Indian constitutionalism, the rule of law, and Parsi legal culture

Abstract

ABSTRACT Parsi legal culture produced clear benefits for Zoroastrians in the late colonial era. It also played an underacknowledged role in the constitutional life of modern India, helping nationalists pivot from extra-legal resistance to the business of running a state. Independent India could re-activate constitutionalism and the rule of law as ideals because these values were well established among nationalists, albeit in a tradition that had been relegated to the back burner in the run-up to independence. This tradition, exemplified by early Congress figures like Dadabhai Naoroji, Pherozeshah Mehta, and Dinsha Wacha, was heavily influenced by Parsi legal culture. This article also suggests that rule-of-law values were not inescapably colonial. As an ideal, the rule of law caused division within the colonial state, powered anti-colonial critique, and reinforced constitutionalism. Because the rule-of-law agenda was distinct from colonialism, there was no inherent contradiction between Parsi legal culture and the rejection of colonial rule.