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    Upendra Baxi On Crisis in The Indian Legal System

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    Sri Mugan
    Upendra Baxi analyzed the crisis in the Indian legal system in his 1982 book. He identified four main contradictions: 1) weak adherence to legalism and rule of law despite a liberal constitutional model, 2) continuity with the colonial past despite envisioning a revolutionary break, 3) centralization of political power despite federalism, 4) restricted access to law, courts, and lawmaking. Baxi argued the legal system did not adequately address issues and needed restructuring to be more responsive to the people's needs and aspirations. However, since then the government and judiciary have taken steps to bolster the system through acts and activist rulings expanding rights.

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    Upendra Baxi On Crisis in The Indian Legal System

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    Sri Mugan
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    Upendra Baxi analyzed the crisis in the Indian legal system in his 1982 book. He identified four main contradictions: 1) weak adherence to legalism and rule of law despite a liberal constitutional model, 2) continuity with the colonial past despite envisioning a revolutionary break, 3) centralization of political power despite federalism, 4) restricted access to law, courts, and lawmaking. Baxi argued the legal system did not adequately address issues and needed restructuring to be more responsive to the people's needs and aspirations. However, since then the government and judiciary have taken steps to bolster the system through acts and activist rulings expanding rights.

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    LAWPBALLB209944rStarPr__Upendra Baxi

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    Upendra Baxi analyzed the crisis in the Indian legal system in his 1982 book. He identified four main contradictions: 1) weak adherence to legalism and rule of law despite a liberal constitutional model, 2) continuity with the colonial past despite envisioning a revolutionary break, 3) centralization of political power despite federalism, 4) restricted access to law, courts, and lawmaking. Baxi argued the legal system did not adequately address issues and needed restructuring to be more responsive to the people's needs and aspirations. However, since then the government and judiciary have taken steps to bolster the system through acts and activist rulings expanding rights.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    2K views2 pages

    Upendra Baxi On Crisis in The Indian Legal System

    Uploaded by

    Sri Mugan
    Upendra Baxi analyzed the crisis in the Indian legal system in his 1982 book. He identified four main contradictions: 1) weak adherence to legalism and rule of law despite a liberal constitutional model, 2) continuity with the colonial past despite envisioning a revolutionary break, 3) centralization of political power despite federalism, 4) restricted access to law, courts, and lawmaking. Baxi argued the legal system did not adequately address issues and needed restructuring to be more responsive to the people's needs and aspirations. However, since then the government and judiciary have taken steps to bolster the system through acts and activist rulings expanding rights.

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    Upendra Baxi on Crisis in the Indian Legal system

    A legal system consists of (a) the rules or norms of social as well as official behaviour; (b) rule-
    making authorities such as legislatures, government, courts and other statutory and corporate
    bodies which have powers of subordinate legislation: (c) dispute-settling institutions such as
    courts, tribunals, panchayats, arbitrators, etc.; (d) law enforcing agencies such as police, prison,
    civil service, government, etc.; (e) functionaries such as lawyers, judges, etc. According to
    Upendra Baxi, the Indian Legal System (ILS), which is a continuation of the British Indian Legal
    System (BILS), has failed and even obstructed the transformation of Indian society towards a
    democratic and egalitarian society.

    Upendar Baxi defines crisis in his book- ‘Crisis in the Indian Legal system’ (1982) as a
    situation where "the structure of a social system allows fewer possibilities for problem solving
    than are necessary for the continued existence of the legal system". A situation of crisis might
    arise where people desire change but are unable to initiate or attain it. In his book he delves
    upon the Concept of Rule of law and pointed out some basic contradictions in the ILS at that
    particular time.

    1) While the basic model of the Constitution and the ILS is legal liberalism, the ILS' in its
    institutional dimensions displays weak adherence to legalism and the justice values of
    the rule of law.
    2) The Constitution envisages a revolutionary break with the past, whereas the ILS retains
    considerable continuity with the colonial past. The only exception to such continuity is
    provided by Article 13 which says that all laws in force immediately before the
    commencement of the Constitution, in so far as they are inconsistent with the
    provisions of Part III (fundamental rights) shall, to the extent of such inconsistency, be
    void.
    3) The Constitution stresses decentralisation of political power through the principle of
    federalism. But in actual practice, the institutional operations of the ILS are
    predominantly marked by centralisation of political power, thus going against the
    concept of federalism.
    4) The workings of the law/legal system is such that it restricts and even prevents the
    elementary forms of access to law, access to information, to courts and to law making
    bodies.

    His basic concern at that particular time was the legal system that was created by the
    Constitution and other laws, did not cater to certain pertinent issue of a well-established legal
    system. Upendra Baxi's discourses on the legal system are doubtless a significant contribution
    to socio-legal literature. It has focused attention on the urgent need to make the ILS more
    responsive to the needs and aspirations of the people. - He tells us most emphatically that what
    the ILS needs is a thorough restructuring.

    However, since that time a lot has changed in the Indian Legal system. There have been great
    and significant steps taken by the government to bolster the Indian Legal System like, Right to
    Information Act, Environment Protection Act, and Sexual Harassment of Women at
    Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act. In fact even the Judiciary has played
    an important role by contributing to the legal system by playing an activist role leading to the
    growth of Public Interest Litigation, wide interpretation of Article 21 of the Indian Constitution
    (right to privacy, right to sleep, right to live with human dignity etc.)

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