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50 Legal Research Topics For The Month Of March 2023!

In this article, Team YLCC brings you the top 50 legal research topics for law students in March 2023. Happy researching!

• Competition (Amendment) Bill, 2023: A Critical Analysis.
• The National Security Act, 1980: Amritpal Singh Case.
• Rules and Regulations for foreign law firms and Lawyers in India: A Study.
• India’s ban on blood transfer by gay and transgender people: An Analysis.
• Digital India Bill: Need of the Hour?
• The impact of the Right to Information Act on government transparency.
• Role of International Seabed Authority (ISA) in Deep Sea Mining.
• The impact of the Motor Vehicles Act on road safety in India: A Field Study.
• Anti-spyware Declaration: Why is it needed?
• The legal and ethical implications of human organ transplantation in India.
• Exploitation of Surrogacy Laws in India.
• The legal and ethical implications of assisted suicide in India.
• Politicians claiming ‘higher immunity’ for misusing CBI and ED: A Study.
• The legal implications of online harassment in India.
• The legal status of women’s inheritance rights in India.
• The impact of the Forest Rights Act on forest dwellers’ rights in India.
• Australia’s step towards climate change: A Study.
• The impact of the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition.
• Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act on land acquisition in India.
• The impact of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act on child sexual abuse in India.
• Legal opinion on telecom regulatory authority of India repealing regulations, 2023. 
• How Rajasthan’s Advocate Protection Bill, 2023 will stop offences against Advocates?
• Role of NCPCR in the empowering of girl children. 
• How well Digital India bill will replace the Information Technology Act, 2000: A Study.
• The need for amendment in the AMASR Act, 1958. 
• Analysis of Manish Sisodia’s Liquor policy case.
• Legal opinion on Supreme Court’s refusal to hear PIL on menstrual leave. 
• Implications of the MP government’s new liquor policy. 
• Analysis of Spain’s menstrual paid leave law: A Study.
• Salient Features of Uttar Pradesh’s anti-cheating law: An Analysis.
• The legal and ethical implications of genetic testing in India.
• The legal and ethical implications of assisted reproduction in India.
• The legal status of net neutrality in India: A Study.
• Inheritance and property rights of indigenous women in tribal communities.
• Marriage Equality in Singapore: An analysis.
• Regulation of Domain Name Registrars.
• Car theft and auto insurance: How do insurance companies handle claims for stolen vehicles, and what legal recourse do victims have?
• The effectiveness of shareholder activism as a tool for corporate governance.
• Autonomous vehicle regulations: How are self-driving cars regulated, and what legal issues arise from their use on public roads?
• Legal and ethical considerations in organ transplantation in India: A critical review.
• Role of Expert Witnesses in Construction Disputes in India.
• Legal issues surrounding involuntary psychiatric treatment in India.
• Role of Competition Law in promoting innovation in the Indian tech industry.
• Role of data protection and privacy laws in regulating the use of data by dominant players in the Indian tech industry.
• Analysis of the Shraddha Walkar Case: Perspectives and Arguments.
• Concerns and Criticisms of the Electoral Bond Scheme: Analysing the Opinion of the RBI.
• Admissibility of Unregistered Agreements as Evidence in a Suit for Specific Performance: Analysing R Hemalatha v. Kashthuri (2023).
• Guidelines for Bancassurance Operations: Evidence-based Policy Formulation from the US Financial Market.
• Key Clauses of Purchase and Sales Agreement.
• Privacy and Security Compliance Challenges Faced by US Organizations: A Comprehensive Analysis.

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Research Topics For law Students in 2023

• by Sanjay Rawat
• March 6, 2023
• 17 minutes read

Table of Contents

Introduction

Legal research is an essential skill that law students must acquire as it provides them with the tools necessary to develop critical thinking abilities, establish a solid foundation in the law, and prepare for legal practice. Moreover, legal research allows students to hone their communication skills and stay updated with any modifications to the law. With this in mind, our team with their legal expertise has compiled a list of over 100 legal research topics to assist law students in their quest for legal research topics in 2023

Subjectwise Distribution of Legal Research Topics for law students in 2023

Constitutional law- legal research topics for law students.

• The impact of the recent Pegasus spyware controversy on the right to privacy in India . (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
• The effectiveness of the new Constitution (Scheduled Castes) Order (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting the rights of scheduled castes in India. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
• The legality and implications of the Citizenship Amendment Act, 2019 . (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
• The constitutional validity of the farm laws passed by the Indian parliament. (Source: Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers’ Welfare)
• The role of the Supreme Court in protecting and interpreting the Constitution of India. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
• Constitutionality of collegium system in India – Specific reference to Case laws
• The constitutional right to privacy and its implications for data protection laws in India. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
• The constitutional validity of reservations in educational institutions and public employment. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
• The constitutional validity of sedition laws in India. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
• The role of the Election Commission in ensuring free and fair elections in India. (Source: Election Commission of India)
• The constitutional validity of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) and its implementation in Assam. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
• The implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on ECI Appointments. (Source: Supreme Court of India)

Research Topics for law students on Criminal Law

• The effectiveness of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2018 in addressing crimes against women in India. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
• The implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the use of remand in criminal cases. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
• The effectiveness of the new Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Act, 2021 in tackling drug abuse in India. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
• The impact of the new Anti-Trafficking Bill, 2021 on human trafficking in India. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
• The effectiveness of the new Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Act, 2021 in curbing money laundering in India. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
• The implications of the recent Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty in India. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
• The effectiveness of the new Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 in addressing workplace harassment in India. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
• The impact of the new Anti-Corruption Bill, 2021 on corruption in India . (Source: Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions)

Research topics on Family Law

• The implications of the new Personal Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 on interfaith marriages in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The effectiveness of the new Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting the rights of older people in India. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
• The legal and ethical implications of the surrogacy regulation Act 2021 on India’s family law and social norms. (Source: Indian Council of Medical Research)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The impact of the new Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021 on surrogacy arrangements in India. (Source: Ministry of Health and Family Welfare)
• The effectiveness of the new Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019 in addressing the issue of triple talaq in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Legal Research topics on Intellectual Property Law(IPR)

• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on intellectual property laws in India, including patent rights, trademark rights, and copyright laws. (Source: World Intellectual Property Organization)
• The legal and ethical implications of genetic engineering and gene editing technologies in India’s intellectual property laws. (Source: National Biodiversity Authority)
• The effectiveness of India’s laws and policies in protecting traditional knowledge and folklore. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
• The impact of India’s accession to the Madrid Protocol on trademark registration and protection in India. (Source: Intellectual Property India)
• The effectiveness of India’s laws and policies in promoting innovation and creativity in the digital age. (Source: National Innovation Foundation)
• The implications of the new Copyright (Amendment) Act, 2021 on copyright law in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Patents Act, 1970. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
• The effectiveness of the new Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 2019 in protecting geographical indications in India. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
• The impact of the new Designs (Amendment) Rules, 2021 on design law in India. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
• The effectiveness of the new Trade Marks (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting trademarks in India. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)

Environmental Law Research Topics for law students

• The implications of the new Air (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 2021 on air pollution in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
• The implications of the recent National River Ganga (Rejuvenation, Conservation and Management) Act, 2021 on the conservation of the Ganges river in India. (Source: Ministry of Jal Shakti)
• The effectiveness of the new National Green Tribunal (NGT) (Amendment) Act, 2021 in resolving environmental disputes in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
• The impact of the new Hazardous and Other Wastes (Management and Transboundary Movement) Rules, 2021 on hazardous waste management in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)
• The effectiveness of the new Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 2021 in addressing water pollution in India. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)

International Law topics for research

• The implications of India’s recent withdrawal from the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) on India’s international trade relations. (Source: Ministry of External Affairs)
• The interpretation and implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), 1982, with specific reference to India’s maritime claims. (Source: Ministry of External Affairs)
• The effectiveness of the new International Financial Services Centres Authority Act, 2021 in regulating financial services in India’s international financial centres. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
• The impact of India’s recent accession to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction on child custody cases involving India and other signatory countries. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
• The implications of the recent International Court of Justice ruling on the Kulbhushan Jadhav case. (Source: International Court of Justice)
• The effectiveness of the new Extradition (Amendment) Act, 2021 in extradition proceedings in India. (Source: Ministry of External Affairs) or The effectiveness of India’s extradition laws in extraditing fugitives from foreign countries. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
• The impact of the new Prevention of Atrocities (Amendment) Act, 2021 on international human rights law in India. (Source: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment)
• The effectiveness of the new Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) Model Text, 2021 in promoting foreign investment in India. (Source: Ministry of Finance)

Corporate Law:

