Chapter Notes (Part - 2) - Understanding - Class 8 PDF Download

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Chapter Notes - Chapter 4: Understanding Laws, Class 8

Do Laws Apply to All:  

(i) All persons in independent Indian are equal before the law.  

(ii) The law cannot discriminate between persons on the basis of their religion, caste or gender.   

(iii) All laws apply equally to all citizens of the country and no one can be above the law.  

(iv) Any crime or violation of law has a specific punishment.  

(v) In ancient India, there were innumerable and overlapping local laws which did not apply equally to all.  

(vi) The punishment for the same crime varied depending upon their caste background with lower castes being more harshly penalized.  

(vii) The British colonialists introduced the rule of law in India. The colonial rule was arbitrary.  

(viii) The British law of the Sedition Act of 1870 set a perfect example of the arbitrariness.  

(ix) Under this Act, a person protesting or ciriticising the British government could be arrested without due trial.  

(x) Indian nationalists began protesting and criticizing the arbitrary use of authority by the British.  

(xi) They began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey, to law as including ideas of justice.  

(xii) By the end of 19th century, the Indian legal profession began emerging and demanded respect in colonial courts.  

(xiii) Indian judges began to play a greater role in making decisions.  

(xiv) With the adoption of the constitution, laws for the country began to the made by the representatives.  

How Do New Laws Come About:  

(i) The Parliament has an important role in making laws.  

(ii) An important role of Parliament is to be sensitive to the problems faced by people.

(iii) The issue of domestic violence was brough to the attention of the Parliament and the process adopted for this issue to become law.  

(iv) The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005was implemented to protect women from being abused and injured by male.  

(v) The role of citizens is crucial in helping Parliament frame different concerns that people migh have into laws.  

Unpopular and Controversial Laws:  

(i) Sometimes the Parliament passes laws that turn out to be very popular.  

(ii) Sometimes a law can be constitutionally valid and legal, but it can continue to be popular and unacceptable to people because they feel that the intention behind it is unfair and harmful.  

(iii) People might criticize this law, hold public meetings, write about it in newspaper, report to TV news channels etc.  

(iv) In a democracy, citizens can express their unwillingness to accept repressive laws framed by the Parliament.  

(v) When a large member of people begin to feel that a wrong law has been passed, then there is pressure on the Parliament to change this.  

(vi) If the law favours one group and disregards the other, it will be controversial and lead to conflict.  

(vii) The court has the power to modify or cancel laws if it finds that they don’t adhere to the Constitution.  

(viii) In India, people have the right to protest against unjust laws.