theory all intersect. Such a study of law is not so much another discipline as an education in the relation of specific social problems to various sources of knowledge and modes of thought. See also Roger Burridge and Julian Webb, “The Values of Common Law Education: Rethinking Rules, Responsibilities, Relationships and Roles in Law Schools”, 10(1) Legal Ethics, 2007, pp. 72, 74 and 75.

Wilkins, supra note 58, for example, argues that recent curricular innovations in legal education are still insufficient to close the gap between legal education and legal practice. Wilkins calls for: systematic and rigorous quantitative and qualitative research about the profession’s institutions, organizations, norms, and practices, and how each of these “arenas of professionalism” is evolving and should evolve to confront the demands of an increasingly globalized market for legal services. This research, in turn, should form the basis for a whole new kind of pedagogy. At its core, this pedagogy should emphasize how organizational structures, norms, and practices shape individual careers and influence the practical meaning of substantive legal rules and professional commitments. Wilkins implies that law schools do relatively little to prepare their students for legal careers, but even less do they help law students understand “the large-scale economic, social and cultural forces that are reshaping the profession their students are about to enter;” See also Jack R. Goetz, “Interactivity Remains the Key to Successful Online Learning”, 2009, available at: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/lessons/lesnov00.htm [accessed on April 1, 2013].

He insisted that the production and dissemination of knowledge is always an expression of power, and that the expression of power always involves the production and dissemination of knowledge. Foucault described how discourses designate the conjunction of power and knowledge: it is through discourses that the production of knowledge takes place and through which power is exercised and power relations are maintained. Discourses seek both to inform and influence, both to educate and dominate. They tell subjects about themselves and about the world, and also construct that world and determine its subjects. It is power–knowledge, in the form of discourse, that determines what is allowed to be said and thought within a discipline, and “who can speak, and when, with what authority.” Each legal education discourse, then, is simultaneously a category of statements about the teaching of law and an expression of power within the law school seeking to achieve a range of objectives, including the normalization of a particular approach to the teaching of law, the enhancement of the status of a particular type of legal scholar and the establishment of a regime of truth. The six discourses compete with each other to dominate the discursive field of Australian legal education, deploying a range of strategies including the propagation of particular constructions of “critique.” See also Roger Cotterrell, “Why Must Legal Ideas be Interpreted Sociologically?”, 25 Journal of Law and Society, 1998, at 171; David Nelken, “Blinding Insights? The Limits of a Reflexive Sociology of Law”, Journal of Law and Society , 1998, at 407; the notion of “legal culture” may be one solution to this challenge, David Nelken, “Using the Concept of Legal Culture”, 29 Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy , 2004, at 1; Jeremy Webber, “Culture, Legal Culture, and Legal Reasoning: A Comment on Nelken”, 29 Australian Journal of Legal Philosophy , 2004, at 27.

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Department of Law, Berhampur University, Odisha, India

Bhavani Prasad Panda

Orissa High Court, Odisha, India

Minati Panda

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Faculty of Law, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

Rajnish Kumar Singh

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Panda, B.P., Panda, M. (2018). Legal Education and Research in India: The Changes and the Challenges. In: Nirmal, B., Singh, R. (eds) Contemporary Issues in International Law. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-6277-3_38

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India Law Research

Vlex database, free & open internet, government: executive, government: legislature, government: judiciary, journals and periodicals, international encyclopedia of laws, additional resources, getting help, quick links.

Below are quick links to our most popular resources for India research. More detailed instructions for using these resources are located further down in the guide.

  • HOLLIS Library Catalog
  • Indian Kanoon Database
  • Manupatra Database
  • SCC Online Database

Introduction to Researching the Law of India

Supreme Court of India

The Sovereign, Democratic, and Republic state of India (also known as Bharat) has been a free nation since it declared its independence from British rule in 1947.  It adopted its constitution on January 26,1950.  In addition to outlining the powers of the branches of government, the constitution defines protected fundamental rights (see Part III), and outlines the policy directives of the state and the fundamental duties of Indian citizens (see Part IV).  With more than 450 articles, India has the longest constitution of any sovereign nation in the world.  

India is governed by a federal parliamentary system.  In addition to the Central Government, each of the country's 28 states has its own government.  There are also eight Union Territories (UTs) administrated by Central Government appointees.  For information about each of the states and UTs, along with links to their respective government websites, visit  https://knowindia.gov.in/states-uts/ .

As is the case with other former British colonies, India has a common law legal system that recognizes the principles of judge-made law and stare decisis.

The Harvard Law School Library has an extensive print collection of historical and current primary and secondary sources researching the law of India.  In addition, the library subscribes to two databases: Manupatra and SCC Online .  This guide provides instructions and tips for navigating these resources. 

A quick introductory video on the features of this guide is below.

Photo: Supreme Court of India, taken by Jennifer Allison on Dec. 14, 2019.

The Harvard Library Catalog: HOLLIS

Use the HOLLIS online library catalog (http://hollis.harvard.edu)  to find print and electronic materials in Harvard's libraries, including the law library.

This guide includes links to HOLLIS searches that use either general keywords, Library of Congress Subject Headings , or both. HOLLIS search links in this guide appear in this format: 

HOLLIS search: "India" AND "Law OR Legal"

Most searches are deliberately broad.  Limit the search results by adding additional keywords to the search query, refining the results using the options listed on the right side of the HOLLIS screen, or both.

Suggested HOLLIS Searches: Legal Primary and Secondary Sources for India

Below are some suggested HOLLIS searches for materials on Indian law, with the results limited to books in the collections of Harvard's libraries.  Click a link to view the search results. 

Searches by Subject or Source Type

  • HOLLIS Search: "Administrative Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Civil Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Civil Procedure" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Commercial Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Constitutional Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Contract Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Criminal Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Customary Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Digest" AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Environmental Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Evidence" AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Family Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Hindu Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Judges" OR "Judiciary" OR "Judicial" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Land Use" AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Mohamedan Law" OR "Muslim Law" OR "Islamic Law" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Referencer" AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Securities Law" OR "Corporate Governance" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Social Security" AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Terrorism OR National Security" AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Women OR Girls" AND "India" AND "Law"

Searches by Publisher

The searches listed below represent major Indian and international publishers of books on law.  Some Indian publishers have general names like "Law House," and the searches below attempt to incorporate all of the possible name options. The search queries with international publishers like Brill, Cambridge, Elgar, Oxford, Routledge, and Springer are likely to include several comparative law titles in which India is one of the jurisdictions that is compared.

