Articles
Liberties Are At An End
"I will for ever, at all hazards, assert the dignity, independence, and integrity of the English Bar, without which impartial justice, the most valuable part of the English constitution, can have no existence. From the moment that any advocate can be permitted to say that he will or will not stand between the Crown and the subject arraigned in the court where he daily sits to practise, from that moment the liberties of England are at an end". --Thomas Erskine, 1792, address to the jury defending Thomas Paine
Sedition Law : A Living Fossil In Legal Ecosystem
Thomas Paine (1736-1809) is one of the radical liberals of the modern age. Paine, one of the founding fathers of the USA, ideologically fuelled the American and the French revolutions. A comment by John Adams, the second President of the USA, rightly portrays the influence of Paine and his Common Sense on the American Revolution- "Without the pen of the author of Common Sense, the sword of Washington would have been raised in vain". Paine's rebuttal of conservative writer Edmund Burke on the...
Independent MLA & Anti-Defection Law: A Counter View
Independent MLAs can make, unmake and destabilise governments in small States wherein the strength of the State Assembly is less than 60 as well as in other States where the ruling party has a slender majority. The Courts needs to place substantial importance to this issue whilst interpreting the provisions of the anti-defection law in respect of Independent MLA. If there are two possible interpretations open to the Court-----one that expands the scope of the Xth Schedule and the other...
Viability Of Pre-Nuptial Agreements In India
For all his vision and ambitions, Jef Bezos (Amazon Founder) with a net worth of $137 Billion approx., may not have ever imagined that he would be divorcing his wife, MacKenzie Bezos one day. With no Pre-Nuptial agreement between the couple, Mackenzie Bezos could now get almost half of the fortune as alimony making her the richest women in the world. To combat this millennial yet contemporary issue where divorces between spouses end up in unjustified...
Do The NI Act Amendments Apply Retrospectively?
Two new sections under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881 (Act) have come into force with effect from 01.09.2018 by way of Amendment Act No. 20: S.143-A gives the Magistrate trying an offence under the Act the discretion to award interim compensation to the complainant against the drawer up to a maximum of 20% of the cheque amount after notice/charge has been framed upon an accused and he pleads not guilty. S.148 provides that in an appeal by the drawer/accused against a conviction...
Proposed Ban On Cryptocurrency In India: An Analysis Of 'Banning Of Cryptocurrency & Regulation Of Official Digital Currency Bill, 2019
Much awaited report of the Inter-ministerial Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Shubash Chandra Garg (Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs) to study the issues related to Virtual Currency and propose specification recommends that all Private crypto-currency, except any cryptocurrency issued by the state government, be banned in India because of volatility in their price and there is no underlying intrinsic value of it. In addition to the ban, fines upto Rs. 25 Crore...
Save The Islands Of Excellence: Problems Ailing NLUs
National Law University, Odisha students went on an indefinite strike against the lack of infrastructure, administrative lethargy, unreasonable policies, lack of reform, and arbitrary fee hike. NLUO has joined the club of NLUs who have to resort to get their demands heard. Few months ago a 25% hike in the annual fee of the National Law School of India (NLSIU) once again triggered the old issue, that is, the exorbitant fee of National Law Universities (NLUs) of India. The annual fee of NLSIU...
The Amendments to the Right to Information Act are Unconstitutional
Yesterday, the Rajya Sabha passed a set of amendments to the Right to Information ["RTI"] Act of 2005, clearing the way for their enactment into law (after Presidential assent). These amendments – as I have summarised here – effectively undermine the independence of the Information Commissioners, by bringing their salaries and terms of appointment under the control of the central government. In this essay, I will argue that these amendments are unconstitutional. The argument is a complex one,...
On The Margins Of Law - Lawyers' Clerks
Although the legal profession and court systems include a wide range of actors and stakeholders, socio-legal research has been focusing only on judges, lawyers and litigants. The background, training, attire and method of judges and lawyers have been well researched and documented. While lawyers and judges permanently occupy the front and center stage, a wide range of actors such as Lawyers' Clerks, Law Researchers, Interns, Court Attendants, Process Servers, Ushers and other court staff are...