• The implications of the new Companies (Amendment) Act, 2021 on corporate law in India. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
• The effectiveness of the new Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) (Listing Obligations and Disclosure Requirements) Regulations, 2021 in regulating securities markets in India. (Source: SEBI)
• The impact of the recent changes in the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) policy on foreign investment in India. (Source: Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade)
• The effectiveness of the new Competition (Amendment) Act, 2021 in promoting competition in Indian markets. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
• The impact of the Companies (Amendment) Act, 2020, on corporate governance in India, including the changes to the composition and functioning of the board of directors, and the enhanced role of auditors and independent directors. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
• The challenges of regulating new forms of corporate entities in India, such as limited liability partnerships and one-person companies, and the implications of these entities for traditional forms of corporate organization. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
• The role of corporate social responsibility in India, including the legal framework for mandating and monitoring CSR activities, and the challenges of balancing the interests of shareholders, stakeholders, and society. (Source: Ministry of Corporate Affairs)
• The regulation of mergers and acquisitions in India, including the role of the Competition Commission of India in assessing the anti-competitive effects of M&A transactions, and the challenges of balancing competition and economic growth. (Source: Competition Commission of India)
• The impact of recent judicial decisions on corporate law in India, including the interpretation of provisions of the Companies Act, 2013, and the evolving jurisprudence on issues such as shareholder activism, minority rights, and corporate liability. (Source: Supreme Court of India)

Labour Law:

• The effectiveness of the new labour codes proposed by the Ministry of Labour and Employment in 2021 in regulating and protecting workers’ rights. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the labour market in India and the adequacy of legal protection for workers during the pandemic. (Source: International Labour Organization)
• The legal and ethical implications of outsourcing and subcontracting in the Indian labour market. (Source: International Labour Organization)
• The effectiveness of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 in preventing and addressing workplace sexual harassment. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
• The impact of the gig economy on labour laws and social protection in India. (Source: International Labour Organization)
• The implications of the recent Industrial Relations Code, 2020 on labour law in India. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Minimum Wages Act, 1948. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
• The effectiveness of the new Employees’ State Insurance (Amendment) Act, 2021 in providing social security to workers in India. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
• The impact of the recent changes in the Apprentices Act, 1961 on apprenticeships in India. (Source: Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship)
• The effectiveness of the new Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act, 2021 in protecting the rights of working women in India. (Source: Ministry of Women and Child Development)
• The implications of the recent Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 on freedom of speech and expression in India’s digital media. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
• The interpretation and implementation of the Information Technology Act, 2000. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
• The effectiveness of the new Personal Data Protection Bill, 2021 in protecting personal data of Indian citizens. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
• The impact of cybercrime on the Indian economy and society. (Source: National Crime Records Bureau)
• The effectiveness of India’s cybercrime investigation and prosecution framework in dealing with cybercrime cases. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)

Taxation Law:

• The impact of India’s new Equalization Levy, 2021 on digital businesses and cross-border e-commerce. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
• The legal and ethical implications of tax avoidance and evasion in India’s tax laws and policies. (Source: Central Board of Direct Taxes)
• The effectiveness of India’s tax incentives and exemptions in promoting foreign direct investment and economic growth. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
• The impact of India’s Goods and Services Tax (GST) on small and medium-sized businesses and the informal sector. (Source: Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs)
• The legal and ethical implications of tax competition and international tax treaties on India’s tax sovereignty and revenue collection. (Source: Ministry of Finance)

Research topics on Sports Law for law students

Here are some more research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to sports law:

• The legal and ethical implications of gender discrimination and sexual harassment in sports, with a focus on India’s sports industry. (Source: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports)
• The effectiveness of India’s sports law framework in regulating doping, match-fixing, and other forms of cheating in sports. (Source: National Anti-Doping Agency, India)
• The impact of India’s new National Sports Code, 2011, on the governance and management of sports organizations in India. (Source: Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports)
• The legal and ethical implications of athlete welfare and protection in sports, including issues such as athlete contracts, injury prevention, and mental health support. (Source: Sports Authority of India)
• The role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as sports arbitration, in resolving disputes in the sports industry, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Indian Olympic Association)

Fashion Law

Here are some research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to fashion law:

• The legal and ethical implications of intellectual property protection in the fashion industry, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Ministry of Commerce and Industry)
• The impact of India’s new Consumer Protection Act, 2019, on consumer rights and product liability in the fashion industry. (Source: Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution)
• The effectiveness of India’s laws and policies in regulating the use of child labour in the fashion industry, and promoting ethical and sustainable production practices. (Source: Ministry of Labour and Employment)
• The legal and ethical implications of cultural appropriation and intellectual property rights in the fashion industry, with a focus on India’s traditional designs and crafts. (Source: Ministry of Textiles)
• The role of alternative dispute resolution mechanisms, such as mediation and arbitration, in resolving disputes in the fashion industry, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Contract Law

Some research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to contract law are

• The legal and ethical implications of force majeure clauses in commercial contracts during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a focus on India’s experience. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The effectiveness of India’s Contract Act, 1872, in regulating electronic contracts and e-commerce transactions, and the challenges posed by the increasing use of technology in commercial transactions. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
• The impact of India’s new Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2021, on the enforcement and validity of arbitration agreements in commercial contracts. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The legal and ethical implications of contractual interpretation and construction in commercial disputes, with a focus on India’s courts’ approach. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
• The role of good faith and fair dealing in contract law, and its implications for contract drafting and negotiation in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Arbitration Law

Some research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to arbitration law are-

• The effectiveness of India’s Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, in promoting arbitration as a preferred mode of dispute resolution, and the challenges faced by the arbitration industry in India. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The role of institutional arbitration in India, with a focus on the rules and procedures of institutions such as the Mumbai Centre for International Arbitration and the Delhi International Arbitration Centre. (Source: Indian Council of Arbitration)
• The legal and ethical implications of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) in India, with a focus on India’s experience in bilateral investment treaties (BITs) and investment disputes. (Source: Ministry of Finance)
• The impact of India’s new Arbitration and Conciliation (Amendment) Act, 2021, on the appointment and qualifications of arbitrators, and the procedure for challenging and enforcing arbitral awards. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The role of technology in arbitration in India, including the use of electronic evidence, virtual hearings, and online dispute resolution platforms. (Source: National Law School of India University)
• The effectiveness of the Indian judiciary in supporting arbitration, including the approach of Indian courts to issues such as interim relief, jurisdictional challenges, and public policy considerations. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
• The role of international commercial arbitration in India, with a focus on the practice and procedure of international arbitration in India and the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. (Source: International Chamber of Commerce India)
• The impact of India’s new Commercial Courts, Commercial Division and Commercial Appellate Division of High Courts Act, 2015, on the resolution of commercial disputes through arbitration and other alternative dispute resolution mechanisms. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)

Administrative law

Research topics for law students in India in 2023 related to administrative law:

• The scope and limitations of the principle of natural justice in administrative law, with a focus on the Indian context and the role of courts in enforcing the principles of procedural fairness. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The relationship between administrative law and human rights in India, including the constitutional protection of fundamental rights and the role of administrative agencies in promoting human rights. (Source: National Human Rights Commission)
• The impact of India’s Right to Information Act, 2005, on transparency and accountability in administrative decision-making, and the challenges faced in implementing the Act. (Source: Central Information Commission)
• The role of the judiciary in administrative law in India, including the scope of judicial review of administrative action and the development of principles such as proportionality and reasonableness. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
• The legal and ethical implications of administrative discretion in India, including the scope and limitations of administrative discretion and the accountability of administrative decision-makers. (Source: Administrative Law Review)

Evidence Law

• The admissibility and reliability of electronic evidence in Indian courts, including the challenges of preserving and authenticating electronic evidence and the legal framework for admitting electronic evidence. (Source: Evidence Act, 1872)
• The impact of recent amendments to the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, on the law of evidence in India, including the new provisions on the admissibility of electronic evidence, presumptions as to documents, and the use of expert evidence. (Source: Ministry of Law and Justice)
• The role of the judge in the trial process and the evaluation of evidence in Indian courts, including the principles of burden of proof, presumption, and standard of proof, and the discretion of the judge in weighing evidence. (Source: Supreme Court of India)
• The impact of the Indian Evidence (Amendment) Act, 2002, on the admissibility of confessions and the protections afforded to accused persons, including the requirement for video recording of confessions and the admissibility of retracted confessions. (Source: Ministry of Home Affairs)
• The role of scientific evidence in criminal trials in India, including the admissibility and reliability of forensic evidence such as DNA analysis, fingerprinting, and ballistics evidence. (Source: National Forensic Sciences University)
• The evolution of the law of torts in India, with a focus on the development of principles such as negligence, nuisance, and strict liability, and the role of the judiciary in shaping the law. (Source: Indian Council of Legal Research)
• The liability of the State and its officials for tortious acts in India, including the scope and limitations of sovereign immunity and the remedies available to victims of tortious acts committed by the State. (Source: Constitution of India)
• The role of tort law in consumer protection in India, including the liability of manufacturers, sellers, and service providers for defective products and services, and the remedies available to consumers. (Source: Consumer Protection Act, 2019)
• The impact of technological developments on tort law in India, including the liability of internet service providers and social media platforms for defamation, and the challenges of regulating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and autonomous vehicles. (Source: Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology)
• The relationship between tort law and environmental law in India, including the liability of polluters for harm to the environment and the challenges of enforcing environmental standards through the law of torts. (Source: Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change)

International Humanitarian law

Some recent international humanitarian law research topics for law students in 2023 are-

• The legal and ethical implications of autonomous weapons systems under international humanitarian law, including the challenges of ensuring compliance and accountability for their use. (Source: Human Rights Watch)
• The role of non-state actors in armed conflicts and their responsibilities under international humanitarian law, including the legal framework for regulating the conduct of armed groups and the challenges of enforcing accountability. (Source: Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights)
• The impact of counter-terrorism measures on international humanitarian law, including the legal framework for regulating the use of force in counter-terrorism operations and the challenges of ensuring compliance with human rights standards. (Source: International Committee of the Red Cross)
• The legal framework for protecting civilians and non-combatants in the context of the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine , including the challenges of ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law in the midst of a protracted armed conflict. (Source: International Committee of the Red Cross)
• The role of international criminal law in addressing alleged violations of international humanitarian law in Ukraine, including the legal framework for investigating and prosecuting war crimes and the challenges of ensuring accountability for those responsible. (Source: International Criminal Court)

I hope this comprehensive list of over 100 topics of research for law students will help you find the correct topic for your research. However, the topic you choose to research will always depend on your personal interests. So, it’s best to give some thought to finding which topic suits your interests.