  • HOLLIS Search: "Academic" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Adam" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Ashoka" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Asia" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Bloomsbury" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Brill" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Butterworth" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Cambray" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Cambridge" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Central" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Chari" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Chetty" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Commercial" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Deep" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Dwivedi" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Eastern" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Education" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Elgar" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Higginbotham" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "House" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India Law" (publisher)
  • HOLLIS Search: "Kamal" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Law Book" (publisher) AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "LexisNexis" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Manak" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Mukherjee" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Oxford" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Panchayat" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Pearson" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Penguin" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Professional" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Routledge" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Satyam" (publisher) AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Snow White" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Springer" (publisher) AND "India" AND Law" Note that Springer publishes a lot of comparative law treatises, and we have many of them as eBooks. If a book on your desired topic is included in these search results, it should have at least a chapter or a section on India, and you likely will be able to access it electronically.
  • HOLLIS Search: "Sweet and Maxwell" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Taxmann" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Tripathi" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Vinod" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Wadhwa" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
  • HOLLIS Search: "World" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"

Historical Research: The HLS Library's Moody Call Number System

In the past, the Harvard Law Library used a proprietary classification system for foreign materials, the Moody System.  To learn more about it, visit  https://guides.library.harvard.edu/moodysystem .

You should know about this system if you are doing historical legal research in our collection for India.  Many older materials in the library's offsite storage facility (which cannot be browsed by researchers) still have Moody call numbers, even though the library switched to using the Library of Congress classification system for foreign materials several years ago.

Moody Call Numbers

Call numbers in this system are compiled as follows:

  • The call number starts with a code for the jurisdiction (for India, it's "IN")
  • The first number represents form or type of material (for a list of these numbers, see  https://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=309924&p=2070177 )
  • The second and third numbers represent the subject of the material (for a list of these numbers, see  https://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=309924&p=2070178 )
  • At the end of the call number is a three-letter abbreviation of the author's name.

Browsing by Moody Call Number in HOLLIS

For example, if you would like to browse the older treatises about the criminal law of India in our collection, do this:

1.  Go to  https://hollis.harvard.edu/ .

2.  Above the search box, click STARTS WITH/BROWSE .

3.  In the Browse by drop-down menu, click Call Number - Other .

4.  In the search box, enter IN 980  (Note: this means "India + Treatises [900] + Criminal Law [80]")

5.  Click Search .

Bluebook Citation Rules for Legal Sources from India

The Bluebook's citation rules for primary law materials from India are available online at  https://www.legalbluebook.com/bluebook/v21/tables/t2-foreign-jurisdictions/t2-18-india . 

These rules indicate preferred case law reporters by court, as well as instructions for citing the constitution and legislation.

Manupatra Subscription Database

Manupatra is a subscription legal database for India.  It includes both primary sources (judicial opinions, statutes and other legislative materials, administrative agency materials, and more) and secondary sources (including treatises and law journals).

To access Manupatra:

  • Sign in with your HarvardKey at https://hollis.harvard.edu .
  • Go to  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990104767090203941/catalog  and click the ONLINE ACCESS link.

You should see the homepage of the Manupatra database, which looks like this:

Homepage of the Manupatra Indian Law Subscription Database

Searching and Browsing in Manupatra

To browse by source type, use the menu on the left side of the screen.

To search, click one of the options in the blue search bar at the top of the screen:

  • Manu Search : Search the database using keywords.
  • Legal Search : Advanced search option, using forms with fields, for judgments, statues (acts), rules, and other types of sources.
  • Citation Search : Use this option to search for a case if you have a citation to a case law reporter, such as All India Reporter (AIR), Indian Law Reports (ILR), SCC (Supreme Court Cases), or Weekly Law Notes (WLN).  Coverage also includes regional court reporters, such as the Bombay Cases Reporter (BomCR), Calcutta Law Journal (CLJ), Delhi Law Times (DLT), and many others.  To view a coverage list of reporters, visit  http://www.manupatrafast.in.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/Search/Publishers.aspx . 
  • Assisted Search : Provides a form to assist with crafting searches using Boolean connectors.

Search Example

As an example, assume that you have the following information about a case from the Bombay High Court:

State vs. Panduran Tatyasaheb Shinde, AIR 1956 Bom 711.

Find this case in Manupatra as follows:

  • Click Citation Search .
  • In the Publisher menu, select AIR(Bombay) .
  • In the Year box, enter 1956 .
  • In the Page Number box, enter 711 .
  • Click Search .

You will see one result.  Click the link provided to view the case.

SCC Online Subscription Database

SCC Online is a subscription legal database.  You can browse or search for cases from a wide variety of Indian courts, including the Supreme Court, the Privy Council, high courts, district courts, and tribunals and commissions.  It also includes selected case law from other jurisdictions in the region, including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and from several African jurisdictions.  SCC online also includes other Indian legal materials: acts and rules, articles, secondary sources, treaties, and more.

Access SCC Online as follows:

  • Go to https://hollis.harvard.edu and sign in with your HarvardKey credentials.
  • Go to this HOLLIS record:  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/99153820291903941/catalog . 
  • Click the ONLINE ACCESS link.
  • On the SCC Online homepage, click LOGIN in the upper right corner.
  • Select the IP login option, and enter your Harvard email address.
  • When the SCC Dashboard screen appears, click the type of search you want to do.  You may have to do this quickly to avoid being signed out.  If you are not sure what to click, click the third blue box labeled Find by Citation .

You should now be on the main search screen.  If this is not the type of search you want to do, return to the dashboard by clicking the icon with 9 little boxes in it at the top of the screen.  The dashboard provides all the options you need for finding cases by citation, party name, or topic, in addition to browsing law reports, judgments, acts and rules, secondary materials and more.  

