The other day there was an electrifying panel discussion on the implications of Singur at the IIC in New Delhi. Among the panelists was a supreme court lawyer whose views were so utterly ridiculous that it prompted another panelist to make a scathing comment. He said: "One of the biggest problems in India today is that the Bar is illiterate."
I believe that the problem goes much deeper than that. The legal community is a "self-regulating profession." Only lawyers become judges; and only lawyers teach law. With public ignorance of legal principles – the "civics" taught in schools is pure bullshit – this self-regulating profession is in a position to exploit its monopoly power. They have a vested interest in increasing litigation.
And of course, they are "illiterate" – especially in areas where "law and economics" is concerned. The interaction of these two important subjects is not taught to any student of law in India.
What is noteworthy is that an eminent professor of law, Upendra Baxi, has also echoed this sentiment. In this incisive article on constitutional principles, Baxi says:
"...paradoxically, the [Keshavananda Bharati] Case is likely to create an illiterate Bar in the country. A decision which runs into over seven hundred closely printed pages is unlikely to be read by the majority of the Bar ; and if read only once is unlikely to be fully understood. But a legal profession which misses out on the liberal and legal reading of this decision is thus likely to commit a mayhem upon itself, and thereby upon the future development of the constitutional jurisprudence in this country. As always, the illiteracy of the literate is more pernicious for development than that of the illiterate."
Ignorance rules. And we pay the "education tax"!
You are so right. Doctors should teach law. Panwallahs should become judges. After all, they are qualified. Don't you think?
ReplyDeletethere are schools of thought in Law because Law is what is the pillar of any "social science."
ReplyDeletethere is therefore a liberal/libertarian school of thought in Law, based on the inviolability of private property. this is seen as a pillar of Liberty.
then there is the socialist school of thought, that is based on Statolatry, the worst form of idolatry, that deifies "collective property." this is the pillar of tyranny.
then there are the legal positivists, who see Law as anything that is "legally made" - like legislation. this is a pillar of democratic politicization of the Law, something that destroys the "rule of law." politics then overrides law. there is not only tyranny, there is also chaos.
my point is that the only schools of thought in Law, in India, are the socialists and the positivists.
i say this since I am a libertarian. I belong to a different school of thought in Law.
And I think that the others are totally wrong, and hence "illiterate."