- Introduction
Modern nation-state functions through a set of institutions. Parliament, the judiciary, executive apparatus such as bureaucracy and the police, and the formal structures of union –state relations as well as the electoral system are the set of institutions constituted by the idea of constitutionalism. Their arrangements, dependencies and inter-dependencies are directly shaped by the meta-politico-legal document- i.e., Constitution. The legal system derives its authority from the Constitution and is deeply embedded in the political system; the presence of judiciary substantiates the theory of separation of power wherein the other two organs, viz. legislature and executive stand relatively apart from it. Parliamentary democracy works on the principle of ‘fusion of power,’ and in the making of law, there is direct participation of the legislature and the executive, it is the judiciary that remains independent and strong safeguarding the interests of the citizens by not allowing the other organs to go beyond the Constitution. [1] It acts, therefore, as a check on the arbitrariness and unconstitutionality of the legislature and the executive. Judiciary is the final arbiter in interpreting constitutional arrangements. It is in fact the guardian and conscience keeper of the normative values that are ‘authoritatively allocated by the state.’ The nature of the democracy and development depends much on how the legal system conducts itself to sustain the overall socio-economic and political environment. The Indian Judicial System is one of the oldest legal systems in the world today. It is part of the inheritance India received from the British after more than 200 years of their Colonial rule, and the same is obvious from the many similarities the Indian legal system shares with the English Legal System. The frame work of the current legal system has been laid down by the Indian Constitution and the judicial system derives its powers from it. The Constitution of India is the supreme law of the country, the fountain source of law in India. It came into effect on 26 January 1950 and is the world’s longest written constitution. It not only laid the framework of Indian judicial system, but has also laid out the powers, duties, procedures and structure of the various branches of the Government at the Union and State levels. Moreover, it also has defined the fundamental rights & duties of the people and the directive principles which are the duties of the State. In spite of India adopting the features of a federal system of government, the Constitution has provided for the setting up of a single integrated system of courts to administer both Union and State laws. The Supreme Court is the apex court of India, followed by the various High Courts at the state level which cater to one or more number of states. Below the High Courts, there are the subordinate courts comprising of the District Courts at the district level and other lower courts. An important feature of the Indian Judicial System is that it’s a ‘common law system’. In a common law system, law is developed by the judges through their decisions, orders, or judgments. These are also referred to as precedents. Unlike the British legal system which is entirely based on the common law system, where it had originated from, the Indian system incorporates the common law system along with the statutory law and the regulatory law.
Another important feature of the Indian Judicial system is that our system has been designed on the pattern of the adversarial system. [2] This is to be expected since courts based on the common law system tend to follow the adversarial system of conducting proceedings instead of the inquisitorial system. In an adversarial system, there are two sides in every case and each side presents its arguments to a neutral judge who would then give an order or a judgment based upon the merits of the case.