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Legal Education in Indian Perspective 2009
Abstract
Spiritually, it is believed that the life on the earth is regulated by the laws of the Lord or the
Divinity. It is 'rule of law', that draws the essential difference between human society and
animal world. It is the legal education that plays an important role in promoting social
justice. Law professionals are characterised as 'Social engineers'. Law as a profession and
legal education as a discipline was not a popular choice of the students in India prior to the
introduction of five year law course, most of the students who performed well in their
Intermediate Education aspired to study medicine, engineering, computers, business
management and accounting. Unlike India, the situation prevalent in England, America and
in many other developed countries is convincingly different. The admissions to law schools
in these parts of the world are highly competitive. In the present era of information
capitalism, economic liberalization and WTO, legal profession in India has to cater to the
needs of a new brand of legal consumer/client namely the foreign companies or
collaborations. In the changed scenario, the additional roles by law professionals to play are
that of policy planner, business advisor, negotiator among interest groups, experts in
articulation and communication of ideas, mediator, lobbyist, law reformer etc. Due to
expanding role of law professionals our curriculum should be enriched with all
interdisciplinary courses which are must to produce the competent law professionals of 4th
generation.
".man is inwardly a soul and a conscious power of the Divine and that the
evolution of this real man within is the right object of education and indeed
of all human life." -Sri Aurobindo
lawyers but also to create cultured law abiding citizens, who are inculcated
with concepts of human values, legal ethics and human rights.
The Constitution of India basically laid down the duty of imparting education
on the states by putting the matter pertaining to education in List II of the
Seventh Schedule. But it now forms part of List III, giving concurrent
legislative powers to the Union and the States. Legal profession along with
the medical and other professions also falls under List III (Entry 26).
However, the Union is empowered to co-ordinate and determines standards
in institutions for higher education or research and scientific and technical
institutions besides having exclusive power, inter alia, pertaining to
educational institutions of national importance, professional, vocational or
technical training and promotion of special studies or research.
various steps towards that end, through adequate funding, creation of senior
posts and other means.
The concept of dharma, in the Vedic period, can be seen as the concept of
the legal education in India. The guiding force for the King or his appointee
was the upholding of the dharma. For almost a century from 1857 to 1957 a
stereotyped system of teaching compulsory subjects under a straight lecture
method and the two year course continued. The need for upgrading legal
education has been felt for long. Numerous committees were set up
periodically to consider and propose reforms in legal education. The
University Education Commission, was set up in 1948-49, in the year 1949
the Bombay Legal Education Committee was set up to promote legal
education. The All India Bar Committee made certain recommendations in
1951. In 1954, XIVth Report the Law Commission (Setalvad Commission) of
India discussed the status of legal education and recognized the need for
reform in the system of legal education. It depicted a very dismal picture of
legal education. It was only from 1958 that many universities switched over
to three year law degree courses. It was only by 1967, that it became
onerous task for the three year law colleges to include procedural subjects
into the curriculum of their law school.
The dichotomy between the two courses 3 year LLB course after graduation
and 5 year integrated course after 10+2, based on various factors such as
professional legal education, mental faculties of students, multi-disciplinary
and clinical legal approach to legal education still continues.
The law schools are required to make strategic plans that set out a clear
vision of justice delivery and also address the emerging realities of the
market. Goal of the law schools should be to build a 'system of legal
education' that:
a. Promote an inter-disciplinary approach of law with other social
sciences: A person who studies law must have some proficiency in
country's history, political theory, economics and philosophy, to enable
him/her in becoming agents that participate in institutional changes.
b. Encourage proficiency in languages: Command over spoken and
written language, effective oral skills, diction and extensive reading
Recapitulation
Legal education is a good investment which if wisely made will produce most
beneficial results for the nation and catalyse the speed of development. Of
late the role of a lawyer in a common law system is more than a skilled legal
mechanic; he acts as a social engineer, social reformer, harmonizer and a
reconciler. The legal education provided at the law schools must be
transformed to the conventional and contemporary needs of the legal
profession and society.