NCERT Textbook: Ancient Indian Law | NCERT Books & Solutions for Humanities - Humanities/Arts PDF Download

 Page 1


Historical Evolution Of 
The Indian Legal System
Page 2


Historical Evolution Of 
The Indian Legal System
Content
Chapter 1: Ancient Indian Law
1. Hindu Law 131
2. Classical Hindu Law 132
(i) Dharma 132
(ii) Sources of Hindu Law or Dharma 132
(iii) Dharmashastra 133
3. Anglo-Hindu Law 135
(i) The First Phase (1772-1864) 135
(ii) The Secon Phase (1864-1947) 135
4. Modern Hindu Law 132
5. Islamic Law 136
6. Excerice 136
7. Activity 134
8. References 137
Chapter 2: Administration of Justice in British India
1. Establishment of Mayor's Courts 139
2. Regulating Act of 1773 141
(i) Defects of the Regulating Act of 1773 143
3. Law Reforms in British India 143
4. Charter of 1861 145
5. Establishment of Federal Court 147
(i) Advisory Jurisdiction 148
Page 3


Historical Evolution Of 
The Indian Legal System
Content
Chapter 1: Ancient Indian Law
1. Hindu Law 131
2. Classical Hindu Law 132
(i) Dharma 132
(ii) Sources of Hindu Law or Dharma 132
(iii) Dharmashastra 133
3. Anglo-Hindu Law 135
(i) The First Phase (1772-1864) 135
(ii) The Secon Phase (1864-1947) 135
4. Modern Hindu Law 132
5. Islamic Law 136
6. Excerice 136
7. Activity 134
8. References 137
Chapter 2: Administration of Justice in British India
1. Establishment of Mayor's Courts 139
2. Regulating Act of 1773 141
(i) Defects of the Regulating Act of 1773 143
3. Law Reforms in British India 143
4. Charter of 1861 145
5. Establishment of Federal Court 147
(i) Advisory Jurisdiction 148
6. Establishment of Other High Courts and Supreme Court 148
7. Legal Profession in India 150
8. Exercise 152
9. Activity 153
10 References 153
Chapter 3: 
1. Constituent Assembly 154
2. Sources of the Constitution 155
3. Description of the Indian Constitution 156
4. Exercise 162
5. Activity 162
6. References 162
Making of the Indian Constitution
Page 4


Historical Evolution Of 
The Indian Legal System
Content
Chapter 1: Ancient Indian Law
1. Hindu Law 131
2. Classical Hindu Law 132
(i) Dharma 132
(ii) Sources of Hindu Law or Dharma 132
(iii) Dharmashastra 133
3. Anglo-Hindu Law 135
(i) The First Phase (1772-1864) 135
(ii) The Secon Phase (1864-1947) 135
4. Modern Hindu Law 132
5. Islamic Law 136
6. Excerice 136
7. Activity 134
8. References 137
Chapter 2: Administration of Justice in British India
1. Establishment of Mayor's Courts 139
2. Regulating Act of 1773 141
(i) Defects of the Regulating Act of 1773 143
3. Law Reforms in British India 143
4. Charter of 1861 145
5. Establishment of Federal Court 147
(i) Advisory Jurisdiction 148
6. Establishment of Other High Courts and Supreme Court 148
7. Legal Profession in India 150
8. Exercise 152
9. Activity 153
10 References 153
Chapter 3: 
1. Constituent Assembly 154
2. Sources of the Constitution 155
3. Description of the Indian Constitution 156
4. Exercise 162
5. Activity 162
6. References 162
Making of the Indian Constitution
130
Read the following passage carefully and discuss in the class the significance of 'justice'.
One day Emperor Akbar 
asked Birbal what he would 
choose if he were given a 
choice between justice and 
a gold coin.
“The gold coin,” said Birbal. 
Akbar was taken aback.
“You would prefer a gold 
coin to justice?” he asked, 
incredulously.
“Yes,” said Birbal.
The other courtiers were 
amazed by Birbal's display of 
idiocy.
For years they had been trying to discredit Birbal in the emperor's eyes but without success and 
now the man had gone and done it himself!
They could not believe their good fortune.
“I would have been dismayed if even the lowliest of my servants had said this,” continued the 
emperor. “But coming from you it's . . . it's shocking - and sad. I did not know you were so 
debased!”
“One asks for what one does not have, Your Majesty!” said Birbal, quietly. “You have seen to it 
that in our country justice is available to everybody. So as justice is already available to me and as 
I'm always short of money I said I would choose the gold coin.”
The emperor was so pleased with Birbal's reply that he gave him not one but a thousand gold 
coins.
Law in India has primarily evolved from customs and religious prescription to the current 
constitutional and legal system we have today, thereby traversing through secular legal systems and 
the common law. This chapter briefly describes the evolution of Ancient Indian Law.
UNIT 03: CHAPTER 1 
Ancient Indian Law
Page 5