Download 100 Research Topics for Law Students

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India Law Research

Vlex database, free & open internet, government: executive, government: legislature, government: judiciary, journals and periodicals, international encyclopedia of laws, additional resources, getting help, quick links.

Below are quick links to our most popular resources for India research. More detailed instructions for using these resources are located further down in the guide.

• HOLLIS Library Catalog
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Introduction to Researching the Law of India

The Sovereign, Democratic, and Republic state of India (also known as Bharat) has been a free nation since it declared its independence from British rule in 1947.  It adopted its constitution on January 26,1950.  In addition to outlining the powers of the branches of government, the constitution defines protected fundamental rights (see Part III), and outlines the policy directives of the state and the fundamental duties of Indian citizens (see Part IV).  With more than 450 articles, India has the longest constitution of any sovereign nation in the world.  

India is governed by a federal parliamentary system.  In addition to the Central Government, each of the country's 28 states has its own government.  There are also eight Union Territories (UTs) administrated by Central Government appointees.  For information about each of the states and UTs, along with links to their respective government websites, visit  https://knowindia.gov.in/states-uts/ .

As is the case with other former British colonies, India has a common law legal system that recognizes the principles of judge-made law and stare decisis.

The Harvard Law School Library has an extensive print collection of historical and current primary and secondary sources researching the law of India.  In addition, the library subscribes to two databases: Manupatra and SCC Online .  This guide provides instructions and tips for navigating these resources. 

A quick introductory video on the features of this guide is below.

Photo: Supreme Court of India, taken by Jennifer Allison on Dec. 14, 2019.

The Harvard Library Catalog: HOLLIS

Use the HOLLIS online library catalog (http://hollis.harvard.edu)  to find print and electronic materials in Harvard's libraries, including the law library.

This guide includes links to HOLLIS searches that use either general keywords, Library of Congress Subject Headings , or both. HOLLIS search links in this guide appear in this format: 

HOLLIS search: "India" AND "Law OR Legal"

Most searches are deliberately broad.  Limit the search results by adding additional keywords to the search query, refining the results using the options listed on the right side of the HOLLIS screen, or both.

Suggested HOLLIS Searches: Legal Primary and Secondary Sources for India

Below are some suggested HOLLIS searches for materials on Indian law, with the results limited to books in the collections of Harvard's libraries.  Click a link to view the search results. 

Searches by Subject or Source Type

• HOLLIS Search: "Administrative Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Civil Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Civil Procedure" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Commercial Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Constitutional Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Contract Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Criminal Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Customary Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Digest" AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Environmental Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Evidence" AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Family Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Hindu Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Judges" OR "Judiciary" OR "Judicial" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Land Use" AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Mohamedan Law" OR "Muslim Law" OR "Islamic Law" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Referencer" AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Securities Law" OR "Corporate Governance" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Social Security" AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Terrorism OR National Security" AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Women OR Girls" AND "India" AND "Law"

Searches by Publisher

The searches listed below represent major Indian and international publishers of books on law.  Some Indian publishers have general names like "Law House," and the searches below attempt to incorporate all of the possible name options. The search queries with international publishers like Brill, Cambridge, Elgar, Oxford, Routledge, and Springer are likely to include several comparative law titles in which India is one of the jurisdictions that is compared.

• HOLLIS Search: "Academic" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Adam" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Ashoka" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Asia" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Bloomsbury" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Brill" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Butterworth" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Cambray" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Cambridge" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Central" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Chari" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Chetty" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Commercial" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Deep" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Dwivedi" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Eastern" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Education" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Elgar" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Higginbotham" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "House" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "India Law" (publisher)
• HOLLIS Search: "Kamal" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Law Book" (publisher) AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "LexisNexis" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Manak" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Mukherjee" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Oxford" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Panchayat" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Pearson" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Penguin" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Professional" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Routledge" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Satyam" (publisher) AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Snow White" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Springer" (publisher) AND "India" AND Law" Note that Springer publishes a lot of comparative law treatises, and we have many of them as eBooks. If a book on your desired topic is included in these search results, it should have at least a chapter or a section on India, and you likely will be able to access it electronically.
• HOLLIS Search: "Sweet and Maxwell" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Taxmann" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Tripathi" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Vinod" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "Wadhwa" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"
• HOLLIS Search: "World" (publisher) AND "India" AND "Law"

Historical Research: The HLS Library's Moody Call Number System

In the past, the Harvard Law Library used a proprietary classification system for foreign materials, the Moody System.  To learn more about it, visit  https://guides.library.harvard.edu/moodysystem .

You should know about this system if you are doing historical legal research in our collection for India.  Many older materials in the library's offsite storage facility (which cannot be browsed by researchers) still have Moody call numbers, even though the library switched to using the Library of Congress classification system for foreign materials several years ago.

Moody Call Numbers

Call numbers in this system are compiled as follows:

• The call number starts with a code for the jurisdiction (for India, it's "IN")
• The first number represents form or type of material (for a list of these numbers, see  https://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=309924&p=2070177 )
• The second and third numbers represent the subject of the material (for a list of these numbers, see  https://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=309924&p=2070178 )
• At the end of the call number is a three-letter abbreviation of the author's name.

Browsing by Moody Call Number in HOLLIS

For example, if you would like to browse the older treatises about the criminal law of India in our collection, do this:

1.  Go to  https://hollis.harvard.edu/ .

2.  Above the search box, click STARTS WITH/BROWSE .

3.  In the Browse by drop-down menu, click Call Number - Other .

4.  In the search box, enter IN 980  (Note: this means "India + Treatises [900] + Criminal Law [80]")

5.  Click Search .

Bluebook Citation Rules for Legal Sources from India

The Bluebook's citation rules for primary law materials from India are available online at  https://www.legalbluebook.com/bluebook/v21/tables/t2-foreign-jurisdictions/t2-18-india . 

These rules indicate preferred case law reporters by court, as well as instructions for citing the constitution and legislation.

Manupatra Subscription Database

Manupatra is a subscription legal database for India.  It includes both primary sources (judicial opinions, statutes and other legislative materials, administrative agency materials, and more) and secondary sources (including treatises and law journals).

To access Manupatra:

• Sign in with your HarvardKey at https://hollis.harvard.edu .
• Go to  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990104767090203941/catalog  and click the ONLINE ACCESS link.

You should see the homepage of the Manupatra database, which looks like this:

Searching and Browsing in Manupatra

To browse by source type, use the menu on the left side of the screen.

To search, click one of the options in the blue search bar at the top of the screen:

• Manu Search : Search the database using keywords.
• Legal Search : Advanced search option, using forms with fields, for judgments, statues (acts), rules, and other types of sources.
• Citation Search : Use this option to search for a case if you have a citation to a case law reporter, such as All India Reporter (AIR), Indian Law Reports (ILR), SCC (Supreme Court Cases), or Weekly Law Notes (WLN).  Coverage also includes regional court reporters, such as the Bombay Cases Reporter (BomCR), Calcutta Law Journal (CLJ), Delhi Law Times (DLT), and many others.  To view a coverage list of reporters, visit  http://www.manupatrafast.in.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/Search/Publishers.aspx . 
• Assisted Search : Provides a form to assist with crafting searches using Boolean connectors.

Search Example

As an example, assume that you have the following information about a case from the Bombay High Court:

State vs. Panduran Tatyasaheb Shinde, AIR 1956 Bom 711.

Find this case in Manupatra as follows:

• Click Citation Search .
• In the Publisher menu, select AIR(Bombay) .
• In the Year box, enter 1956 .
• In the Page Number box, enter 711 .
• Click Search .

You will see one result.  Click the link provided to view the case.

SCC Online Subscription Database

SCC Online is a subscription legal database.  You can browse or search for cases from a wide variety of Indian courts, including the Supreme Court, the Privy Council, high courts, district courts, and tribunals and commissions.  It also includes selected case law from other jurisdictions in the region, including Bangladesh, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka, and from several African jurisdictions.  SCC online also includes other Indian legal materials: acts and rules, articles, secondary sources, treaties, and more.

Access SCC Online as follows:

• Go to https://hollis.harvard.edu and sign in with your HarvardKey credentials.
• Go to this HOLLIS record:  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/99153820291903941/catalog . 
• Click the ONLINE ACCESS link.
• On the SCC Online homepage, click LOGIN in the upper right corner.
• Select the IP login option, and enter your Harvard email address.
• When the SCC Dashboard screen appears, click the type of search you want to do.  You may have to do this quickly to avoid being signed out.  If you are not sure what to click, click the third blue box labeled Find by Citation .