Note that SCC Online can be hard to log into.  If the directions above do not work for you, here are a few things to try:

  • Clear the cache and cookies on your browser.
  • Use a different internet browser (if you are using Google Chrome and it's not working, try it in Firefox).

If you tried all those things and it's still not working, contact a research librarian for help ( https://asklib.law.harvard.edu ).

Harvard's subscription to the vLex database includes the following materials for India:

  • Laws and Regulations
  • Books and Journals

To access vLex, go to its HOLLIS catalog record:  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990104683840203941/catalog .  Then, click the ONLINE ACCESS link.

To go to the India materials, click Browse in the menu on the right side, then All Jurisdictions > Asia > India.

Materials from India appear throughout vLex. For example, vLex includes cases and legislation from India in the citing references for UK cases. 

HeinOnline Subscription Database

HeinOnline's resources for researching the law of India include the following:

  • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP): Search for "India" as a Subject
  • World Constitutions Illustrated: India

Free Databases for Indian Legal Research

  • Indian Kanoon Free database of Indian legislation and case law, offering simple and advanced search options as well as a way to browse by individual court and tribunal.
  • Legal Information Institute of India (LII) Links to primary and secondary sources for Indian law.

Google Searches for Materials on Government Websites

Most Indian government websites are in the "gov.in" domain.  You can search for materials on government websites using Google using this query format:

"circulars" site:gov.in

This search will return all sites that include the word "circulars" on Indian government sites. ("Circular" is a name used for a document that a government entity releases to describe its activities.)

Some Indian government sites are in the "nic.in" domain ("NIC" is the Central Government's National Informatics Centre ).  So if your "gov.in" domain search does not return the results you are looking for, try the same search using "nic.in" instead.

According to Part V, Chapter I of the  Indian Constitution , the head of state is the  President , who appoints the members of the Council of Ministers (headed by the Prime Minister ) and the judges who serve on the Supreme Court . 

The executive branch also includes the following:

  • Union Ministries (including the Ministry of Law and Justice )
  • Union Government Departments (including the Department of Legal Affairs )
  • Commissions (including the Law Commission of India )

The executive has certain powers related to legislation.  For example, the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice  drafts legislation for the Central Government.  Other ministries also contribute to the drafting of bills based on their subject matter. 

Under Article 123 of the Indian Constitution, the President can enact ordinances when Parliament is not in session.  These ordinances can only become permanent law if the Parliament approves them after returning from its recess.

Finding Executive and Administrative Materials

HOLLIS Searches

  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Delegated Legislation"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Gazette"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Government" AND "Circulars"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Ministry OR Department OR Commission" (in the "Author" field)
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Record" AND "Office" (in the "Author" field)

Electronic Resources

  • The Gazette of India Bilingual (English and Hindi) publication of government activities. e-Gazettes are available here for the Central Government and for State Governments.
  • National Government Services Portal This site provides information about the services that various government entities (Central Government and State Governments) offer to the the people of India. You can browse by service type or search for a service.

According to Part V, Chapter II of the  Indian Constitution , legislative power vests in a Parliament , which includes:

  • The President
  • The Council of States (Rajya Sabha)  
  • The  House of the People (Lok Sabha)

Finding Legislation

Historically, Indian national and state legislation has been published by a lot of different entities under a lot of different names.  This means you may need to do several HOLLIS searches to find the publication that has the law you are looking for. 

The searches below include various ways Harvard's library catalogers have named and described Indian publications that include legislation.  

  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Acts of Parliament"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Central Acts"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Central Legislature"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "State Acts"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Statutory Rules"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Law" AND "India" AND "Statutes and Codes"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Law and Legislation" AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Laws, etc." AND "India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Laws of India"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Statutes of India"

In addition to the subscription databases Manupatra and SCC Online, there are several freely-available online sources for Indian legislative materials.

  • Bare Acts Live (Chawla Publications)
  • India Code: Digital Repository of All Central and State Acts
  • LEGIS Database of Acts Database of acts, bills, and ordinances - maintained by the Supreme Court Judges' Library.
  • List of Central Acts Maintained by the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice; available in chronological and alphabetical order.
  • Ministry of Law and Justice Legislative Department: Legislative References Includes a list of the Acts of Parliament (1838-2019), and links to the text of ordinances promulgated, President's Acts, Central Regulations, and Orders issued under the Constitution of India.
  • National Portal of India: Acts/Rules
  • Parliamentary Research Service (PRS)

Part V, Chapter IV of the  Indian Constitution  establishes the Union Judiciary, at the head of which is the Supreme Court of India . 

As India is a common law jurisdiction, opinions issued by the Supreme Court are binding on all other Indian courts (see Art. 141).

India's judiciary is also comprised of regional courts throughout the country, including  High courts  and  District courts . 

For disputes involving government employees, India has a network of Administrative Tribunals .

Finding Case Law

Over time, there have been hundreds of publications reporting cases decided in India's courts, and some of them have changed their names several times.  The Supreme Court of India's Equivalent Citation Table can help a researcher not only make sense of the various case reporter names, but also determine parallel citations if necessary.

Note that, in Indian legal bibliography, the term "law journal" can mean many different things, including a case law reporter.

Harvard has been collecting case law reporters from India for many years.  To find judicial decisions from Indian courts in the law library's print collection, try the searches below, which include various ways Harvard's library catalogers have named and described relevant publications.

  • HOLLIS Search: "All India Reporter"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "High Court" AND "Cases OR Reports OR Digests OR Decisions"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Judicial Commissioner's Court"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Law Reports, Digests, Etc."
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Reports of Cases"
  • HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Supreme Court Cases"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Indian Decisions" AND "Law OR Legal"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Indian High Court Reports"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Indian Law Reports"
  • HOLLIS Search: "Justice, Administration of -- India" (Subject field search)
  • HOLLIS Search: "Supreme Court of India" AND "Cases OR Reports OR Digests OR Decisions"
  • Directory of District Court Websites Links to District Court websites are provided, through which you can browse and search for opinions.
  • Directory of High Court Websites Links to High Court websites are provided, through which you can browse and search for opinions.
  • Supreme Court Judges' Library: SUPLIS Database of Caselaws
  • Supreme Court of India: Judgments Database Search by case number, diary number, judgment date, judge name, parties, free text, and more.

