Nearly sixty-one years since its formal inauguration, the Indian Constitution still remains a contested site of “national” consciousness. Yet the Constitution itself is both constitutive and reflective of myriad forces operating in social, political, economic and legal spheres. While it foregrounds public discourse, we must ask ourselves whether its conceptualization as a deeply transformative project has dimmed over time. The Constitution thus exists in this frontier between text and vision, doctrine and dream. With the benefit of six decades of judicial interrogation and political contestation, we invite research scholars, academics, students, activists and indeed citizens, to reflect upon the trajectories of this project.
Yet it is not merely the Constitution which defines the vistas of Indian Public Law. A corpus of statutes, administrative and governmental orders, cases etc. craft this discipline. A reflection upon “Public Law” must thus not lose sight of these artifacts. To this end, we also invite papers dealing with the present-day challenges facing the law, the State and the citizen. We seek to investigate this “Public Law”, as a method of regulation, as a means of control, as an instrument for emancipation, as a catalyst for transformation and as a space of discourse (democratic or otherwise). While the contemporary challenges faced by Indian public law are voluminous, we also seek to use this issue as an interlude. To pause, reflect and look back upon the historical and philosophical developments which have contributed to and defined our presents. “Public Law” thus exists not only as discipline, but as an encounter. An encounter where law meets sociology, political science, history, economics, philosophy…
Submissions can be in the form of articles, essays, book reviews and comments/notes and should be emailed to the address listed below in an MS Word *.doc or OpenOffice *.odt (Times New Roman, font size 12, double spacing) format. Articles and essays should be of 8,000 to 10,000 words and comments and notes should be of 4,000 to 5,000 words (including footnotes). The Bluebook style for citations is strongly encouraged. Contributors should email a 500 word abstract of their submission at the address provided below by April 11, 2011. The deadline for accepting final submissions is May 30, 2011. For further information or clarifications, please write to us at [email protected] or at [email protected].
