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 187
39. Persons of Indian Origin Abroad, and Voluntary Foreign Citizenship 193
40. Parliament's Power Over Citizenship 198
41. Citizenship by Birth and by Descent 202
42. Citizenship by Registration, by Naturalisation, and by Territory 207
43. The Assam Accord: Section 6A 212
44. The Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019, and Section 6B 217
45. Overseas Citizenship of India 223
46. Losing Citizenship: Renunciation, Termination and Deprivation 228
47. Registers, Identity Cards and the Rest of the Act 233

Module II

1. Why There Are Fundamental Rights At All 238
2. Why the Definition of State Decides Everything 243
3. The Authorities Article 12 Names 247
4. Other Authorities, and the Tests the Courts Built 251
5. Is the Judiciary State? 258
6. Article 13: Laws Inconsistent With Fundamental Rights 262
7. Pre-Constitutional and Post-Constitutional Laws 267
8. The Doctrine of Eclipse 272
9. The Doctrine of Severability 277
10. The Doctrine of Waiver 281
11. The Doctrine of Ultra Vires 285
12. The Equality Code: How Articles 14 to 18 Fit Together 290
13. Equality Before the Law, and Equal Protection of the Laws 295
14. Reasonable Classification: the Twin Test 299
15. Arbitrariness: the Newer Doctrine 304
16. Article 14 Applied: Working Three Problems 309
17. Article 15: The Prohibited Grounds 315
18. Special Provision for Women and Children 320
19. Reservation in Education: Article 15(4) and 15(5) 325
20. The Economically Weaker Sections: Article 15(6) and 16(6) 330
21. Article 16: Equality of Opportunity in Public Employment 335
22. Reservation in Public Employment 339
23. The Fifty Per Cent Ceiling, and the Creamy Layer 343
24. Reservation in Promotion 348
25. Article 17: Untouchability Abolished 352
26. Article 18: Titles 356
27. Article 19: The Six Freedoms 359
28. Freedom of Speech and Expression 363
29. The Grounds of Reasonable Restriction 368
30. Prior Restraint and Pre-Censorship 374
31. Assembly, Association, Movement and Residence 379
32. Profession, Trade, Occupation and Business 384
33. Article 19 Applied: Working the Problems 389
34. Article 20: The Three Protections of an Accused 394
35. Ex Post Facto Law 398
36. Double Jeopardy 402
37. The Protection Against Self-Incrimination 406
38. Article 22: Arrest and Detention 411
39. Preventive Detention 416
40. Article 21: From Gopalan to Maneka Gandhi 422
41. Procedure Established by Law, and Due Process 427
42. The Expansion of the Word Life 431
43. Personal Liberty, and the Writ That Protects It 437
44. Article 21 and the Emergency 442
45. Article 21A: The Right to Education 447
46. Education Before Article 21A 453
47. Article 21 Applied: Working the Problems 458

Module III

1. Articles 23 and 24: The Right Against Exploitation 464
2. Traffic in Human Beings 470
3. Forced Labour and Begar 474
4. Bonded Labour 480
5. Article 24: Child Labour 487
6. What Secularism Means Here 494
7. Article 25: Freedom of Conscience and Free Profession of Religion 500
8. Essential Religious Practices 509
9. The Limits of Religious Freedom 517
10. Article 26: Freedom to Manage Religious Affairs 523
11. Articles 27 and 28: Religious Taxation and Religious Instruction 530
12. The Uniform Civil Code 536
13. Who Is a Minority 545
14. Article 29: The Right to Conserve a Culture 552
15. Article 30: To Establish and to Administer 559
16. How Far the State May Regulate a Minority Institution 568
17. Minority Institutions and the Right to Education Act 578
18. Article 32: A Fundamental Right to a Remedy 585
19. The Five Writs 594
20. Habeas Corpus 601
21. Mandamus, Prohibition, Certiorari and Quo Warranto 608
22. Article 32 and Article 226 Compared 615
23. Public Interest Litigation 621
24. The Limits of Public Interest Litigation 629
25. Saving of Certain Laws, and the Article MU Names That No Longer Exists 636
26. Article 31B and the Ninth Schedule 645
27. Article 31C: When a Directive Principle Beats a Fundamental Right 652
28. What Happened to the Right to Property 659
29. Articles 33, 34 and 35: The Forces, Martial Law, and Who Legislates 666

Module IV

1. Part IV: The Directive Principles of State Policy 674
2. Why the Principles Are Not Enforceable, and What That Costs 680
3. The Socialistic Principles 688
4. The Gandhian Principles 696
5. The Liberal and Intellectual Principles 703
6. Directive Principles and Fundamental Rights: the Relationship 711
7. Judicial and Legislative Trends on the Directive Principles 720
8. The Directive Principles and the Welfare State 729
9. Part IVA: The Fundamental Duties 736
10. Where the Duties Came From 742
11. Are the Duties Enforceable? 748
12. Part V Chapter IV: The Supreme Court 755
13. The Appointment of Judges, and the Collegium 763
14. Removal: What Impeachment Actually Is 772
15. How the Constitution Protects Judicial Independence 779
16. The Jurisdiction of the Supreme Court 787
17. Special Leave to Appeal: Article 136 794
18. Review, Advisory Jurisdiction and Complete Justice 799
19. The Court's Own Machinery 810
20. Part VI Chapter V: The High Courts 817
21. Additional, Acting and Retired Judges 825
22. The Jurisdiction of a High Court 832
23. Article 226: The Power to Issue Writs 840
24. Part XIVA: Tribunals 849
25. Part XVII: The Official Language of the Union 857
26. Regional Languages, and Language Between Governments 864
27. Language in the Courts, and the Language of the Law 870
28. Language and the Minorities 877
29. Part XIX: Miscellaneous Provisions 884
30. Treaties, Rulers and the Bar on Interference by Courts 892
31. Definitions and Interpretation 901
32. Part XXII: Short Title, Commencement and the Authoritative Texts 908
33. Article 395: The Repeals 914