ABSTRACT

Generalisations about India or any society may reflect only a part of the totality. India’s legal system does not fall within any of the major categories of legal systems of the world. It is in fact sui generis. However, for a comparative account like the one with which this chapter is concerned, the Indian legal system may be categorised as one of the variants of the common law, primarily because of the wide-ranging introduction of common law by the British until the end of their rule in 1947. Much of that law and many of its legal institutions have been retained and operate even in independent India. But this historical background should not lead us to conclude that the Indian legal system operates exactly as it does in United Kingdom or the United States or any other common law country.1