Examples of Alternative Legal Systems in India

Abstract

There are systems of law within the Indian jurisdiction that either do not rely on the state legal system at all or rely on it only partially. These include systems of religious personal law, tribal customary law, and other similar indigenous mechanisms of administering justice and settling disputes. The formal definition of law in India, along with constitutional provisions which guarantee religious and cultural freedom and allow for modes of self-governance, accommodates different legal systems with indigenous or traditional roots. Moreover, local and village bodies such as traditional or caste councils operate in independent India as well, further questioning the rhetoric of uniform law in India.