Unifying a Binary Ontology of Law and Policy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.54945/jjpp.v2i1.115Keywords:
Constitution of India, Political culture, Ashoka’s period, Libertarian freedom, Legal literacyAbstract
The Constitution of India is the instrument by which Indians subjected their individual will to modernity’s ideal of subjecting individual will to social control. However, the history of Indian legal systems dating back to 2700 years ago show that premodern legal systems is constituted of diverse sources of law and sophisticated interpretive traditions. While historical evidence shows that law was fundamental to ancient societies, they shed little light on the prevalence or status of rule of law. The rule of law is critical to democratic aspiration for it presupposes due process, which is enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution. Its translation in practice has been marginally successful. Public perception of the government has been as one of a crumbling institution. The article argues for incorporating policy education in legal curriculum to foster a political culture that can appreciate and commit to the interconnections between law and policy formulation and its implementation.