You should now be on the main search screen.  If this is not the type of search you want to do, return to the dashboard by clicking the icon with 9 little boxes in it at the top of the screen.  The dashboard provides all the options you need for finding cases by citation, party name, or topic, in addition to browsing law reports, judgments, acts and rules, secondary materials and more.  

Note that SCC Online can be hard to log into.  If the directions above do not work for you, here are a few things to try:

• Clear the cache and cookies on your browser.
• Use a different internet browser (if you are using Google Chrome and it's not working, try it in Firefox).

If you tried all those things and it's still not working, contact a research librarian for help ( https://asklib.law.harvard.edu ).

Harvard's subscription to the vLex database includes the following materials for India:

• Laws and Regulations
• Books and Journals

To access vLex, go to its HOLLIS catalog record:  http://id.lib.harvard.edu/alma/990104683840203941/catalog .  Then, click the ONLINE ACCESS link.

To go to the India materials, click Browse in the menu on the right side, then All Jurisdictions > Asia > India.

Materials from India appear throughout vLex. For example, vLex includes cases and legislation from India in the citing references for UK cases. 

HeinOnline Subscription Database

HeinOnline's resources for researching the law of India include the following:

• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals (IFLP): Search for "India" as a Subject
• World Constitutions Illustrated: India

Free Databases for Indian Legal Research

• Indian Kanoon Free database of Indian legislation and case law, offering simple and advanced search options as well as a way to browse by individual court and tribunal.
• Legal Information Institute of India (LII) Links to primary and secondary sources for Indian law.

Google Searches for Materials on Government Websites

Most Indian government websites are in the "gov.in" domain.  You can search for materials on government websites using Google using this query format:

"circulars" site:gov.in

This search will return all sites that include the word "circulars" on Indian government sites. ("Circular" is a name used for a document that a government entity releases to describe its activities.)

Some Indian government sites are in the "nic.in" domain ("NIC" is the Central Government's National Informatics Centre ).  So if your "gov.in" domain search does not return the results you are looking for, try the same search using "nic.in" instead.

According to Part V, Chapter I of the  Indian Constitution , the head of state is the  President , who appoints the members of the Council of Ministers (headed by the Prime Minister ) and the judges who serve on the Supreme Court . 

The executive branch also includes the following:

• Union Ministries (including the Ministry of Law and Justice )
• Union Government Departments (including the Department of Legal Affairs )
• Commissions (including the Law Commission of India )

The executive has certain powers related to legislation.  For example, the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice  drafts legislation for the Central Government.  Other ministries also contribute to the drafting of bills based on their subject matter. 

Under Article 123 of the Indian Constitution, the President can enact ordinances when Parliament is not in session.  These ordinances can only become permanent law if the Parliament approves them after returning from its recess.

Finding Executive and Administrative Materials

HOLLIS Searches

• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Delegated Legislation"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Gazette"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Government" AND "Circulars"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Ministry OR Department OR Commission" (in the "Author" field)
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Record" AND "Office" (in the "Author" field)

Electronic Resources

• The Gazette of India Bilingual (English and Hindi) publication of government activities. e-Gazettes are available here for the Central Government and for State Governments.
• National Government Services Portal This site provides information about the services that various government entities (Central Government and State Governments) offer to the the people of India. You can browse by service type or search for a service.

According to Part V, Chapter II of the  Indian Constitution , legislative power vests in a Parliament , which includes:

• The President
• The Council of States (Rajya Sabha)  
• The  House of the People (Lok Sabha)

Finding Legislation

Historically, Indian national and state legislation has been published by a lot of different entities under a lot of different names.  This means you may need to do several HOLLIS searches to find the publication that has the law you are looking for. 

The searches below include various ways Harvard's library catalogers have named and described Indian publications that include legislation.  

• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Acts of Parliament"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Central Acts"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Central Legislature"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "State Acts"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Statutory Rules"
• HOLLIS Search: "Law" AND "India" AND "Statutes and Codes"
• HOLLIS Search: "Law and Legislation" AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Laws, etc." AND "India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Laws of India"
• HOLLIS Search: "Statutes of India"

In addition to the subscription databases Manupatra and SCC Online, there are several freely-available online sources for Indian legislative materials.

• Bare Acts Live (Chawla Publications)
• India Code: Digital Repository of All Central and State Acts
• LEGIS Database of Acts Database of acts, bills, and ordinances - maintained by the Supreme Court Judges' Library.
• List of Central Acts Maintained by the Legislative Department of the Ministry of Law and Justice; available in chronological and alphabetical order.
• Ministry of Law and Justice Legislative Department: Legislative References Includes a list of the Acts of Parliament (1838-2019), and links to the text of ordinances promulgated, President's Acts, Central Regulations, and Orders issued under the Constitution of India.
• National Portal of India: Acts/Rules
• Parliamentary Research Service (PRS)

Part V, Chapter IV of the  Indian Constitution  establishes the Union Judiciary, at the head of which is the Supreme Court of India . 

As India is a common law jurisdiction, opinions issued by the Supreme Court are binding on all other Indian courts (see Art. 141).

India's judiciary is also comprised of regional courts throughout the country, including  High courts  and  District courts . 

For disputes involving government employees, India has a network of Administrative Tribunals .

Finding Case Law

Over time, there have been hundreds of publications reporting cases decided in India's courts, and some of them have changed their names several times.  The Supreme Court of India's Equivalent Citation Table can help a researcher not only make sense of the various case reporter names, but also determine parallel citations if necessary.

Note that, in Indian legal bibliography, the term "law journal" can mean many different things, including a case law reporter.

Harvard has been collecting case law reporters from India for many years.  To find judicial decisions from Indian courts in the law library's print collection, try the searches below, which include various ways Harvard's library catalogers have named and described relevant publications.

• HOLLIS Search: "All India Reporter"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "High Court" AND "Cases OR Reports OR Digests OR Decisions"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Judicial Commissioner's Court"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Law Reports, Digests, Etc."
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Reports of Cases"
• HOLLIS Search: "India" AND "Supreme Court Cases"
• HOLLIS Search: "Indian Decisions" AND "Law OR Legal"
• HOLLIS Search: "Indian High Court Reports"
• HOLLIS Search: "Indian Law Reports"
• HOLLIS Search: "Justice, Administration of -- India" (Subject field search)
• HOLLIS Search: "Supreme Court of India" AND "Cases OR Reports OR Digests OR Decisions"
• Directory of District Court Websites Links to District Court websites are provided, through which you can browse and search for opinions.
• Directory of High Court Websites Links to High Court websites are provided, through which you can browse and search for opinions.
• Supreme Court Judges' Library: SUPLIS Database of Caselaws
• Supreme Court of India: Judgments Database Search by case number, diary number, judgment date, judge name, parties, free text, and more.

Legal Journals and Periodicals

In Indian legal bibliography, the term "law journal" can mean many different things, including the following:

• A case law reporter
• A legal periodical that publishes article-length scholarly works (like a "law review" in the United States)

The  Union Catalogue of Legal Journals , maintained by the Judges' Library of the Supreme Court of India, provides a helpful overview of Indian legal periodicals.

Scholarly Law Journals

Many scholarly law journals in India are published by law schools.  Depending on the journal and the publication date, they can be found open-access through a law school website, through a subscription database (such as HeinOnline , Sage , Jstor , or Taylor and Francis ), and/or in the library's print collection.

To find journals in our collection, you can search the HOLLIS library catalog .  However, it might be easier and faster to check the list of journals published at Indian law schools below, in case the one you want is available open access online.

• Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) (Patna) Chanakya Law Review.
• Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University (RMLNLU) (Lucknow) Dr. Ram Manohar Lohiya National Law University Journal (ISSN: 0975 – 9549); RMLNLU Law Review (ISSN: 0975 – 9530); CMET Journal, Child Protection in Uttar Pradesh Quarterly Newsletter.
• Gujarat National Law University (GNLU) (Gandhi Nagar) GNLU Journal of Law, Development and Politics (GJLDP); GNLU Law Review; Gujarat Law Journal; GNLU Journal of Law & Economics (GJLE); GNLU Law and Society Review
• Hidayatullah National Law University (HNLU) (Raipur) Journal of Law and Social Science
• NALSAR University School of Law (Hyderabad) NALSAR Law Review (ISSN 2319-1988); Indian Journal of Intellectual Property Law (Print ISSN 0975-492X and e-ISSN 2278-862X); Environmental Law and Practice Review (ISSN 2319-1856); Media Law Review (ISSN 2319-1848); Journal of Corporate Affairs and Corporate Crimes (ISSN 2278-8611); NALSAR Student Law Review (ISSN 0975-0216); The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law (ISSN 0975-0134); The Indian Journal of Law and Economics (ISSN 2319-1864); NALSAR ADR Journal (ISSN 2348-7690); International Journal of Constitutional Law (IJCL); NALSAR International Law Journal
• National Law Institute University (NLIU) (Bhopal) Using the top menu, navigate through Research - Research Publications - NLIU Publications to find Indian Law Review, NLIU Journal of Intellectual Property Law, NLIU Law Review, NLIU e-Journals (International Law, Media Law).
• National Law School of India University (NLSIU) (Bengaluru / Bangalore) National Law School Journal, National Law School of India Review, NLS Business Law Review, Socio-Legal Review, IN LAW Magazine, Journal on Environmental Law Policy and Development, Journal of Law and Public Policy, CEERA March of the Environmental Law
• National Law University and Judicial Academy Assam (NLUJAA) NLUA Law Review, Child Rights & Policy Review; Journal for Sports Law, Policy, and Governance; NLUA Law and Policy Review; Journal for Disability Studies and Policy Review.
• National Law University Delhi (NLUD) Journal of National Law University Delhi; Journal of Victimology and Victim Justice; NLUD Student Law Journal; Indian Journal of Criminology.
• National Law University Jodhpur (NLUJ) NLUJ Law Review; Trade, Law, and Development; Indian Journal of Arbitration Law; Journal on Corporate Law and Governance; Journal on Comparative Constitutional Law and Administrative Law; Indian Journal of Legal Theory; Journal of Intellectual Property Studies; Journal on Indian Competition Review; Scholasticus.
• National Law University Odisha (NLUO) NULO Law Journal; Human Rights Law Journal; Journal on the Rights of the Child; NLUO Student Law Journal.
• National University of Advanced Legal Studies (NUALS) (Kochi) NUALS Intellectual Property Law Review; NUALS Law Journal.
• National University of Study and Research in Law (NUSRL) (Ranchi) NUSRL Journal of Law & Policy; NUSRL Journal of Human Rights.
• Rajiv Gandhi National University of Law (RGNUL) (Patiala, Punjab) RGNUL Law Review; RLR Student Edition; Student Law Review; RFM Law Review; RGNUL Social Science Review; Human Rights Journal; Law and Tech Times; Indian Journal of Criminology.
• WB National University of Juridicial Sciences (NUJS) (Kolkata) NUJS Law Review; Journal of Telecommunication and Broadcasting Law; Journal of Indian Law and Society (formerly Indian Juridicial Review); Asian Journal of Legal Education; International Journal of Law and Policy Review; International Journal of Legal Studies & Research; Journal on Dispute Resolution.

International Encyclopedia of Laws: Entries for India

The Kluwer Online subscription database's International Encyclopedia of Laws includes an entry for India in each of the subject areas listed below. 

Click the link, provide your HarvardKey credentials if necessary, and then click India under National Monographs.

• Civil Procedure
• Commercial and Economic Law
• Competition Law
• Constitutional Law
• Corporations and Partnerships
• Environmental Law
• Family and Succession Law
• Insurance Law
• Intellectual Property
• Medical Law
• Private International Law
• Social Security Law
• Transport Law
• Bombay High Court Judges' Library
• Foreign Law Guide: India HarvardKey credentials required
• GlobaLex: A Guide to India's Legal Research and Legal System
• GlobaLex: Guide to Indian Laws
• Index to Foreign Legal Periodicals: Country Subject = India IFLP has more than 2,000 articles with "India" as the country subject. This ink to IFLP is in the HeinOnline subscription database and HarvardKey credentials are required to access it.
• India Legal Research Guide University of Wisconsin Law Library
• India Legal Research Guide Libraries of the National University of Singapore
• Indian Law Research Guide University of Melbourne
• The Indian Legal Profession in the Age of Globalization: The Rise of the Corporate Legal Sector and its Impact on Lawyers and Society 2017 book co-authored by David Wilkins, Vikramaditya S. Khanna, and David M. Trubek.
• Indian Legal System Research Guide Library of the O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, Haryana, India.
• Judges' Library of the Supreme Court of India
• Legal Research Guide: India Law Library of Congress
• Legal Resources of India Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
• Vikaspedia (InDG) Description from the site: This portal has been developed as part of the national level initiative - India Development Gateway (InDG), dedicated for providing information / knowledge and ICT based knowledge products and services in the domain of social development. InDG is a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) Government of India initiative and is executed by Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Hyderabad.

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Harvard University Digital Accessibility Policy

The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law

Welcome to IJCL

The Indian Journal of Constitutional Law (IJCL) is a flagship law journal published annually by NALSAR University of Law. IJCL is focused on core and comparative constitutional law, and is published under the aegis of the MK Nambyar SAARCLAW Chair in Comparative Constitutional Studies in cooperation with the Constitutional Law Society at NALSAR University. The Journal is student-edited and peer-reviewed. 

IJCL aims to be a source of excellently thought-out and well-researched constitutional law scholarship. We welcome contributions from academicians, practitioners, and students alike. 

On our website, you may: 

• learn about IJCL and past contributors
• access and view our archives of previous editions
• view our submission guidelines and submit a manuscript for publication
• contact the editorial board for queries

• [email protected]
• 080 - 2675 4480
• Jubilee Building – 2nd Floor, No.45 Museum Road, Bengaluru - 560 025

10 Empirical Research Topics in Law for Academic Study

• August 20, 2023
• digitalpitakoppa

Empirical Research Topics in Law

Empirical research in law is an essential tool for understanding the impact of legal policies and practices on society. It involves collecting and analyzing data to support or challenge existing legal theories and practices. The use of empirical research in law has grown significantly in recent years, as it allows for evidence-based decision-making in the legal field.

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Empirical Research Topics in Law: 10 Popular Questions Answers

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India elections: ‘Our rule of law is under attack from our own government, but the world does not see this’

Assistant Professor in Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

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Sandhya Fuchs receives funding from the Leverhulme Trust, the Wenner Gren Foundation and the Swiss National Fund

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On a crisp winter morning in February 2023, I meet one of my South Delhi neighbours, a lawyer in India’s supreme court, in a local cafe. As an avid promoter of religious minority rights, known for his commitment to the principles of equality that were enshrined in the constitution after India gained independence in 1947, I am taken aback by the gravity of the fears this lawyer reveals to me over coffee. He worries not only about the future of India’s legal system, but the country itself:

International news describes India as the world’s largest democracy – but this democracy is rotting from within. Our rule of law is under attack from our own government, and the world does not see this.

The lawyer’s pessimism had deepened with the recent news that the Indian government was pushing for a more substantial role in judicial appointments to the supreme court. Weeks earlier, it had blocked the nominations of four new judges proposed by a “collegium” made up of India’s five most senior current supreme court judges.

The lawyer explained how this collegium had been an important safeguard of Indian judicial independence for the past 25 years. Now, however, the government was claiming that, “ for reasons of transparency ”, it should have a bigger say in the selection of supreme court judges. A tone of despair in his voice, my coffee companion concluded:

This isn’t about transparency. This is yet another instance of this government trying to erode the rule of law from within. Soon, we will be a country run by legal mafia authoritarianism.

Eradication of democracy

India is a global power on the rise. In April 2023, the UN announced it had overtaken China as the world’s most populous nation. During his visit to the US in June 2023, India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, invited world leaders to a yoga session on the White House lawn. A few months later, he hosted the G20 summit of the world’s most powerful leaders in Delhi.

Under Modi, India has worked hard to develop a global image as a nation that combines economic and technological innovation with a deep respect for ancient religious practices. This image was cemented by the inauguration of a huge new Hindu temple in the northern city of Ayodhya in January 2024. The inauguration lasted several days and saw diplomats, Bollywood actors and internationally renowned Hindu religious figures flock to pay their respects .

But behind these glossy images, a different story is unfolding within India – one that government critics say is marked by exclusion, violence, and the gradual eradication of the Indian democratic project.

This article is part of Conversation Insights The Insights team generates long-form journalism derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.

Since first coming to power in 2014, Modi and his right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have embarked on an agenda of majoritarian Hindu nationalism. Led by the ideology of Hindutva, which perceives India’s history to be inextricably linked with Hindu religious practice , and with the help of a hand-picked committee of advisers , they have pursued a vision of India as a country run by Hindus for Hindus.

Over the past decade, India has seen a proliferation of verbal and physical attacks against religious minorities and Dalits (the lowest caste of people in India, formerly known as “untouchables”). Some BJP politicians have described Muslims as “traitors of the nation” . Since Modi came to power, lynchings of Muslims and Dalits by vigilante groups who condemn the skinning of cattle and the transport or consumption of beef are reported to have increased significantly .

At the same time, many civic voices critical of the government have been silenced : journalists, academics and politicians concerned with the increasing repression of minorities and the gradual erosion of India’s democratic structure have had their Twitter accounts blocked, their homes raided , and in some cases have been jailed . Recently, Rahul Gandhi, India’s principal opposition leader, complained that his Congress party is being “crippled” “ by state tax demands that have led to the freezing of its bank accounts.

However, one aspect of Modi’s growing power has received comparatively little attention: his creeping capture of India’s legal machinery. As a legal anthropologist who has spent the past ten years researching human rights and hate crime law in India, I have witnessed the erosion of the country’s once robustly democratic legal system by Hindutva forces. The latest example is the BJP’s introduction of a new criminal legal structure in India , which will come into force in July 2024.

In Modi’s Hindutva version of India, law now exists on two parallel planes. Constitutionally, it remains a secular democracy, committed to the idea of social and political equality. Yet on the level of policing, judicial interpretation, and – increasingly – legislatively, Indian state law has become a site where majoritarian Hindutva ideologies have reshaped ideas of justice and belonging.

