Supreme Court of India

Description

A leading expert on Indian judiciary, George Gadbois offers a compelling biography of the Supreme Court of India, a powerful institution. Written and researched when he was a graduate student in the 1960s, this book provides the first comprehensive account of the Court’s foundation and early years.
Gadbois opens with Hari Singh Gour’s proposal in 1921 to establish an indigenous ultimate court of appeal. After analyzing events preceding the Federal Court’s creation under the Government of India Act, 1935, Gadbois explores the Court’s largely overlooked role and record. He goes on to discuss the Constituent Assembly’s debates about Indian judiciary and the Supreme Court’s powers and jurisdiction under the Constitution. He pays particular attention to the history and practice of judicial appointments in India.
In the book’s later chapters, Gadbois assesses the functioning of the Supreme Court during its first decade and a half. He critically analyzes its first decisions on free speech, equality and reservations, preventive detention, and the right to property. The book is an institutional tour de force beginning with the Federal Court’s establishment in December 1937, through the Supreme Court’s inauguration in January 1950, and until the death of Jawaharlal Nehru in May 1964.

About the Author and Editors

George H. Gadbois, Jr (1936–2017), a close observer of the Indian Supreme Court, taught political science at the University of Kentucky, USA.
Editors
Vikram Raghavan is a private scholar of Indian constitutional law and history.
Vasujith Ram graduated from the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences, India, where he was chief editor of the Journal of Indian Law and Society.

Table of contents

Author’s Preface
Introduction
1. Evolution of the Federal Court of India
2. The Federal Court of India: 1937–1950
3. The New Judicial Establishment
4. Jurisdiction and Powers of the Supreme Court
5. The Supreme Court in the Indian System of Government
6. Judicial Review in a Modern Democratic Welfare State
7. Summary and Conclusions
Selected Bibliography
Index
About the Author and Editors