Library Guides: Indian Law: Introduction

General Country Information

The Republic of India is a constitutional democracy. It is a federation made up of 29 states and seven union and national territories. India's Central and state governments function in the Westminister style.

Use the resources listed below for general information about India.

Indian History

India, Raj & Empire (UniMelb staff & student access)

Drawing upon the rich and diverse manuscript collections of the National Library of Scotland, this datbase will be of great value to all those teaching or researching into the History of South Asia between the foundation of the East India Company in 1615 and the granting of independence to India and Pakistan in 1947.

The Great Partition: the making of India and Pakistan by Yasmin Khan
Call Number: UniM Bail 954.042 KHAN
Publication Date: Yale University Press, 2017
Subjects, Citizens and Law: colonial and independent India by Gunnel Cederlöf & Sanjukta Das Gupta (eds)
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: Routledge, 2016
The East India Company 1600-1857: essays on Anglo-Indian connection by William A. Pettigrew & Mahesh Gopalan (eds)
Call Number: E-book
Publication Date: Routledge, 2016

Government Information

India.gov.in
(open access) The National Portal of India
GOI Web Directory
(Open access) Government of India Web Directory. A one-point source to access all Indian Government Websites at all levels and from all sectors.
India Image
This gateway to the government of Indian information on the web includes a Government of India directory, government policies, India fact file, and information about any district in India with facts and statistics.

Indian Legal System

India's legal system is a mix of common, Muslim and customary law. See Juriglobe for further information(open access).

Image courtesy of Juriglobe

The main sources of law in India include the constitution, statutory laws, customary laws and case law. See more at:

GlobaLex: A Guide to India's Legal System and Legal Research by Rakesh Kumar Shrivastava (open access)
Customary Law in India - information and resources relating to customary law in India from the Law Library of Congress (open access).

A good place to start your Indian legal research

Halsbury's Laws of India on LexisNexis Advance (UniMelb staff & student access) is a comprehensive online encyclopaedia of the Law in India, arranged alphabetically by topic. It contains commentary and cites relevant legislation and significant cases.

Kluwer Law Online (UniMelb staff & student access) includes full-text e-books on Indian law in the following subject areas:

Image: Emblem of India

Source: Wikipedia

Foreign Law Guide - India (UniMelb staff & student access) - arranged alphabetically by broad topic. Includes commentary, and lists relevant legislation (with links to the legislation on the SCC database) and useful secondary sources such as books and articles on these topics.

Rule of Law and Human Rights in India

See:

The World Justice Project's latest Rule of Law Index - Country Profile for India (open access)

In 2017-18, India was ranked 62nd out of 113 countries.
Latest World Justice Project - Rule of Law Index (Full Report)