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BOOKS
Law's
Flaws
Many rules, no justice: a compendium of the Indian obsession with loony
laws
By
Rohit Saran
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In
The Dock
By Bibek Debroy
KONARK
Price: Rs. 250
PAGES: 217
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Readings
on Indian law are a veritable desert of dusty prose. It takes the endurance
of a camel and the patience of a saint to finish some of the greatest
texts. Bibek Debroy's writings are a singular exception. For seven years
now Debroy, through his project large (Legal Adjustments and Reforms for
Globalising the Economy) and his columns, has been crusading for legal
reforms. This book is a milestone in that quest.
The author's
complaints against Indian laws are three-fold. They are excessive: the
Centre and states together have over 30,000 laws. They are archaic: the
oldest valid Indian law, the Bengal Districts Act, was written in 1836.
Finally, they often overlap. Many are outright absurd. Sample some of
the 3,279 Central laws Debroy reviews.
The Bengal
Bonded Warehouse Association Act, 1838 stipulates that only residents
of the Presidency of Fort William in Bengal can be its directors. Worse,
the association can sell its property only to the East India Company.
No wonder the 162-year-old association has not yet been dissolved.
Under the
RBI Act of 1934, India's Central bank is a temporary institution.
The Cattle
Trespass Act of 1870 defines cattle to include "elephants, camels,
buffaloes, horses, mares, geldings, ponies, colts, fillies, mules, asses,
pigs, rams, ewes, sheep, lambs, goats and kids". And if a pig ever
damages your property, the maximum compensation you can claim from its
owner is a princely Rs 10.
Making absurd
laws is not the exclusive preserve of Indians. The book also lists bizarre
laws in other countries. For instance, in Michigan, it is illegal for
women to cut their own hair without their husbands' permission. In Kansas,
pedestrians crossing the highways at night must wear tail lights. In France
no pig can be addressed as Napoleon by its owner. In Scotland, it is illegal
to be drunk when in the possession of a cow.
So be it
in India or abroad there are laws that have remained laws only because
they have never been implemented. Only, the backlog of 38 million court
cases makes the need for legal reforms more urgent for India than for
any other country in the world.
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