The Bar Council of India Curriculum Development Committee’s Draft document on Five Years LL.B. integrated Course has endeavoured to present a blueprint for five years law courses. However, it has conscientiously made no efforts to wriggle out the puzzle as to how to integrate non-law subjects with law subjects. The objective of introducing 5 years integrated law course was to disseminate to the law students a vivid correlation approach, namely, why a study of history and law is imperative in the domain of legal education; why economics and law is expedient; why language and law integration or configuration is essential to develop legal language and legal writing; why political science and law is necessary; why psychology and law is the need of the day; why sociology and law is imminent?
The object of new legal education policy has been to inculcate an interest in the assimilation of evolution of law, legal and constitutional institutions. The new legal education aims at generating a deep interest in the domain that should not make an impression in the minds of thinkers to say that justice delivery system is good in law but bad in economics. Legal education is to stimulate an interest in the young law student that how political theories of law, socio-economic-distributive justice, freedom, State as Nation, welfare are urgently crucial to the working of democratic constitution culture, polity and morality. The new legal education addresses to kindle correlation between law and psychogenic, sociogenic and anthropogenic approaches. It helps lawmen to gain deep insights in the understanding of deviant behaviour, causes of social disorganisation and approaches to re-socialisation or social re-organisation. It presents insubstantial blueprint for creating the use of legal language and legal writing in simple legal English devoid of legalese, which should appear to be the soul of professionalism in an ocean within a tear. The BCI Draft CDC Report (Chapter III) does not present in the least substantial in puts as to how to integrate non-law subjects with law discipline.
The author has had an intensive discussion with his fellow non-law subject faculty at NLUJ and this input is the outcome of that academic endeavour. We as such have made a modest attempt to develop modules integrating non-law subjects with law and invite meaningful debate that shall help to promote carrying a great weight in our accomplishments to developing experiential “non-law and law” integration modules.
HISTORY AND LAW:
Law is an evolutionary process. The evolutionary process passes through multitudinous phases as well as stages. History and law, in our humble opinion, ought to be developed in the integrating module as follows:
- Philosophy of history: Why is it imperative in legal education and its integration with law? — Evolution of law or law and evolutionary process.
- Politics of history.
- Legacy of the freedom struggle in the “United India” or “Undivided India” in the making of Indian State and nation building.
- Consolidation of India as a nation; nationalism versus regionalism; secularism and integration.
- Movements in the post-independent India — political, social and economic; social justice, economic justice, political justice, distributive justice; environmental justice movement in India — ancient, modern and contemporary.
- Background to Indian law: Pre- Common law — Dharma as law: manifestations and contours; Common law and post-Common law: manifestations and contours.
- Roman law and its impact in the growth of law.
- Civil law: How does it differ from common law and its significance in the present scenario of new world economic order?
- Growth and development of constitutional and legal institutions in India.
- Growth and development of judicial organs in India.
- Constitutional and Judicial institutions under the textual Constitution of India.
PSYCHOLOGY AND LAW:
Interdisciplinary study of psychology and law may be as follows:
- Concept of psychology: Psychology and law correlations.
- Psychology and criminal mind:
- Original mind
- Criminal mind and insanity
- Deviant behaviour — causal factors
- Drift nature — causal factors
- Sick mind — causal factors
- Sadistic mind — causal factors
- Psychogenic, Sociogenic and Anthropogenic approaches to normal and abnormal behaviour.
- Psychology of Client-Advocate: Professionalism psycho-analysis approaches:
- Memorial (Brief) maker and counter-memorial maker
- Rebuttal maker and reply to rebuttal maker
- Criminology, Penology, Correctional approaches: from social disorganisation to reorganisation or re socialisation.
SOCIOLOGY AND LAW:
The module of Interdisciplinary study of Sociology and Law may be well thought-out as follows:
- Concept of sociology:
- Core sociological concept
- Sociology and law correlation
- Law and society
- Sociology of law and sociological school of thought: Law as social engineering
- Law as a product of social change and/or vice-versa: Law moulds social change or social change moulds law?
- Social justice, economic justice and distributive justice — The Genesis.
- Social institutions: marriage, family, kinship.
- Social stratification — caste, class, egalitarian society
- Social disorganisation and re-socialisation — deviance, drift: non-broken and broken home and neighbourhood impact; Juvenile delinquency: socio-psychogenic background characteristics
- Impact of sociological understanding and social change in the outcome of legal decisions: some of contemporary judicial decisions and role of society, e.g., live-in relationship (law and morality), adoption, property rights of women.
