Sunil Sondhi (Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts; Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts) has posted The Dharmasastra and Modern Law Letter and Spirit of Law in Indian Tradition on SSRN. Here is the abstract:
In India, the social and cultural concepts of law that emerge out of the several frames of reference in the Veda, Dharmasastra, the constituent assembly debates and the judicial decisions, enable us to view the law in an integrative perspective that is closer to Indian cultural tradition. The value of such historical and sociological approach lies in its unifying vision of the social, cultural and positivist aspects of the concepts of law in Indian tradition.
A juridical system that does not correspond to the social and cultural sensitivities of a society can not be owned by the people as their system but will be seen as something foreign and imposed. Without a conducive social and cultural conceptualization mere formal law cannot create willing legal and moral obligation. A holistic concept of law including both ethical and legal perspectives seems to provide a more realistic picture of Indian legal tradition.
