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book: A People's Constitution
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A People's Constitution

The Everyday Life of Law in the Indian Republic
  • and
Language: English
Published/Copyright: 2018

About this book

It has long been contended that the Indian Constitution of 1950, a document in English created by elite consensus, has had little influence on India’s greater population. Drawing upon the previously unexplored records of the Supreme Court of India, A People’s Constitution upends this narrative and shows how the Constitution actually transformed the daily lives of citizens in profound and lasting ways. This remarkable legal process was led by individuals on the margins of society, and Rohit De looks at how drinkers, smugglers, petty vendors, butchers, and prostitutes—all despised minorities—shaped the constitutional culture.

The Constitution came alive in the popular imagination so much that ordinary people attributed meaning to its existence, took recourse to it, and argued with it. Focusing on the use of constitutional remedies by citizens against new state regulations seeking to reshape the society and economy, De illustrates how laws and policies were frequently undone or renegotiated from below using the state’s own procedures. De examines four important cases that set legal precedents: a Parsi journalist’s contestation of new alcohol prohibition laws, Marwari petty traders’ challenge to the system of commodity control, Muslim butchers’ petition against cow protection laws, and sex workers’ battle to protect their right to practice prostitution.

Exploring how the Indian Constitution of 1950 enfranchised the largest population in the world, A People’s Constitution considers the ways that ordinary citizens produced, through litigation, alternative ethical models of citizenship.

Author / Editor information

Rohit De is assistant professor of history at Yale University.

Reviews

"It is a book that must be read not only by lawyers and (wo)men of law, but by every citizen who seeks to understand the Constitutional underpinnings of our republic. "---Sanjay Hegde and Pranjal Kishore, Economic and Political Weekly --- "Elegantly written, meticulously researched, and convincingly argued, this is an impressive contribution to understanding Indian democracy and the role of judicial engagement in buttressing it."---A. Ahmad, Choice Reviews --- "Shortlisted for the Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay NIF Book Prize, New India Foundation" --- "Honorable Mention for the Peter Gonville Stein Book Award, American Society for Legal History" --- "Winner of the J. Willard Hurst Book Prize, Law and Society Association"

Topics

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    Frontmatter

    i
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    Contents

    v
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    Abbreviations

    ix
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    Introduction

    1
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    1. The Case of the Constable’s Nose: Policing Prohibition in Bombay

    32
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    2. The Case of the Excess Baggage: Commodity Controls, Market Governance, and the Making of Administrative Law

    77
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    3. The Case of the Invisible Butchers: Economic Rites and Religious Rights

    123
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    4. The Case of the Honest Prostitute: Sex, Work, and Freedom in the Indian Constitution

    169
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    Conclusion

    209
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    Epilogue

    215
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    Talking the State’s Language

    217
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    Procedure over Substance

    219
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    Constitutionalism from the Margins

    222
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    A Constitution for Butchers? Markets, Circulation, and the Origin of Rights

    224
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    Acknowledgments

    229
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    Notes

    235
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    Selected Bibliography

    277
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    Index

    287
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Publishing information
Pages and Images/Illustrations in book
eBook published on:
January 14, 2019
eBook ISBN:
9780691185132
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691185132
eBook ISBN: 9780691185132
Audience(s) for this book
For a non-specialist adult audience
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