Legal Journals and Periodicals

In Indian legal bibliography, the term "law journal" can mean many different things, including the following:

  • A case law reporter
  • A legal periodical that publishes article-length scholarly works (like a "law review" in the United States)

The  Union Catalogue of Legal Journals , maintained by the Judges' Library of the Supreme Court of India, provides a helpful overview of Indian legal periodicals.

Scholarly Law Journals

Many scholarly law journals in India are published by law schools.  Depending on the journal and the publication date, they can be found open-access through a law school website, through a subscription database (such as HeinOnline , Sage , Jstor , or Taylor and Francis ), and/or in the library's print collection.

To find journals in our collection, you can search the HOLLIS library catalog .  However, it might be easier and faster to check the list of journals published at Indian law schools below, in case the one you want is available open access online.

  • Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) (Patna) Chanakya Law Review.
  • Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU) (Lucknow) Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University Journal (ISSN: 0975 – 9549); RMLNLU Law Review (ISSN: 0975 – 9530); CMET Journal, Child Protection in Uttar Pradesh Quarterly Newsletter.
  • Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) (Gandhi Nagar) GNLU Journal of Law, Development and Politics (GJLDP); GNLU Law Review; Gujarat Law Journal; GNLU Journal of Law & Economics (GJLE); GNLU Law and Society Review
  • Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU) (Raipur) Journal of Law and Social Science
  • NALSAR University School of Law (Hyderabad) NALSAR Law Review (ISSN 2319-1988); Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law (Print ISSN 0975-492X and e-ISSN 2278-862X); Environmental Law and Practice Review (ISSN 2319-1856); Media Law Review (ISSN 2319-1848); Journal of Corporate Affairs and Corporate Crimes (ISSN 2278-8611); NALSAR Student Law Review (ISSN 0975-0216); The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law (ISSN 0975-0134); The Indian Journal of Law and Economics (ISSN 2319-1864); NALSAR ADR Journal (ISSN 2348-7690); International Journal of Constitutional Law (IJCL); NALSAR International Law Journal
  • National Law Institute University (NLIU) (Bhopal) Using the top menu, navigate through Research - Research Publications - NLIU Publications to find Indian Law Review, NLIU Journal of Intellectual Property Law, NLIU Law Review, NLIU e-Journals (International Law, Media Law).
  • National Law School of India University (NLSIU) (Bengaluru / Bangalore) National Law School Journal, National Law School of India Review, NLS Business Law Review, Socio-Legal Review, IN LAW Magazine, Journal on Environmental Law Policy and Development, Journal of Law and Public Policy, CEERA March of the Environmental Law
  • National Law University and Judicial Academy Assam (NLUJAA) NLUA Law Review, Child Rights & Policy Review; Journal for Sports Law, Policy, and Governance; NLUA Law and Policy Review; Journal for Disability Studies and Policy Review.
  • National Law University Delhi (NLUD) Journal of National Law University Delhi; Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice; NLUD Student Law Journal; Indian Journal of Criminology.
  • National Law University Jodhpur (NLUJ) NLUJ Law Review; Trade, Law, and Development; Indian Journal of Arbitration Law; Journal on Corporate Law and Governance; Journal on Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law; Indian Journal of Legal Theory; Journal of Intellectual Property Studies; Journal on Indian Competition Review; Scholasticus.
  • National Law University Odisha (NLUO) NULO Law Journal; Human Rights Law Journal; Journal on the Rights of the Child; NLUO Student Law Journal.
  • National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) (Kochi) NUALS Intellectual Property Law Review; NUALS Law Journal.
  • National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL) (Ranchi) NUSRL Journal of Law & Policy; NUSRL Journal of Human Rights.
  • Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) (Patiala, Punjab) RGNUL Law Review; RLR Student Edition; Student Law Review; RFM Law Review; RGNUL Social Science Review; Human Rights Journal; Law and Tech Times; Indian Journal of Criminology.
  • WB National University of Juridicial Sciences (NUJS) (Kolkata) NUJS Law Review; Journal of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Law; Journal of Indian Law and Society (formerly Indian Juridicial Review); Asian Journal of Legal Education; International Journal of Law and Policy Review; International Journal of Legal Studies & Research; Journal on Dispute Resolution.

International Encyclopedia of Laws: Entries for India

The Kluwer Online subscription database's International Encyclopedia of Laws includes an entry for India in each of the subject areas listed below. 

Click the link, provide your HarvardKey credentials if necessary, and then click India under National Monographs.

  • Civil Procedure
  • Commercial and Economic Law
  • Competition Law
  • Constitutional Law
  • Corporations and Partnerships
  • Environmental Law
  • Family and Succession Law
  • Insurance Law
  • Intellectual Property
  • Medical Law
  • Private International Law
  • Social Security Law
  • Transport Law
  • Bombay High Court Judges' Library
  • Foreign Law Guide: India HarvardKey credentials required
  • GlobaLex: A Guide to India's Legal Research and Legal System
  • GlobaLex: Guide to Indian Laws
  • Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals: Country Subject = India IFLP has more than 2,000 articles with "India" as the country subject. This ink to IFLP is in the HeinOnline subscription database and HarvardKey credentials are required to access it.
  • India Legal Research Guide University of Wisconsin Law Library
  • India Legal Research Guide Libraries of the National University of Singapore
  • Indian Law Research Guide University of Melbourne
  • The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization: The Rise of the Corporate Legal Sector and its Impact on Lawyers and Society 2017 book co-authored by David Wilkins, Vikramaditya S. Khanna, and David M. Trubek.
  • Indian Legal System Research Guide Library of the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
  • Judges' Library of the Supreme Court of India
  • Legal Research Guide: India Law Library of Congress
  • Legal Resources of India Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
  • Vikaspedia (InDG) Description from the site: This portal has been developed as part of the national level initiative - India Development Gateway (InDG), dedicated for providing information / knowledge and ICT based knowledge products and services in the domain of social development. InDG is a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Government of India initiative and is executed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Hyderabad.

