P W On Law of Legal Methods: Roject ORK
P W On Law of Legal Methods: Roject ORK
P W On Law of Legal Methods: Roject ORK
GROWTH OF SOCIOLOGICAL
JURISPRUDENCE IN INDIA
VIBHANSHU SRIVASTAVA
ROLL NO. 375
BA.LL.B(Hons.)
1ST YEAR(1ST SEM.)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
VIBHANSHU SRIVASTAVA
ROLL NO. 375
B.A,L.L.B.(Hons.)
1ST semester
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1) INTRODUCTION …………………………….......05
2) MEANING OF SOCIOLOGICAL
JURISPRUDENCE…………………………………….06
THIS APPROACH…………………………….07
CONTEXT…... . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0 9
5) IMPORTANCE OF SOCIOLOGICAL
6) CONCLUSION……………………………….15
7) BIBLIOGRAPHY……………………………16
OBJECTIVES:
RESEARCH TOOLS: The research of this project was carried with the help of
the Internet and Library of Chanakya National Law University.
Introduction
MEANING OF SOCIOLOGICAL
JURISPRUDENCE
various juristic thought. The exponent of this school considered law as a social
phenomenon. They are chiefly concerned with the relationship of law to other
contemporary social institutions. They emphasize that the jurists should focus
their attention in social purposes and interest served by law rather than on
individuals and their abstract rights. According to this school the essential
and society on each other. They treat law as an instrument of social progress.
The relation between positive law and ideals of justice also effects the sociology
of law.
Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer, Rudolph Ihring, Eugen Ehrlich, Leon Duguit,
Francois Geny, Dean Roscoe Pound etc. In United States, Justice Oliver
THIS APPROACH
by its national characteristics and must bear the relation to the climate of each
country, the quality of soil, the situation and extent, the principle occupations of
the native, and above all, to the religion of inhabitants, riches, commerce ,
ROSCOE POUND is said to be the father of this approach. He said "The law
must be stable, but it must not stand still." Pound placed his sociological
consequences. For Pound, the logic of previous precedent alone would not solve
jurisprudential problems. His study of biology led him to believe that the law,
like nature, was a seamless web and that change in one part might produce
The law during the British Colonial rule in India was coercive and counter-
insensitive to the sentiments and expectations of the Indians. The British rulers
paralysed the peace and prosperity of Indian by dividing Indians on the basis of
conflict between different communities to meet their self ends. Thus the law in
India as it stood before the Indian independence was formal, rigid, repressive,
law. The legislature, executive and judiciary- three organs of the government
used to law to protect the interests of the British in complete disregard of the
aspirations and needs of the Indian masses who were exploited and denied even
the basic human rights. In strict Austinian sense sanctions were imposed on
enjoyed many exemptions and special privileges under the then existing laws.
Thus there was “one law for the ruler and other for the ruled”
INDIA
With the wave of nationalism and awakening of intellectuals, demands for civil
liberty and basic human rights were persistently made but it fell on deaf ears
under the British Colonial Rule. The lawyers and judges interpreted and applied
law mechanically without considering the “felt needs” of the people. The Indian
National Leaders, notably, Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Jawaharhar Lal Nehru and
other were convinced that British Law had failed to meet the needs of the Indian
Nehru observed more than once that the nineteenth century dogmas and legal
precepts had little validity in the changed conditions of the twentieth century
and therefore, undue reliance on precedent was of little use as it may fail to give
With the independence of India, a new constitution was adopted for the
country for embodying the social philosophy and economic values towards
individual rights with the social interests of the community through their
judicial decisions. The function of law is now to resolve the conflict between
Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of state Policy as both are aimed at
ushering a egalitarian society for the welfare of the nation as a whole.2 The
the entire focus is on the welfare of the Indian masses and making law
1
Part III of the Constitution of India relates to the Fundamental Rights and Part IV embodies the Directive
Principles of State Policy.
2
Keshavanand Bharti(AIR 1973 SC 1461: Minerva Mills v. Union of India, 1980 SC 1789.Waman Rao v. union
India ,AIR 1980 SC 271)
3
Art. 51-A
The developing trends in public litigation has opened new vistas for interpreting
law in the context of social settings. The contribution of judges notably, Dr. P.B
Gajendragadkar, P.N Bhagwati, D.A Desai, Krishna Iyer and others to the
shows that law can be effectively be used as a tool of social transformation for
interpreted to meet the “felt necessities of time”. Our constitution, unlike many
at the same time with the least friction and dislocation in National life”.
In S.R Bommai v. Union of India,5 a special nine Judge Bench of the Supreme
Court passed a landmark verdict on the issue of the secularism and held that the
State is enjoined that to award equal treatment to all religions and religious
“Secularism is part of the fundamental law and the basic structure of the Indian
Political system to secure all its system to secure to all its people socio-
4
AIR 1993 SC 447(634)
5
AIR SC 1918
economic needs essential for man’s excellence with material and moral
Raj, Lok Adalats etc. are only a few illustrations to suggest that sole objective is
to make justice available to a common man and weaker sections of the society.
enacted to provide social justice echoing the hopes and aspirations of the
social meets the social needs and establish a social order as contemplated by the
6
The list is only illustrative and not exclusive.
CONCLUSION
“Rules derived by a process of logical deduction from pre-established
conceptions of contract and obligation have broken down before the slow
and steady and erosive actions of utility and justice. We see the same
process at work in other fields. We no longer interpret contracts with
meticulous adherence to the letter when in conflict with the spirit. We
read covenants into them by implication when we find them in conflict
with them ‘instinct with an obligation’ imperfectly expressed.
The law has outgrown its primitive stage of formalism when the
precise word was the sovereign talisman and every slip was fatal.” “There has
been much debate among the foreign jurists whether the norms of right
and useful conduct, the patterns of social welfare, are to be found by the
judge in conformity with an objective or a subjective standard… His duty
to declare the law in accordance with reason and justice is seen to be a
phase of his duty to declare it in accordance with custom. It is the customary
morality of right-minded men and women which he is to enforce by his
decree.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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