CTL213 | Comparative Constitutional Law

Comparative Constitutional Law is an elective course open to all students at NLSIU who have completed their basic courses in Indian constitutional law.

This course aims to provide an in-depth exploration of comparative methods in general, and the use of such methods in the study of constitutional law in particular. While using legal materials from other jurisdictions is common, both in legal studies and in the drafting and interpretation of our laws, we seldom query why and whether we should compare, what we should compare, and how we should go about engaging in the comparison. These questions, applied to the domain of constitutional law, form the crux of this course. Central to this inquiry is also an acknowledgment of our location as a post-colony situated in the Global South, and we will repeatedly query whether this location should shape, and how, our evaluation of comparative methods. The ultimate aim of the course is to gain a better understanding of comparative methods in law, as well as insights into Indian constitutional law, through a comparative inquiry.

The course will proceed through a reading of scholarship on comparative methods in legal studies generally, and the application of such methods to the study of constitutional law. This is a reading intensive course. A detailed and extensive reading list has been supplied along with this outline. I expect students to read the texts to understand (a) what are the core issues being addressed in the paper? (b) how does the author respond to these issues? (c) what is the (implicit or explicit) method employed by the author in raising and responding to these issues (d) how do these issues relate to Indian constitutional law, practice, and politics.

In addition, for each session from Session 6 onwards, I have identified a focus jurisdiction. We will do a deep dive into the constitutional arrangements in that jurisdiction and relate our study of that jurisdiction to the topic under discussion for that session.

Since this course is an advanced level offering, classroom discussions will focus on collectively reading the assigned material and relating them to issues and concerns in Indian constitutional law. Classroom discussions will proceed through a seminar style engagement rather than through lectures. Students will be expected to apply their knowledge of Indian constitutional law to the materials at hand. I will assume that you have read the material and will conduct the class and design the evaluation accordingly.

Readings are divided into mandatory and recommended texts. Students are expected to read all mandatory texts. They are strongly encouraged to read the recommended texts as well, since these texts will advance their knowledge of the field. I will engage with these recommended texts in my own remarks during class. Students who have signed up to respond to the texts for a given session will be expected to present details of the focus jurisdiction to the entire class.