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  • Legislative Analysis

Shooting in the Dark: A Critical Analysis of Historical Approaches Aimed at Regulating Multinational Enterprises by Host and Home States

Aaliya waziri comments on why should multinational enterprises be regulated in the first place., weaving state-funded mediation into the fabric of our dispute resolution mechanism, aaliya waziri and saurabh shashi ashok analyse how studies indicate that an early resort to mediation saves money and time thereby allowing parties to progress from their dispute with a satisfactory outcome., a step towards digital competition law in indi, in 2002, india implemented competition laws to reduce anti-competitive behavior, promote market competition, and protect consumer interests. the article highlights the importance of amending the competition act of 2002 in light of digitalization and the ministry of corporate affair’s 53 reports on anti-competitive practices by big tech companies in the context of digital competition law, where new technologies can create challenges and opportunities for businesses, consumers, and competition authorities writes ayushmaan chouksey., post transaction due diligence, christopher davis and linda spedding outline the benefits of undertaking post transaction due diligence activity to achieve the aims of the acquiror/ investor/ funder., judicial paradigm in gyanvapi and shahi idgah mosque cases: a threshold to religious disputes and restoration demands, this article advocates for preserving secularism, religious freedom, and cultural harmony in india. it examines the legislative journey of the places of worship act, from its 1961 origin as a bill aimed at restoring religious sites to its 1991 enactment. contrasting the original bill's intent with the final act's objectives, it highlights the legislative discourse evolution on safeguarding sacred sites writes devashish vashishth., the urinating incident on board ai-102: a legal perspective, vikrant pachnanda analyzes the recent urinating incident on an air india flight from new york to new delhi from a legal perspective., common gaming houses and gambling laws in india, prachi dubey analyses the prevalent gambling laws existing in india., dispute settlement at the wto: the challenge of re-establishing a functioning appellate body, noyanikka batta examines the interim measures and the possible solutions for bringing the appellate body out of its forced hibernation against the background of the crisis., recovery certificate under debt recovery law is not limited to winding up proceedings only but extends to ibc: clarifies supreme court, ravi charan pentapati comments on clarification given by the apex court on the aspect of a recovery certificate under the debt recovery law not being limited to winding up proceedings only but further extending to the insolvency and bankruptcy code..

ISSN 0975-0606

Impact of GST on Infrastructure

“difficult roads lead to beautiful destinations.” - anonymous, analysing the legal viability of ‘no pregnancy clauses’ in film contracts, a no-pregnancy clause (‘npc’), i.e. a clause forbidding pregnancy, is generally found in employment contracts, and provides that a breach of the clause would lead to termination of employment. while facially gender neutral, these clauses obviously kick-in only for females. this article aims to identify whether such clauses in film contracts will withstand legal scrutiny in india writes ayushi singhal., consequences of brexit for the united kingdom- an eu air law perspective, vikrant pachnanda analyses the consequences of brexit for the uk from an air law perspective., transparency the need of the hour, vikrant pachnanda comments on transparency being the need of the hour as far as constitution of benches and allocation of cases in the supreme court is concerned., the sarai act of 1867 – time to let go, alabh anant lal writes on the sarai act of 1867 and analyses its relevancy., interview of the month, mr. navneet s. chugh, india law journal's vikrant pachnanda and pratik purswani spoke with mr. navneet s. chugh about the indian lawyers association and their upcoming annual conference on the 22nd of december, 2018, book review, technology laws decoded by n. s. nappinai, reviewed by: anirveda sharma reviews the 1st edition of this book on technology and cyber laws in india..

As the world woke up to the recent WannaCry ransomware attack on computers across the globe, the fault lines in our cyber architecture became evident to citizens across the world. In such times when technology as an insatiable and infinite force has permeated into every aspect of human life there is a growing need to evolve our legal system to meet the needs of this dynamic new interface. With this surrealistic merging of our real world with its virtual counterpart; the fabric of our realities...

Reviewed by: Chritarth Palli, Law Clerk cum Research Assistant, Supreme Court of India & Assistant Editor, India Law Journal

The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law

The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law

Current Issue

We released Volume 10 of IJCL in October 2021. Preparations for Volume 11 are underway.

Table of Contents

Anurag Bhaskar

Reservation As a Fundamental Right: Interpretation of Article 16(4)

Ridwanul Hoque

The Evolution of the Basic Structure Doctrine in Bangladesh: Reflections on Dr Kamal Hossain’s Unique Contribution

Shruti Bedi

Proportionality and Burden of Proof: Constitutional Review in India

Thulasi K Raj

Discrimination and the Court: Same-sex Relations in India, Botswana and Kenya

Anupriya Dhonchak, Rahul Bajaj

Government Copyright in School Textbooks and the Fundamental Right to Education

Dhruva Gandhi

Religious Discrimination under the Indian Constitution: Unpacking the Contents of Religion

Lalit Panda

Rationality by Any Other Name: Common principles for an Evolving Equality Code

Devansh Shrivastava, Anubhav Bishen

Coexistence or Segregation? Examining constitutional public policy and the Disturbed Areas Act 1991 in Gujarat

Shubhangi Maheshwari, Shrey Nautiyal

Interplay of the Right to Religious Freedom with Other Fundamental Rights in The Indian Constitution: A Constructivist Coherence Analysis

Nirmalya Chaudhuri

Right not to be Misled: Identifying a Constitutional Basis to Fix Accountability for Election Promises

Maladi Pranay

Responding to Executive Under and Overreach: Indian Supreme Court and Constitutional Adjudication in the Pandemic

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Legal Research in India

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Related Papers

Jahlan Remtula

Legal research is "the process of identifying and retrieving information necessary to support legal decision-making. In its broadest sense, legal research includes each step of a course of action that begins with an analysis of the facts of a problem and concludes with the application and communication of the results of the investigation."

legal research paper india

Nepal Law Review

Chandra Shekhar Khadka

khumtiya debbarma

The empirical research and participatory being one of the important research methods is hardly contributed by the legal scholars and law professors. There are ample of reasons behind such non contribution, in spite of being considered the most reliable source of information. This article stated the importance, differences, and steps in non doctrinal research and with factor that is inhabited as to why non doctrinal research is not carried out by the legal researchers. It also studied that participatory research through the empirical approach highlighted the views of the voiceless for the proper and efficient democratic processes.

