Constitutional Law I Notes | B.A. LL.B. (Five Year Course) Semester 6 | Mumbai University | munotes

Contents

Module I

1. What a Constitution Is, and What This One Has to Do 1
2. The Constitution as the Basic Norm 6
3. What Constitutionalism Means, and Why a Constitution Is Not Enough 11
4. The Rule of Law, and What Survives of Dicey 17
5. The Rule of Law Inside Our Own Constitution 22
6. Constitutional Supremacy, and Parliamentary Sovereignty Compared 27
7. The Constitution as a Living Document 32
8. Forms and Models of a Constitution 37
9. Written and Unwritten, Rigid and Flexible 41
10. The Concept of Liberty, and Who Limits Whom 46
11. The Company That Could Make Law 51
12. The Regulating Act 1773, and the Supreme Court at Calcutta 56
13. The Charter Acts of 1813, 1833 and 1853 62
14. The Crown Takes Over: the Government of India Act 1858 66
15. The Indian Councils Acts of 1861, 1892 and 1909 70
16. The Government of India Act 1919, and Dyarchy 75
17. The Government of India Act 1935 79
18. The Simon Commission, and the Nehru Report 84
19. The Communal Award, and the Poona Pact 88
20. The Civil Disobedience Movement 93
21. The Cripps Mission, the Cabinet Mission and the Road to Partition 98
22. The Mountbatten Plan 1947 103
23. The Indian Independence Act 1947 108
24. The Constituent Assembly: How It Was Composed 113
25. Framing and Drafting: the Committees and the Drafting Committee 118
26. Where the Constitution's Provisions Came From 123
27. The Preamble, Word by Word 128
28. Sovereign, Socialist, Secular, Democratic, Republic 133
29. Justice, Liberty, Equality and Fraternity 139
30. The Preamble as a Tool to Interpret the Constitution 145
31. What the Courts Have Held About the Preamble 150
32. Is the Preamble Part of the Constitution, and May It Be Amended? 155
33. The Salient Features of the Indian Constitution 160
34. The Longest Written Constitution, and Why 165
35. A Federation With a Unitary Bias 169
36. Parliamentary Government, and the Separation of Powers Here 175
37. Single Citizenship, Universal Franchise and an Independent Judiciary 181
38. Who Became a Citizen in 1950 186
39. Persons of Indian Origin Abroad, and Voluntary Foreign Citizenship 191
40. Parliament's Power Over Citizenship 196
41. Citizenship by Birth and by Descent 200
42. Citizenship by Registration, by Naturalisation, and by Territory 205
43. The Assam Accord: Section 6A 210
44. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, and Section 6B 215
45. Overseas Citizenship of India 221
46. Losing Citizenship: Renunciation, Termination and Deprivation 226
47. Registers, Identity Cards and the Rest of the Act 231

Module II

1. Why There Are Fundamental Rights At All 236
2. Why the Definition of State Decides Everything 241
3. The Authorities Article 12 Names 245
4. Other Authorities, and the Tests the Courts Built 249
5. Is the Judiciary State? 256
6. Article 13: Laws Inconsistent With Fundamental Rights 260
7. Pre-Constitutional and Post-Constitutional Laws 265
8. The Doctrine of Eclipse 269
9. The Doctrine of Severability 273
10. The Doctrine of Waiver 277
11. The Doctrine of Ultra Vires 281
12. The Equality Code: How Articles 14 to 18 Fit Together 286
13. Equality Before the Law, and Equal Protection of the Laws 291
14. Reasonable Classification: the Twin Test 295
15. Arbitrariness: the Newer Doctrine 300
16. Article 14 Applied: Working Three Problems 305
17. Article 15: The Prohibited Grounds 311
18. Special Provision for Women and Children 316
19. Reservation in Education: Article 15(4) and 15(5) 321
20. The Economically Weaker Sections: Article 15(6) and 16(6) 326
21. Article 16: Equality of Opportunity in Public Employment 331
22. Reservation in Public Employment 335
23. The Fifty Per Cent Ceiling, and the Creamy Layer 339
24. Reservation in Promotion 344
25. Article 17: Untouchability Abolished 348
26. Article 18: Titles 352
27. Article 19: The Six Freedoms 355
28. Freedom of Speech and Expression 359
29. The Grounds of Reasonable Restriction 364
30. Prior Restraint and Pre-Censorship 370
31. Assembly, Association, Movement and Residence 375
32. Profession, Trade, Occupation and Business 380
33. Article 19 Applied: Working the Problems 385
34. Article 20: The Three Protections of an Accused 390
35. Ex Post Facto Law 394
36. Double Jeopardy 398
37. The Protection Against Self-Incrimination 402
38. Article 22: Arrest and Detention 407
39. Preventive Detention 412
40. Article 21: From Gopalan to Maneka Gandhi 418
41. Procedure Established by Law, and Due Process 423
42. The Expansion of the Word Life 427
43. Personal Liberty, and the Writ That Protects It 433
44. Article 21 and the Emergency 438
45. Article 21A: The Right to Education 443
46. Education Before Article 21A 448
47. Article 21 Applied: Working the Problems 453