With Modi an overwhelming favourite to win the Indian general election , which begins on April 19, understanding what is happening to the country’s legal system – and how much further it could go in his next term of office – feels important not only for India, but for the world. It illuminates how right-wing regimes are using a playbook to silently dismantle democracy from within, under the veneer of legal legitimacy. This is the story of how you build an authoritarian state, the legal way.

Step 1: reinterpret existing laws

In February 2022, a human rights activist from the northern Indian state of Rajasthan I’ll call Tara* was arrested and sent to jail for four days. Tara told me ten police officers showed up in the middle of the night to inform him that he had been accused of forms of hate speech. Under sections 153A and 295 of the Indian penal code (first introduced in 1860 by the British colonial regime ), he was charged with "promoting enmity” between different religious groups and “insulting the religious sentiments of Hindus”.

Although Tara was eventually released on bail, his time in prison, the brutality he experienced at the hands of the arresting police officers and the threat of further court proceedings have left deep physical and psychological scars. Over the course of multiple conversations in the autumn of 2023, he revealed that he still found it difficult to sleep at night, for fear the police would return and take him away to prison again.

To make matters more confusing, Tara is a devout Hindu. He belongs to India’s Dalit community, the lowest in the Hindu caste hierarchy. In his village, many Dalits worship a local Hindu deity, Ramdev Pir – a legendary warrior of the high-ranking Rajput caste who was said to be close to his adopted sister, a Dalit, and therefore is revered both by upper-caste Rajput and Dalit Hindu groups (plus some Muslim followers of the Sufi branch of Islam).

But Rajputs in the area would not allow Dalits or Muslims into the local Ramdev temple. Determined to change things, Tara called a meeting to discuss the issue. During the meeting, he publicly proclaimed that Ramdev is a deity who belongs to all Hindus, and even Muslims – not just upper-caste Rajputs. That same night, the police arrived at his door.

When we discussed his treatment, Tara’s reflections were nuanced, showing a deep understanding of the changing way India’s criminal code is being enforced:

The fact that Dalits are discriminated against by upper-caste Hindus is not new in itself … but what we are seeing now under this Hindu nationalist government is that sections of the criminal code are being interpreted in new ways to further exclude communities like Dalits. Now sections like 153A and 295 of the Indian penal code are being used by higher-caste Hindus to claim that marginalised groups who point out exclusion or discrimination are insulting ‘real’ upper-caste Hindus.

A prominent human rights lawyer in Delhi describes Tara’s treatment as the “Hindutva reinterpretation of criminal terminologies”. The British Raj introduced section 153 of the Indian penal code (IPC) to prevent public unrest between different religious communities. But now, the lawyer argues, Hindutva supporters are increasingly “weaponising” it and other sections against minority groups who try to raise awareness about the forms of violence or exclusion they are experiencing:

In the Hindutva logic, when a marginalised person points out that they are experiencing violence or discrimination by powerful Hindu groups, this is an ‘insult’ and amounts to a declaration of hostility against them.

Tara’s experience is not an isolated incident. In January 2024, police in the north-eastern state of Manipur filed complaints against the Editors Guild of India , again under IPC section 153, for reporting on the ethnic violence towards the Christian minority Kuki-Zo tribes by the Hindu majority Meitei community. According to the complaints, media reporting on the violence was further fanning the flames of conflict between the two communities, so should be prohibited.

For Tara, who now spends his time travelling around Rajasthan – both to raise awareness about the treatment of minorities under the Modi regime and because, after his arrest, he no longer likes to stay in his home for extended periods – this is a sign of the very twisted times in India. He complained that:

Hindus attacking marginalised groups is no longer discrimination in India. But stating that powerful Hindu groups are attacking minorities is now hate speech or incitement.

Step 2: introduce new laws

The Hindutva political project contradicts the principles of secularism, equality and liberty enshrined in India’s constitution, which came into effect on January 26, 1950. Centrally drafted by Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar , a legal scholar from the Dalit community, the constitution aimed to set up postcolonial India as a democracy defined by profound respect for social, political and religious diversity, and guided by the principle of non-discrimination.

The second element of Modi’s strategy is the introduction of new anti-minority laws and criminal codes . He understands that the reinterpretation of existing legal measures is insufficient to build a majoritarian state, where Hindus as the largest religious community can disproportionately determine policy decisions . Therefore, his government has expended substantial resources introducing a series of new legal measures that have gradually pushed Muslims, in particular, to the social margins. Shortly after being re-elected for a second term in 2019, for example, Modi’s government revoked the constitutional autonomy of Jammu and Kashmir , India’s only Muslim-majority state.

At both national and state levels, the list of anti-minority laws introduced during Modi’s reign is bewilderingly long. Just one example is the Prevention of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act – introduced in India’s most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, in 2021 – which has enabled the easy arrest of interfaith couples, especially young Muslim men accused of seducing Hindu women as part of a “love jihad”.

But the most blatant anti-minority legislation is the 2019 Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which denies Muslim immigrants in India the same citizenship pathways as other religious groups. Couched in the language of national protection and Hindu rights, the CAA was quickly declared a “fundamentally discriminatory” law by the UN Commissioner for Human Rights.

Critics feared that along with the National Register of Citizens , launched in 2003 to keep track of all “legitimate” Indian citizens, the CAA would leave thousands of Muslims on Indian soil stateless . As a result, its introduction sparked an outbreak of Hindu-Muslim clashes now known as the Delhi riots , in which at least 53 people were killed (of which 38 were Muslim and 15 Hindu) and hundreds more injured over four days of violence in February 2020.

“One day you wake up and are told that your whole community now officially counts as secondary Indian citizens,” Rashid*, a student at Jamia Millia University in New Delhi, told me in 2023. “Then, within the blink of an eye, you are engulfed by violence just because you challenged that assumption. And the police do nothing. Why? Because we all know that the orders from above are to let us Muslim ‘traitors’ die.”

Rashid had been part of the peaceful anti-CAA protests in Delhi that began in December 2019. The following February, the situation escalated when Hindu mobs, reportedly unhindered by the Delhi police , began to attack Muslim protesters after some BJP politicians had again publicly called them “traitors” . Hindu crowds burned down Muslim homes and businesses, and a video emerged apparently showing five Muslim men being beaten by policemen while forced to sing the Indian national anthem. One of them reportedly died two days later .

The impact of the Delhi riots on Muslim communities across India has been profound. According to a Muslim lawyer who works in the supreme court, the introduction of the CAA and subsequent Delhi riots sent not one but several messages to Indian Muslims.

First, we are told we don’t belong to India in the way other religious groups do. Then, we better not challenge our partial inclusion because it will result in our death. And also, law enforcement will not protect us. Finally, we are shown that those who want to help Muslims fight for their rights will see their careers impacted.

Following the Delhi riots, Justice S Muralidhar, a Delhi high court judge, convened an emergency hearing in which he directed Delhi police to file complaints against the BJP politicians who had called the Muslim protesters traitors. Within 24 hours, the Indian government announced Muralidhar’s transfer to a different high court , confirming that he would no longer be presiding over the Delhi riot case.

Step 3: silence the judges

The high court judge’s rapid transfer offers a glimpse into the third strategy that India’s government has used to cement power and undermine democratic structures: the silencing of a once-independent, critical judiciary.

In April 2023, I returned to Delhi from the UK to conduct ethnographic work on hate speech hearings in the Indian supreme court. I found an apartment in a neighbourhood where many lawyers had their chambers, and soon established a network of local advocates who fed me information about ongoing cases and relevant supreme court hearings.

I was at home one day when one of them urgently directed me to watch a livestream of a supreme court hearing. It concerned a petition submitted by a group of concerned human rights and supreme court advocates, which detailed how the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra had repeatedly failed to respond to public and extremely bloody hate speeches by a small group of Hindu radicals.

As I watched, the proceedings were intruded on by India’s solicitor general, the country’s second-highest legal official and adviser to the government. Interrupting the presiding judge, who belonged to India’s Christian minority, the solicitor general accused the court of bias for hearing a petition that only involved hate speech against Muslims. He demanded to know why the court was not investigating hate speeches against Hindus: “Let us not be selective!” he chastised the bench.

As proceedings descended into chaos , the judge was forced to reschedule the case for another day. The next morning, some news outlets reported claims that this Christian judge had shown pro-Muslim bias, and had even smiled at the suggestion of a possible genocide against upper-class Hindus by Muslims. The lawyer who had submitted the petition was left frustrated and furious by these events:

By the end, no one could even remember that this case was about stopping calls for genocide against Muslims. This is what the government does: create chaos, ignore proper legal procedure, and delegitimise courts through a theatre of distractions.

Step 4: revise history

According to the authoritarian playbook that has emerged around the world, delegitimising critical courtroom voices is still not enough to dismantle a democracy. To achieve complete control over public opinion, one final ingredient is required: one must use the now-subordinated legal system to promote a version of national history that falls in line with the government’s social and political vision. Because when court judgments enter the public record, they have the power to shape public perception and collective memory.

In Modi’s India, the best example of this is the supreme court’s 2019 ruling in the dispute around the Babri Masjid mosque in Ayodhya, which allowed Modi to inaugurate a glistening mega-temple made of white marble and dedicated to the Hindu deity Ram on this disputed site. It was a ruling which some lawyers I spoke to considered so unconstitutional that it shook their faith in the entire legal system. One up-and-coming supreme court lawyer told me in May 2023:

Before the Ayodhya judgment, I was a naive young lawyer fresh out of school who believed that if you present a court with the right evidence, respect the constitution and are argumentatively and procedurally savvy, you win a case. But the Ayodhya judgment broke my faith.