Maria Tereza Dias

International Journal of Management, Technology, and Social Sciences (IJMTS)

Srinivas Publication

Human beings possess instinct of inquisitiveness in cases of confronting with the unknown aspects of life which probe to attain greater understanding on such uncertainty. This inquisitiveness is the method which man employs for obtaining knowledge is termed as research. It is the art of scientific enquiry into new facts conducted in any branch of knowledge. Generally, Research is the movement from the known towards the unknown to be called as the voyage of discovery. It originally contributes to the existing stock of knowledge facilitating its advancement. Truth is pursued with the help of study, observation, comparison and experiment. Systematic study of the law through doctrinal and non-doctrinal research methods considers to be the socio-legal studies aiming to analyze the impact of legal mechanism on the social system. This paper introduces into the fundamentals of legal research, socio-legal studies, conceptual framework on doctrinal research, steps of doctrinal studies, limitations and differences between doctrinal and non-doctrinal legal research methods.

Scientific Research

João Gilberto C da Silva

The scientific method is the strategy of science to generate knowledge. Its implementation is carried out by scientific research. Scientific research is employed in the three phases of the scientific method: in the initial phase of synthesis, to identify scientific problems; in the analysis phase, to try to solve these problems; and in the final synthesis phase, to incorporate the new knowledge generated into the existing body of knowledge. Thus, scientific research comprises systemic research, which focuses on global systems, in the initial and final phases, and analytical research, which focuses on subsystems, in the analysis phase. New scientific knowledge is achieved by analytical research, which begins with the formulation of a scientific problem. Once the initial question is posed, the systematic structure of the scientific approach becomes immediately evident. This is because research in science is very precisely structured and logically organized. This form has been developed over centuries of scientific problem-solving experience. This text summarizes the essential conceptual and methodological basis of scientific research.

Meghna Mittal

Legal research, a vital player in the course of development of a society, underpins the pressing need for quality research in the country. Legal research is not essentially different from other types of research. This is too searching for authority to substantiate some hypothesis and is a probable outcome. Its issues of enquiry naturally relate to pure law or law in relation to society. India has an important role to play in the world community, especially in the Asian and African regions. The need for research in inter-American law was emphasised in the U.S.A. in 1945 and the U.S.A. is bringing out a separate literature on the subject. Moreover, till now, India has been completely tied down to the chariot wheel of the English Common law. The Legal research in India can only be understood in the context of restraints under which it is produced. With notable exceptions, Indian academic legal scholars are generally ignored by the legal profession, the government and lay public. Deprived funds and resources, they struggle for efficiency, style and effect. Independent India has demonstrated a very strong commitment to law and the development of legal doctrine. Opinions vary on whether this was intended to achieve distributive justice or to conceal patterns of legal suppression. There was a new Constitution but only a 'scissor and paste' cosmopolitan jurisprudence to interpret it. Mature legal research has largely been produced under the support of endowment lectures, of which the most celebrated are the Tagore Law Lectures, begun in the latter part of the 19th century. As new law schools were established throughout the country, there were new possibilities for research. The least productive area of research was the codified part of private and commercial law. Personal law produced some research as it interacted with the framework of the Hindu Code. The codification of Indian law in the 19th century created a tribe of digest and practitioner textbook writers. The textbook writers included well-known names like Pollock, Mulla (later in the Privy Council), Hari Singh Gaur and Ameer Ali. These classics, reflecting an Indian 'black letter' law tradition, continue to be edited by eminent judges and practicing lawyers. Legal scholars and lawyers were always interested in legal reform and development and adaption of law in accordance with the changing needs of society. This paper focuses on how legal research has been evolved in the society and its effects in the development of legal system.

Kiyoung Kim

The policy makers or lawyers may face the need of legal research for reasons. The congressmen may plan to make new laws to address the challenges of their constituent or to the interest of nation. The lawyers may need to serve their clients who like to know the legal issues involved, the strategies to deal with their loss and recovery, and prospect for winning the case if the dispute has gotten worse. The lawyers may practice in a solo business or might work as an associate lawyer in the law firms. A senior lawyer or partner in some cases may like to exploit the junior work force about the problems or grievances from the potential clients. Since he needs to focus their attention on other matters, such as the business expansion of his law firm or more lucrative cases in need of career hands, he may tap the junior lawyer for the legal research, who could assist with the basis of his final legal opinion. The memorandum, opinion letter and brief would be such forms of professional communication for the lawyers and legal researchers. The congressman also can be supplemented with the aid of staffs in terms of his legal expertise and grasp of the issues standing for carrying their responsibility more effectively. For the lawyers and legal researchers, the structure of state and federal legal system is the kind of important variants to orient their work direction and basic frame for the most efficient and adequate scope of search and analysis. The paradigm change also is revolutionary to impact the general base of people. Decades ago, the research or researcher only related with the class of professionals, such as professors, lawyers, career officers and cadres of enterprises. They would enjoy insulation and exploit their research work as an entrance barrier from lay people. Their large shelves at home study or in the room or corner of office thrust an impression that he or she is learned and knowledgeable. This impliedly communicates his or her prestige of social or professional success. The books and articles seem to symbolize a kind of monopoly which bears to exclude unclassified or non-professional workers. The change is remarkable that every citizen could benefit from the on-line sources of information, which, of course, is generally true of professional knowledge. Now professors fear of plagiarism that students often are the kind of suspect. The legal research would turn on the help of digitization which revolutionizes to incur a new mode of research operation. About the query, the citizens and people can readily verify its truth or falsity with one clique within the personal computer. An enormous amount of information is currently flowing on the internet and on-line sources of reference, which shapes an informative and knowledgeable society. As the medical doctors warned decades ago, the precept is any most effective, “forbear from your intelligence or knowledge work for your health.” Many of them now spend long hours a day to satisfy their curiosity and intelligent search. He or she may be well awarded an academic degree if to recognize their hard work on his PC. Nevertheless, this information age does not always bring a positive progress, which arouses the kind of issues, say, right of privacy, on-line fraud. In some cases, this transformation may lead to an inferior attitude of researcher. My today’s experience is one of exotic case. I have received an e-mail from Google CEO stating that I have been selected as one of twelve winners from the pool of Google users. The award money is enormous which stalls me for some time. The authenticity and reliability have hit my head, and I utilized a verification service website managed by the team of lawyers. It costs five dollars and remaining 24 dollars would be processed upon the progress of interaction. I am waiting for an answer from the team. Then the research nowadays is not limited to the basic context of our subsistence, but influences in any depth into the professional lives

