Ironies of Colonial Governance
Law, Custom and Justice in Colonial India

An in-depth study of the international circulation of ideas and practices of law and governance in colonial India.

James Jaffe (Author)

9781107087927, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 21 May 2015

336 pages, 2 b/w illus. 1 map 13 tables
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.9 cm, 0.62 kg

The Indian village council, or panchayat, has long held an iconic place in India. Ironies of Colonial Governance traces the history of that ideal and the attempts to adapt it to colonial governance. Beginning with an in-depth analysis of British attempts to introduce a system of panchayat governance during the early nineteenth century, it analyses the legacies of these actions within the structures of later colonial administrations as well as the early nationalist movement. Particular attention is paid to the ways in which the ideologies of panchayat governance evolved during this period and to the transnational exchange and circulation of panchayat ideologies.

Part I. Discoveries and Adaptations: 1. The rise and fall of the panchayat in the Bombay Presidency
2. Bringing justice to every man's door
3. Appeals and the language of petitioning
4. The construction of panchayat legality
5. The panchayat and trial by jury, I: the civil trial
6. The panchayat and trial by jury, II: military and criminal justice
7. The panchayat debate in the Bengal Presidency
Part II. Lineages and Legacies: 8. The panchayat from village republic to municipality
9. The panchayat and the building of civil society
10. The panchayat legacy.

Subject Areas: Law & society [LAQ], Law [L], Asian history [HBJF]