Module III

1. Articles 23 and 24: The Right Against Exploitation 459
2. Traffic in Human Beings 464
3. Forced Labour and Begar 468
4. Bonded Labour 474
5. Article 24: Child Labour 481
6. What Secularism Means Here 488
7. Article 25: Freedom of Conscience and Free Profession of Religion 494
8. Essential Religious Practices 503
9. The Limits of Religious Freedom 511
10. Article 26: Freedom to Manage Religious Affairs 517
11. Articles 27 and 28: Religious Taxation and Religious Instruction 524
12. The Uniform Civil Code 530
13. Who Is a Minority 539
14. Article 29: The Right to Conserve a Culture 546
15. Article 30: To Establish and to Administer 553
16. How Far the State May Regulate a Minority Institution 562
17. Minority Institutions and the Right to Education Act 571
18. Article 32: A Fundamental Right to a Remedy 578
19. The Five Writs 587
20. Habeas Corpus 594
21. Mandamus, Prohibition, Certiorari and Quo Warranto 601
22. Article 32 and Article 226 Compared 608
23. Public Interest Litigation 614
24. The Limits of Public Interest Litigation 622
25. Saving of Certain Laws, and the Article MU Names That No Longer Exists 629
26. Article 31B and the Ninth Schedule 638
27. Article 31C: When a Directive Principle Beats a Fundamental Right 645
28. What Happened to the Right to Property 652
29. Articles 33, 34 and 35: The Forces, Martial Law, and Who Legislates 659

Module IV

1. Part IV: The Directive Principles of State Policy 667
2. Why the Principles Are Not Enforceable, and What That Costs 673
3. The Socialistic Principles 681
4. The Gandhian Principles 688
5. The Liberal and Intellectual Principles 694
6. Directive Principles and Fundamental Rights: the Relationship 702
7. Judicial and Legislative Trends on the Directive Principles 711
8. The Directive Principles and the Welfare State 719
9. Part IVA: The Fundamental Duties 726
10. Where the Duties Came From 732
11. Are the Duties Enforceable? 738
12. Part V Chapter IV: The Supreme Court 745
13. The Appointment of Judges, and the Collegium 752
14. Removal: What Impeachment Actually Is 761
15. How the Constitution Protects Judicial Independence 768
16. The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court 776
17. Special Leave to Appeal: Article 136 783
18. Review, Advisory Jurisdiction and Complete Justice 788
19. The Court's Own Machinery 799
20. Part VI Chapter V: The High Courts 806
21. Additional, Acting and Retired Judges 814
22. The Jurisdiction of a High Court 821
23. Article 226: The Power to Issue Writs 829
24. Part XIVA: Tribunals 838
25. Part XVII: The Official Language of the Union 846
26. Regional Languages, and Language Between Governments 853
27. Language in the Courts, and the Language of the Law 859
28. Language and the Minorities 865
29. Part XIX: Miscellaneous Provisions 871
30. Treaties, Rulers and the Bar on Interference by Courts 879
31. Definitions and Interpretation 887
32. Part XXII: Short Title, Commencement and the Authoritative Texts 894
33. Article 395: The Repeals 900