International Journal of Law Management & Humanities

Sunandini S.

Research is a process of collecting information about a subject and then analysing it for enhanced knowledge using different methods or techniques. These strategies or techniques construe what is known as 'Research Techniques'. Generally, the law follows the techniques of social sciences research as the base. However, the sources referred while undertaking the research increase due to complex laws and legislations. The most popular legal research method is Doctrinal Research, where the researcher, without stepping out in the real world, analyses the laws, legislations, case laws, amendments and other documentary pieces of evidence to conclude on a research problem. Legal research sources can be categorised into three divisions, and the evolving technology has given them a digital shape. The availability of these sources at multiple domains and collating information is a major challenge for a legal researcher. Academic institutions play a vital role in providing access to these resources and training their students. Bar Council of India mandates the institutions for the inculcation of Information Technology in providing legal education as per the Legal Education Rules of 2008 later revised in 2020. The majority of the resources are available digitally and thus require accessibility. However, does a researcher subscribe to these resources individually, burning a hole in the pocket? Looking into these considerations, intellectuals of the world came up with different initiatives to promote open access to scholarly literature. The legal fraternity also took on the open-access initiative but was a bit delayed compared to other disciplines. The open-access initiative has taken over by storm, and many intellectuals and legal scholars are contributing.

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Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research ISSN: 2582-8878 | PIF: 6.605 Indexed at Manupatra, Google Scholar, HeinOnline & ROAD

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Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research

The Concept Of Fair Trial Procedure In India

legal research paper india

Ms. Rita Laha, Amity Law School

Mr. Sandeep Mishra, Faculty, Amity Law School

This research paper conducts a comprehensive examination of the concept of fair trial rights within the context of the Indian criminal justice system. It evaluates the existing legal and constitutional framework, judicial precedents, international obligations, and practical challenges that shape the realization of these fundamental rights.

The paper systematically analyzes the scope and content of fair trial guarantees under the Indian Constitution, criminal statutes, and India's commitments under international human rights treaties. It traces the evolution of fair trial jurisprudence through landmark Supreme Court judgments. However, the paper's primary focus is on identifying and critically assessing the systemic barriers that impede the effective implementation of fair trial rights in practice.

Through an in-depth analysis of empirical evidence, case studies, and academic literature, the paper uncovers the harsh realities confronting India's criminal justice institutions. These include the prevalence of custodial violence, fabrication of evidence, inordinate delays, inadequate legal representation, overburdened courts, arbitrary sentencing practices, and appalling prison conditions. The cumulative impact is a pervasive erosion of fair trial safeguards and public trust in the administration of criminal justice.

Recognizing that ensuring fair trials is a shared responsibility, the paper evaluates the roles of key stakeholders, including the police, prosecution, judiciary, legal profession, and civil society. It highlights the urgent need for systemic reforms aimed at strengthening fair trial guarantees. Key recommendations include enhancing police accountability, securing judicial independence, expanding access to competent legal aid, leveraging technology for greater transparency, and promoting public awareness.

The paper makes an original contribution by adopting a comprehensive approach that integrates legal analysis with empirical insights to provide a nuanced understanding of fair trial challenges in India. It offers a constructive roadmap for legislative reforms, institutional capacity-building, and civic engagement to bridge the gap between the promise of fair trial rights and their actual realization. Ultimately, the paper argues, upholding fair trial standards is essential to vindicate the rule of law, protect human rights, and strengthen India's criminal justice system.

Keywords: Fair Trial Rights, Criminal Justice Reform, Indian Constitution, Human Rights Law, Legal Aid, Judicial Independence, Police Accountability, Prison Reforms, India.

  • Volume VI Issue II

Abbreviation : IJLLR

ISSN: 2582-8878

Website: www.ijllr.com

Accessibility: Open Access

License: Creative Commons 4.0

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​All research articles published in The Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research are fully open access. i.e. immediately freely available to read, download and share. Articles are published under the terms of a Creative Commons license which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors . They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the IJLLR or its members. The designations employed in this publication and the presentation of material therein do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the IJLLR.

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  1. Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research

    IJLLR - Indian Journal of Law and Legal Research is an online bi-monthly law journal. The Journal revolves around Socio-legal topics and is not restricted to any particular field or subject of law. The Journal promotes interdisciplinary research entailing detailed study of law with other disciplines in the contemporary era.

  2. National Law School Journal

    Book Review. The National Law School Journal (NLSJ) is the flagship journal of the National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. It is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that has consistently published original contributions to contemporary legal scholarship on India and the developing world since 1989.

  3. Indian Law Review

    Indian Law Review is an academic-led, double anonymized peer-reviewed, generalist journal on the laws of the Indian subcontinent. The objects and purposes of the Journal are: • To publish peer reviewed scholarship about the laws of the Indian subcontinent spanning all areas of law, including comparative perspectives that engage with the laws ...

  4. Journals

    Socio-Legal Review (SLR) is a student-edited, peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal run by the students of National Law School of India University, Bengaluru. It takes an expansive view on the interpretation of "law and society" in South Asia, inviting articles with a perceived link between law and social sciences. ISSN: 0973-5216

  5. Indian Law Review: Vol 8, No 1 (Current issue)

    Case Report | Published online: 16 Feb 2024. Disclosure regime for climate change: proposal and prospects for India Inc. Hemavathi S. Shekhar et al. Article | Published online: 29 Feb 2024. View all latest articles. Explore the current issue of Indian Law Review, Volume 8, Issue 1, 2024.