Historical Evolution Of 
The Indian Legal System
Content
Chapter 1: Ancient Indian Law
1. Hindu Law 131
2. Classical Hindu Law 132
(i) Dharma 132
(ii) Sources of Hindu Law or Dharma 132
(iii) Dharmashastra 133
3. Anglo-Hindu Law 135
(i) The First Phase (1772-1864) 135
(ii) The Secon Phase (1864-1947) 135
4. Modern Hindu Law 132
5. Islamic Law 136
6. Excerice 136
7. Activity 134
8. References 137
Chapter 2: Administration of Justice in British India
1. Establishment of Mayor's Courts 139
2. Regulating Act of 1773 141
(i) Defects of the Regulating Act of 1773 143
3. Law Reforms in British India 143
4. Charter of 1861 145
5. Establishment of Federal Court 147
(i) Advisory Jurisdiction 148
6. Establishment of Other High Courts and Supreme Court 148
7. Legal Profession in India 150
8. Exercise 152
9. Activity 153
10 References 153
Chapter 3: 
1. Constituent Assembly 154
2. Sources of the Constitution 155
3. Description of the Indian Constitution 156
4. Exercise 162
5. Activity 162
6. References 162
Making of the Indian Constitution
130
Read the following passage carefully and discuss in the class the significance of 'justice'.
One day Emperor Akbar 
asked Birbal what he would 
choose if he were given a 
choice between justice and 
a gold coin.
“The gold coin,” said Birbal. 
Akbar was taken aback.
“You would prefer a gold 
coin to justice?” he asked, 
incredulously.
“Yes,” said Birbal.
The other courtiers were 
amazed by Birbal's display of 
idiocy.
For years they had been trying to discredit Birbal in the emperor's eyes but without success and 
now the man had gone and done it himself!
They could not believe their good fortune.
“I would have been dismayed if even the lowliest of my servants had said this,” continued the 
emperor. “But coming from you it's . . . it's shocking - and sad. I did not know you were so 
debased!”
“One asks for what one does not have, Your Majesty!” said Birbal, quietly. “You have seen to it 
that in our country justice is available to everybody. So as justice is already available to me and as 
I'm always short of money I said I would choose the gold coin.”
The emperor was so pleased with Birbal's reply that he gave him not one but a thousand gold 
coins.
Law in India has primarily evolved from customs and religious prescription to the current 
constitutional and legal system we have today, thereby traversing through secular legal systems and 
the common law. This chapter briefly describes the evolution of Ancient Indian Law.
UNIT 03: CHAPTER 1 
Ancient Indian Law
131
India has a recorded legal history starting from the Vedic ages. It is believed that ancient India had 
some sort of legal system in place even during the Bronze Age and the Indus Valley civilization. Law as 
a matter of religious prescriptions and philosophical discourse has an illustrious history in India. 
Emanating from the Vedas, the Upanishads and other religious texts, it was a fertile field enriched by 
practitioners from different Hindu philosophical schools and later by the Jains and Buddhists.
Secular law in India varied widely from region to region and from ruler to ruler. Court systems for civil 
and criminal matters were essential features of many ruling dynasties of ancient India. Excellent 
th th
secular court systems existed under the Mauryas (321-185 BCE) and the Mughals (16 – 19 centuries) 
which preceded the current scheme of common law in India. 
This section begins with the idea of Hindu law and traces its origin through the ancient legal 
literature. The section also describes the evolution of Hindu law during the British rule as well as the 
modern times, to conceptualize ancient Indian law in relation with modern law. Islamic law became 
relevant in India only during the medieval period or the middle ages, especially with the advent of the 
Mughal Empire in the mid-16th century CE. Since the focus of this section is on the ancient Indian law, 
a brief subsection has been provided that describes the introduction of the Islamic law in India. 
However, the next section will deal with how British courts replaced the Mughal court systems that 
were largely prevalent in India.
The word “Hindu” used to be an ethnic label and not a religious one. First the Persians and then 
the Greeks used the expression “Hindu” to refer to the ethnic group of people or Indians and, in 
the thirteenth century, the word “Hindu” was more widely used to distinguish them from the 
Islamic kingdoms within India. Later on, the expression “Hinduism” was used during the British 
Rule in the nineteenth century to refer to the Hindu religious culture group as distinct from 
Christianity and Islam. Ever since, “Hinduism” has largely developed as a term that embraces 
the varied beliefs, practices and religious traditions among the Hindus that have common 
historical formations including philosophical basis.
Given the historical bases of the term 'Hindu', Hindu law has had varied understandings. In the 
ethnic Indian context, some have understood Hindu law to include the diverse laws prevalent in 
India from the ancient Vedic times until 1772 when the British adopted rules for administration 
of justice in Bengal. Some have used it to distinguish from the Islamic legal system 
that existed in parts of India annexed by the Muslim Mughal Empires between thirteenth and 
sixteenth centuries, as well as the British legal system from 1772 onwards. Others have 
categorized Hindu law as being applicable only to those communities that were subjected to it 
while others followed their own diverse customary laws. 
Hindu law can primarily be divided into three categories: the 'Classical Hindu Law', the 'Anglo-
Hindu Law', and the 'Modern Hindu Law'. These three divisions also have an historic context. 
1. Hindu Law
this system