Page 110 - Communication Processes Volume 3 Communication Culture and Confrontation

The Indian Legal System 85

did so, they countered explicitly the norm of the ideal, the perfect
wife, although it continued as the dominant mode of thinking in
regard to the structuring of domestic power.

Summary

Under colonial rule the setting up of a British legislative and judicial
machinery changed the role of traditional local councils to some
degree: people could now take recourse to higher level courts if their
disputes were not satisfactorily resolved by local bodies such as the
village courts. The higher courts were male dominated and it was
mainly the rich and powerful who were in a position to go there. At
the same time, in Maharashtra important Indian social reformers
worked in order to ameliorate women’s status. They promoted the
creation of more opportunities for women. Both social reformers and
the British legal system would eventually influence the legal system
of independent India.

The Legal System in Post-colonial India

The formation of the independent state of India was the basis for the
consolidation of the modern legal system. Nowadays, while there is no
single nation-wide system of caste, kinship, religion or land tenure,
there is an all-India legal system that handles local disputes in accord-
ance with uniform national standards. In 1950 the Indian Constitution
established the country as a secular federal republic with a parliamen-
tary system in the British style and a strong central government. The
framers of the Constitution rejected the various proposals to construct
a government along ‘indigenous’ lines. Instead, it established a unified
judiciary covering the whole of India, with the Supreme Court as the
court of final appeal in all cases.
There is an integrated system of courts that divides legislative
powers between the Union and states. The Indian Constitution is
quasi-federal in that it is applicable to all states. The Union Government
has exclusive power to legislate on matters enumerated in List I of the
Seventh Schedule of the Constitution, while the state governments have