  6. Indian Journal Of Legal Review Issn 2583 2344

    IJLR seeks to provide an interactive platform for the publication of Short Articles, Long Articles, Book Reviews, Case Comments, Research Papers and Essays in the field of Law. IJLR welcomes contributions from all legal branches, as long as the work is original, unpublished and un-plagiarized and is in consonance with the submission guidelines.

  7. Advancements in Legal Education in India: Challenges and Opportunities

    Given the funding for research programmes, Indian legal educators were able to see the relevance and interactions of law in other disciplines. 33 When Prof. (Dr.) Madhav Menon was appointed as the secretary to the committee for restructuring legal education in India, he came up with the proposal of incorporating doctrinal law courses, social ...

  8. Promises and Prospects of Legal Education in India in the Context of

    In India, legal education dates back to the Vedic era based on the philosophy of Dharma. 14 Although there is no ... Roscoe Pound's Flawed Portrait of James Coolidge Carter's Historical Jurisprudence, American University, WCL Research Paper No. 2009-21. 100. Markus Dirk Dubber, Historical Analysis of Law, 16(1) Law and History Review, 159 ...

  9. Papers

    IJLLR Journal [ISSN: 2582-8878] is an online bi-monthly journal with 6 Issues per year. The Journal revolves around Socio-legal topics and is not restricted to any particular field or subject of law. The Journal promotes interdisciplinary research entailing detailed study of law with other disciplines in the contemporary era.

  10. Legal Education and Research in India: The Changes and the ...

    India being the largest democracy has a crucial and distinct role to contribute to the global consortium in terms of access to justice. Footnote 8 Law proper though originates within the sovereign municipal regimes it has to collaborate with the changing demands of civilized dictums of law and methods in foreign jurisdictions. Footnote 9 The claims of legal education are no more limited to ...

  11. Research Guides: India Law Research: India Law Research

    Introduction to Researching the Law of India. The Sovereign, Democratic, and Republic state of India (also known as Bharat) has been a free nation since it declared its independence from British rule in 1947. It adopted its constitution on January 26,1950. In addition to outlining the powers of the branches of government, the constitution ...

  12. India Law Journal

    A Step Towards Digital Competition Law in Indi. In 2002, India implemented competition laws to reduce anti-competitive behavior, promote market competition, and protect consumer interests. The article highlights the importance of amending the Competition Act of 2002 in light of digitalization and the Ministry of Corporate Affair's 53 reports ...

  13. Current Issue

    Current Issue. We released Volume 10 of IJCL in October 2021. Preparations for Volume 11 are underway. Editorial. Table of Contents. Anurag Bhaskar. Reservation As a Fundamental Right: Interpretation of Article 16 (4) Ridwanul Hoque. The Evolution of the Basic Structure Doctrine in Bangladesh: Reflections on Dr Kamal Hossain's Unique ...

  14. Full article: An analysis of the impact of India's Labour Codes on its

    The instant article is a reflection of the research he has conducted on India's new Labour Codes and how they have affected different stakeholders. Dr. Anuradha Binnuri Anuradha Binnuri is the Deputy Director of Symbiosis Law School, Hyderabad, who has experience spanning over 30 years in the legal academia field.

  15. Right to Privacy and Data Protection Under Indian Legal Regime

    Download This Paper. Open PDF in Browser. Add Paper to My Library. Share: ... of privacy rights by the Ruling majority through discriminatory legislation has also become possible due to lack of legal protection to this Right. In India, this Right was not initially recognized as a Fundamental Right, neither any specific law on data protection ...

  16. (PDF) Legal System in India

    229. N V Paranjape. Paranjape.N. V., "Studies in Jurisprudence And Legal Theory", Central Law Agency, Allahabad 2013, p. 229. PDF | On Apr 1, 2021, Prajwal Dwivedi published Legal System in India ...

  17. LEGAL EDUCATION IN INDIA: AN ANALYTICAL STUDY

    Legal education is a main stream education involving. the study of law. It inculcates the ability to use of law, to analyze and to criticize of the legal community. It. focuses the individual ...

  18. Bharat Law

    BharatLaw.ai, India's leading AI-powered legal research platform. Streamline your legal strategy with our extensive database, covering Supreme Court and high court cases. Our AI simplifies complex language and generates concise summaries, offering targeted relevancy and innovative strategy development for legal professionals. Revolutionize your legal research with BharatLaw.ai's advanced, data ...

  19. PDF The National University of Advanced Legal Studies, Kochi

    National Legal Services Authority v. Union of India (2014) 5 SCC 478 Osborn v. United States385 U.S. 323 (1966) Peoples' Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India (1997) 1 SCC 301 R v The Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis [2011] UKSC 21 R. Rajagopal v State of Tamil Nadu (1994) 6 SCC 632 Ram Jethmalani v.

  20. (PDF) Legal Research in India

    This paper focuses on how legal research has been evolved in the society and its effects in the development of legal system. ... 1 Legal Research in India. By Ajit Kumar Maharana Lingaraj Law College. INTRODUCTION: India has one of the oldest legal systems in the world. Its law and jurisprudence stretches back into the centuries, which has ...

  21. Full article: Environmental justice in India: a case study of

    This paper scrutinizes environmental impact assessment (EIA) in India and its potential environmental justice implications. ... Environmental justice in India. This research draws upon theoretical insights of law and development scholars like Trubek (Citation 1980) ... Full access to legal representation, technical expertise and judicial ...

  22. The Concept Of Fair Trial Procedure In India

    Ms. Rita Laha, Amity Law SchoolMr. Sandeep Mishra, Faculty, Amity Law SchoolABSTRACTThis research paper conducts a comprehensive examination of the concept of fair trial rights within the context of the Indian criminal justice system. It evaluates the existing legal and constitutional framework, judicial precedents, international obligations, and practical challenges that shape the realization ...