He went on to claim that the supreme court had showed “such a complete disrespect for evidence in that case, in order to validate Hindu demands, that [he] almost quit altogether”. The lawyer sighed heavily:

Judgments matter … They define how ordinary people see the world. And this one has made it very clear to everyone that in Hindutva India, there is no space for Muslim claims.

The Babri Masjid mosque was built in the early 16th century during the reign of the Mughal empire’s founder, Babur . But in 1853, a Hindu sect claimed it had been built on the site of a previous Hindu temple dedicated to the Hindu deity, Lord Ram. After brewing for more than a century, the dispute escalated in the 1990s when the then-BJP leader, Lal Krishna Advani, spearheaded a national campaign to build a new Ram temple on the site. Inspired by his claim, more than 10,000 Hindu nationalists gathered in Ayodhya on December 6 1992 and demolished the mosque. Following its destruction, violent Hindu-Muslim riots broke out across India, and more than 2,000 people died .

The dispute over the site ended up in the supreme court which, in November 2019, published a nuanced 1,000-page ruling that, while emphasising the importance of being guided by secular constitutional procedure, observed that “in matters of faith and belief, the absence of evidence may not be evidence of absence”. It therefore awarded the disputed plot to the Hindu parties for the construction of a temple, while asking the government to find Muslims a “suitable” alternative plot.

Critics of the Ayodhya judgment argue that it gave prominence to the beliefs of one section of the population , and privileged a mythic Hindu version of Indian history over what scientific evidence indicated – thus signifying a new direction in Indian politics and law.

In February 2023, over coffee, my neighbour, the senior lawyer from India’s supreme court, explained the full significance of the judgment from his perspective:

It was more than a clever authoritarian propaganda plot that messes a little with historical claims. Ayodhya was a systematic rewriting of ancient Indian history by the highest court of our land.

Many legal experts suggest the Ayodhya judgment was no accident, but the result of a systematic government campaign to fill open positions on the supreme court bench with Hindu nationalist sympathisers. This suggestion is supported by an analysis of supreme court data from 2004 onwards by India’s Campaign for Judicial Accountability, which found that the number of supreme court justices who explicitly use Hindu faith-based arguments rather than constitutional ones in their judgments had increased from zero to nine in the years since Modi first became prime minister in 2014.

“We still see glimpses of an independent Indian judiciary,” the senior lawyer told me when we last spoke in November 2023, “but they are becoming fewer by the day … I worry that soon our constitutional courts will fall silent.”

Authoritarian leaders shape the nation they want

Tara, the Dalit human rights activist, is still recovering psychologically from the effects of his midnight police arrest and brief imprisonment. He, along with many of the lawyers I have interviewed, warns that if Modi is re-elected, his BJP government plans to rewrite the constitution to reflect their vision of India as a country governed by Hindu ideologies and practices.

In December 2023, we discussed B.R. Ambedkar , the person with ultimate responsibility for the drafting of India’s constitution shortly after independence.

“He was a Dalit who had suffered many indignities in his life,” Tara reminded me, explaining the significance of this:

Therefore, our Indian constitution is infused with the spirit of equality and social justice for everyone. The preamble says: ‘We, the people of India, secure justice, liberty, equality and fraternity for all citizens.’ All citizens – not just Hindus. The attempt to make India a Hindu nation and bend law to this agenda is unconstitutional.

Such concerns have deepened with the government’s announcement in February 2024 that the entire body of Indian criminal law – penal code, code of criminal procedure, and evidence act – will be replaced in July with a new set of criminal codes that will increase police powers and facilitate government surveillance . According to a lawyer who works night and day for the protection of India’s most marginalised groups, if the Indian constitution is also rewritten – or “rectified”, as one BJP MP recently suggested – then:

India’s transformation into a Hindu rashtra [Hindu kingdom] will be complete. Everything we value about the constitution now, everything that once made India such an exciting democratic project – the emphasis on equality and diversity – will be gone.

Of course, this narrative is not unique to India. Authoritarian leaders across the world do not simply defy laws; they use existing legal machinery to shape the nation they want. In 2018, the former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, summarised this idea succinctly . “The law,” he said, “should exist to defend majorities, and minorities must conform to that or disappear.”

In December 2023, independent news organisations in Hungary warned that a new law had been introduced to undermine critical independent media voices. Just like in India, Victor Orban’s government has argued that criticisms of the government must be undercut in order to maintain peace.

Delegitimising an independent judiciary is another frequent authoritarian ploy. In 2017, former US president Donald Trump accused a federal judge of putting America “in peril” by blocking his proposed travel ban for Muslims. Here too, the judiciary’s attempt to abide by constitutional principles was portrayed as “anti-national”.

And authoritarian governments have always been adept at rewriting the past in line with their own cause. When Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, annexed Crimea in 2014, he claimed that predominantly Russian areas of Ukraine had come under the rule of neo-Nazi forces and needed to be liberated. While there was little evidence to support this narrative , it was nonetheless effective in creating a sense of threat and urgency, which also garnered support for his subsequent invasion of Ukraine.

At its heart, any authoritarian project – whether in the US, Russia or India – must set out to tackle the country’s legal system. To achieve the desired level of control, the project’s leaders know they must bring supposedly justice-producing institutions like courts and police into line with their political ideologies, or their ambitions for the country will fail.

Most worryingly, as Modi and other authoritarian populists around the world take part in what is dubbed “ the biggest election year in history ”, we would do well to remember that increasingly, even if something is declared legal, it is not necessarily democratic, moral or just.

*Some names in this article have been changed to protect the anonymity of the interviewees.

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The Legal Struggles of the LGBTQIA+ Community in India

A recent judgement by the Supreme Court of India put off the question of allowing same-sex marriage, but it still may be seen as a victory for the community.

A large number of present-day Indian laws owe their origins to British rule. Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, which made punishable by law any sexual act that was “against the order of nature,” was one such controversial law. Its code included everything from oral and anal sex to intercourse between people of the same sex. In 2013, the High Court of Delhi initially read down the section (“reading down” is legalese for determining the law is no longer valid), but it was later reinstituted by a bench of the Supreme Court of India. In 2019, however, Section 377 was finally struck down by a larger constitutional bench of the Supreme Court.

Over the last decade, India’s vibrant and thriving LGBTQIA+ community has moved the courts to fight for recognition of its legal status and all the rights that should accrue to them as they do to other citizens, including the right to live together, marry, adopt, and have children through surrogacy. Recently, LGBTQIA+ petitioners filed a new case for the recognition of the right to marry members of their own community. In this case, however, the Supreme Court provided no relief, recommending instead that the question should be referred to Parliament to decide . However disappointed the community may have been by this ruling, many were appreciative of the fact that their pleas were heard and debated in the highest court of law, especially since the original legal battle was a long and arduous one.

In a 2019 article published in the National Law School of India Review , Kalpana Kannabiran examines the legal journey of this community at length. She particularly focuses on the “far-reaching influence of peoples’ movements on courtroom cultures in India,” which she arrives at by examining the use of “song, performance, poetry and the outpouring of emotion.”

Kannabiran “trace[s] an intellectual history of rights on the Indian sub-continent that undergird and anticipate the constitution, and cut a path through the dense, thorny thickets of ‘tradition’ towards the rainbows on the horizon.” Her legal entry point is the Supreme Court of India’s aforementioned reading down of Section 377 in Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India . She asserts that

important as this judgment is, it needs to be situated within the larger discourse of civil and political rights imperiled in the present moment of right wing Hindu majoritarianism and its dismantling of constitutional regimes at different levels in India today.

Kannabiran draws attention to various sources to which individual judges of the bench referred while delivering the judgment. These included philosophical entreaties by Goethe and Shakespeare’s timeless lyricality as well as pop culture references with lyrics by Leonard Cohen. Works by Oscar Wilde and his alleged lover Alfred Douglas also made an appearance, as did more contemporary writings by Indian author Vikram Seth and Indian playwright Danish Sheikh.

Lauding the judgment for its “reflection on the power and place of the literary in our constitutional imaginary [which] takes us to a long history of resistance against authoritarianism, arbitrary rule and the orders of caste and brahmanical patriarchy,” she hopes that the court continues to “interrogate punitive and regressive legal regimes” so it may “keep sight of its own moral moorings.”

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During her examination, she quotes the 2013 judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in Suresh Kumar Koushal vs. Naz Foundation , which had overturned the High Court’s original ruling. Here, the judge observed, “carnal intercourse was criminalized because such acts have the tendency to lead to unmanliness and lead to persons not being useful in society.” The bench also made the erroneous observation that only a few hundred people from this community had suffered from the application of this section. In the process, it discounted the humiliation and emotional suffering of this section of society for a long period of time.

The tide changed with Johar . Quite significantly, Kannabiran notes, it was “the acknowledgment of sexual intimacy and desire—and indeed unfulfilled longing (‘the love that dare not speak its name’) within court-speak,” which was “virtually unheard of prior to Johar ,” that became a beacon of hope to future sections of society battling disempowerment of various kinds. She further asserts that

perhaps one of the most significant interventions made in Johar is the affirming of the rights of minorities. […] The interlocking between caste orders, majoritarianism and heteronormative regimes produces specific proscriptions of speech and curtailment of liberties not confined to minorities but extending to those who speak with them.

