Well, first, I must apologize for not being active on this blog, which I announced with much fanfare. I had too much going on at work, and I’m also under the gun to finish my book. But the more I work on the book, the more I realize how much there is to explore in the fascinating realm of Indian law. So, I hope to be revive our discussion of law and other things.

My post today will be brief. I was online this evening researching a point on government contracts — for a portion of my book. I went to the Law Commission’s website to see if they have issued anything new on the subject. To my surprise, I discovered the Commission has scanned and posted online its entire series of reports. This is quite amazing. As serious students of Indian law know, the Law Commission reports are important summaries and statements of Indian law. They are referred to frequently by our Supreme Court, and they are usually well-written. I’ve downloaded the first report by M.C. Setalvad. He wrote it, apparently, while in Ooty during his summer vacation. There is a picture in his book, “Law and Other Things” (which is how this blog derives its name). The report is on state liability in torts. I remember reading about it in my first week at law school, but I never actually read the full report. I’ve recently been re-reading the Privy Council’s decision in P.O. Steamship Navigation Company, which is extensively discussed in the report. Students of Indian law will recall that case as among the first ones we learn in law school.

Well, I’m looking forward to reading Setalvad on my trip to Jordan next week. I hope you take a look at some of these reports too. The Law Commission’s website is located at
http://lawcommissionofindia.nic.in/. I hope they get to publishing the pre-independence reports too.