- Contemporary socio-legal-ethical issues, e.g. abortion, euthanasia.
LANGUAGE AND LAW: LEGAL LANGUAGE AND LEGAL WRITING:
- What is legal language? What is its scope in legal education? Why is it significant in the discipline of legal education? Law Professor and legal language!
- Integrating legal language, human values and professionalism.
- Legalese legal English and simple legal English.
- Legal terms, expressions, words, and phrases and use of language proverbs in legal communication as well as advocacy and its impact.
- Latin terms and their significance in law.
- Legal writing skills:
- Notice
- Letter
- Memorials and counter-memorials: Briefs: Rebuttal and reply
- Plaint
- Written statement
- Complaint
- Writ Petition and response of the respondent: rebuttal and reply
- Legal Communication Skills:
- Legal language writing (LLL)
- Legal language writing (LLW)
- Legal language communication (LLC)
- Advocacy
- Arguments
- Debates and discussions skills
- Legal essays writing skills in ‘an ocean within a tear’ art.
LAW AND ECONOMICS
The course on law and economics should introduce the methodology of law and economics to utilizing the standard tools of economic analysis for the study of law and legal institutions with emphasis on economics of property; economics of contracts; economics of torts law (liability and notion of compensation, damages and exemplary damages); economics of lawmaking; economics of emerging areas in law in the new global economic market such as economics of intellectual property, WTO, etc.
- Economic approach to law
- Positive
- Normative
- Functional Schools in law and economics
- Social, economic and distributive justice and economic correlations
- Social engineering school of legal thought and economic correlations
- Emergence of law: Theory of primitive society with reference to law and the genesis of liability
- Economics of Property Law: Theory of property rights
- “Coase Theorem” and the economic theory of remedies:
- “Coase Theorem” in New Palgrave Dictionary of economics
- Property rules, liability rules and inalienability: One view of the Cathedral
- Economics of Contract Law
- Contract law in the law of nature
- Optional remedies for bilateral contracts
- Valuation of different natures of contracts: Sale, Mortgage, Lease, Merger, Acquisition,
- Economic measures of damages on account of breach of contract
- International Contracts: Merger and Acquisition in new corporate regime; BPO, LPO and KPO
- Economics of Torts Law
- Liability and quantum of compensation, damages and exemplary damages
- Collective decision-making and Public Choice Theory
- The Political Coase Theorem
- Regulation Theory vis-a-vis Regulatory Authorities/Commissions/Bodies and Economics correlations
- Efficiency of the Common Law Hypothesis
- Social Norms and Spontaneous Law
- Reciprocity and Cooperation in International Law
LAW AND POLITICAL SCIENCE
Concept of State and ‘Nation State’: From Preservative to new world order; Concept of ‘Invisible State’: Deceitful, deception, relativism, realistic, social-engineering, dynamism and reincarnation
- Contours of Political Schools of Thoughts and their integration with Law
- Law and Political system: Constitution, Constitutional Law and Constitutionalism
- Progressive movements of societies from status to contract: Law and Society
- Law and Justice: Social, Economic, Political and Distributive
- Law and Rights: Social, Economic and Political Rights: Basic Rights and Fundamental Freedoms: Jural Postulates of Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles of State Policy and Fundamental Duties Correlations and Opposites Formulations
- Law and Public Opinion: Strengths and weaknesses
- Law and Decision Making Process
Intensive academic inputs are imperative to develop integrative modules in respect of science and law particularly the role of science in the area of intellectual property law in the light of Novartis case and Basmati Rice case; business management and law particularly in the area of trial court and higher court case management so that court management is not purloined.
Our modest academic attempt is not the conclusive input. We shall be too happy to receive more inputs from the readers to making five years legal study much more productive.
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Dr. K. L. Bhatia is a presently Professor at National Law University, Jodhpur. A former Dean, Faculty of Law and Founder Director, Law School of University of Jammu. Prof. Bhatia has written not less than hundred research papers, notes and comments, and book reviews and published legal journals of repute in India and abroad. He has authored eighteen books on varied aspects of law. He is recipient of U.N.O. Human Rights Fellowship at International Institute of Human Rights (Founded by Rene Cassin), Strasbourg, France and ILO as well as UNO Human Rights Commission, Geneva. Prof. Bhatia has delivered extension and guest lectures in institution of repute in India and abroad.