Kannabiran ends on a poignant note, calling attention to the “perils and pitfalls that majoritarian rule poses to the futures of the Constitution” by quoting Dr. B. R Ambedkar, the father of the Indian Constitution:

“If things go wrong under the new Constitution, the reason will not be that we had a bad Constitution. What we will have to say is that Man was vile.”

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9 facts about americans and marijuana.

The use and possession of marijuana is illegal under U.S. federal law, but about three-quarters of states have legalized the drug for medical or recreational purposes. The changing legal landscape has coincided with a decades-long rise in public support for legalization, which a majority of Americans now favor.

Here are nine facts about Americans’ views of and experiences with marijuana, based on Pew Research Center surveys and other sources.

As more states legalize marijuana, Pew Research Center looked at Americans’ opinions on legalization and how these views have changed over time.

Data comes from surveys by the Center,  Gallup , and the  2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health  from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Information about the jurisdictions where marijuana is legal at the state level comes from the  National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws .

More information about the Center surveys cited in the analysis, including the questions asked and their methodologies, can be found at the links in the text.

Around nine-in-ten Americans say marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use,  according to a January 2024 Pew Research Center survey . An overwhelming majority of U.S. adults (88%) say either that marijuana should be legal for medical use only (32%) or that it should be legal for medical  and  recreational use (57%). Just 11% say the drug should not be legal in any form. These views have held relatively steady over the past five years.

Views on marijuana legalization differ widely by age, political party, and race and ethnicity, the January survey shows.

While small shares across demographic groups say marijuana should not be legal at all, those least likely to favor it for both medical and recreational use include:

• Older adults: 31% of adults ages 75 and older support marijuana legalization for medical and recreational purposes, compared with half of those ages 65 to 74, the next youngest age category. By contrast, 71% of adults under 30 support legalization for both uses.
• Republicans and GOP-leaning independents: 42% of Republicans favor legalizing marijuana for both uses, compared with 72% of Democrats and Democratic leaners. Ideological differences exist as well: Within both parties, those who are more conservative are less likely to support legalization.
• Hispanic and Asian Americans: 45% in each group support legalizing the drug for medical and recreational use. Larger shares of Black (65%) and White (59%) adults hold this view.

Support for marijuana legalization has increased dramatically over the last two decades. In addition to asking specifically about medical and recreational use of the drug, both the Center and Gallup have asked Americans about legalizing marijuana use in a general way. Gallup asked this question most recently, in 2023. That year, 70% of adults expressed support for legalization, more than double the share who said they favored it in 2000.

Half of U.S. adults (50.3%) say they have ever used marijuana, according to the 2022 National Survey on Drug Use and Health . That is a smaller share than the 84.1% who say they have ever consumed alcohol and the 64.8% who have ever used tobacco products or vaped nicotine.

While many Americans say they have used marijuana in their lifetime, far fewer are current users, according to the same survey. In 2022, 23.0% of adults said they had used the drug in the past year, while 15.9% said they had used it in the past month.

While many Americans say legalizing recreational marijuana has economic and criminal justice benefits, views on these and other impacts vary, the Center’s January survey shows.

• Economic benefits: About half of adults (52%) say that legalizing recreational marijuana is good for local economies, while 17% say it is bad. Another 29% say it has no impact.

• Criminal justice system fairness: 42% of Americans say legalizing marijuana for recreational use makes the criminal justice system fairer, compared with 18% who say it makes the system less fair. About four-in-ten (38%) say it has no impact.
• Use of other drugs: 27% say this policy decreases the use of other drugs like heroin, fentanyl and cocaine, and 29% say it increases it. But the largest share (42%) say it has no effect on other drug use.
• Community safety: 21% say recreational legalization makes communities safer and 34% say it makes them less safe. Another 44% say it doesn’t impact safety.

Democrats and adults under 50 are more likely than Republicans and those in older age groups to say legalizing marijuana has positive impacts in each of these areas.

Most Americans support easing penalties for people with marijuana convictions, an October 2021 Center survey found . Two-thirds of adults say they favor releasing people from prison who are being held for marijuana-related offenses only, including 41% who strongly favor this. And 61% support removing or expunging marijuana-related offenses from people’s criminal records.

Younger adults, Democrats and Black Americans are especially likely to support these changes. For instance, 74% of Black adults  favor releasing people from prison  who are being held only for marijuana-related offenses, and just as many favor removing or expunging marijuana-related offenses from criminal records.

Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia have legalized small amounts of marijuana for both medical and recreational use as of March 2024,  according to the  National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws  (NORML), an advocacy group that tracks state-level legislation on the issue. Another 14 states have legalized the drug for medical use only.

Of the remaining 12 states, all allow limited access to products such as CBD oil that contain little to no THC – the main psychoactive substance in cannabis. And 26 states overall have at least partially  decriminalized recreational marijuana use , as has the District of Columbia.

In addition to 24 states and D.C.,  the U.S. Virgin Islands ,  Guam  and  the Northern Mariana Islands  have legalized marijuana for medical and recreational use.

More than half of Americans (54%) live in a state where both recreational and medical marijuana are legal, and 74% live in a state where it’s legal either for both purposes or medical use only, according to a February Center analysis of data from the Census Bureau and other outside sources. This analysis looked at state-level legislation in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

In 2012, Colorado and Washington became the first states to pass legislation legalizing recreational marijuana.

About eight-in-ten Americans (79%) live in a county with at least one cannabis dispensary, according to the February analysis. There are nearly 15,000 marijuana dispensaries nationwide, and 76% are in states (including D.C.) where recreational use is legal. Another 23% are in medical marijuana-only states, and 1% are in states that have made legal allowances for low-percentage THC or CBD-only products.

The states with the largest number of dispensaries include California, Oklahoma, Florida, Colorado and Michigan.

Note: This is an update of a post originally published April 26, 2021, and updated April 13, 2023.  

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Americans overwhelmingly say marijuana should be legal for medical or recreational use

Religious americans are less likely to endorse legal marijuana for recreational use, four-in-ten u.s. drug arrests in 2018 were for marijuana offenses – mostly possession, two-thirds of americans support marijuana legalization, most popular.

About Pew Research Center Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes and trends shaping the world. It conducts public opinion polling, demographic research, media content analysis and other empirical social science research. Pew Research Center does not take policy positions. It is a subsidiary of The Pew Charitable Trusts .

Corporate Law Research Topics in India

Corporate Law Research Topics in India – Here are some corporate law research topics related to India:

Corporate law plays a vital role in regulating business activities and governing corporate entities in India. As the Indian economy continues to grow and evolve, it is crucial to conduct research on various aspects of corporate law to address emerging challenges and develop effective regulatory frameworks. This article delves into some prominent research topics in the field of corporate law in India.

• Corporate governance practices in Indian companies.
• Impact of the Companies Act, 2013 on corporate governance.
• Shareholder activism and its legal implications in India.
• Analysis of insider trading regulations in India.
• Role of independent directors in corporate decision-making.
• Comparative study of corporate social responsibility (CSR) laws in India and other jurisdictions.
• Analysis of the legal framework for mergers and acquisitions in India.
• Cross-border mergers and acquisitions: Challenges and legal considerations in India.
• Insider trading and market abuse regulations in India.
• Legal aspects of corporate fraud and white-collar crimes in India.
• Corporate restructuring and its legal implications in India.
• Legal framework for corporate insolvency and bankruptcy in India.
• Role of independent audit committees in ensuring financial transparency.
• Analysis of the legal framework for foreign direct investment (FDI) in India.
• Intellectual property rights in the context of corporate innovation and technology transfer in India.
• Legal challenges and opportunities for startups in India.
• Analysis of corporate dispute resolution mechanisms in India, including arbitration and mediation.
• Legal aspects of corporate taxation in India.
• Corporate compliance and ethics programs in Indian companies.
• Legal framework for public-private partnerships (PPPs) in India.
• Regulatory framework for securities and capital markets in India.
• Legal implications of corporate data protection and privacy in India.

Research Topics

• Impact of e-commerce regulations on corporate entities in India.
• Corporate social responsibility and sustainable development in the Indian context.
• Role of independent regulatory bodies in overseeing corporate activities in India.
• Legal framework for corporate environmental sustainability in India.
• Analysis of the legal framework for corporate intellectual property licensing in India.
• Legal aspects of corporate fundraising and capital markets in India.
• Comparative analysis of corporate governance practices in public and private sector companies in India.
• Impact of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) on distressed corporate entities in India.
• Legal implications of corporate social media usage and online reputation management in India.
• Corporate disclosure and transparency requirements in India.
• Analysis of the legal framework for corporate governance in the banking sector in India.
• Legal challenges in corporate governance in the context of emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence and blockchain, in India.
• Analysis of boardroom diversity and gender representation in Indian companies.
• Legal framework for corporate whistleblowing and protection of whistleblowers in India.
• Comparative analysis of corporate governance practices in India and developed economies.
• Role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in promoting corporate accountability in India.

Remember to further refine and narrow down your chosen topic based on your specific research interests and objectives.

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