India's growth trajectory, whether real or hyped, likely needs no introduction. Both of the descriptions are indeed true. Parts of the economy have been deregulated, and globalised, and feature Indian companies that have become active players in international finance and trade. Other parts of the economy are still regulated, with different growth patterns. The patchwork of regulations is exemplified by the recent decision, extremely controversial, and politically opposed, to set up special economic zones, ostensibly outside either the regulations of the law, or the protections offered by it.

The course will initially focus on the legal formants, and layers of formal law, and informal practice in India. Thereafter, it will focus on certain areas of the law, where old common law code, socialist-era remnants, are being contemplated and transformed with new globalised model regulations which are partly a response to, and party a concession to the globalised sections of the economy, and the dichotomy that exists in the law between these sections of the economy, and the law that governs other economic and other activities. The law and economics movement has not been received wholesale in India. Indeed, an entirely different input from economics "from Marxist economics" has informed and inspired a vast zone of Indian legislation and jurisprudence " which is still the law today. Thus, the plurality of formants in India is not only a mix between more traditional and more modern layers, but also layers from different ideological engagement and reception. Recent decisions, such as Umadevi, will indicate that the efficiency principle is not paramount, but efficiency and equity interject at random.

To look at the plurality of extremes that Indian legal systems wrestle with, the seminar shall examine:

Introduction to Indian system: Complexity of plurality in Indian - Hindu law, Islamic Law, Persian law, Common Law, Civil Law, Constitutional Law, Socialist Law, WTO/TRIPs.
The Indian Constitution: The Republic, pursuant to a constitutional amendment, never repealed, in the 1970s, is a socialist republic, a principle reaffirmed in constitutional decisions till recently. However, the rhetoric of development, economic growth, and market efficiency informs more recent constitutional decisions. The plurality is also found in the constitution, which both grants the right to conduct one's trade or business as part of the freedom of speech, and allows it to be restricted if such restrictions are reasonably related to the government's stated public purpose.
The patchwork of old "mixed economy" statist legislation and connected jurisprudence, such as the Essential Commodities Act, the Industries (Development and Regulation) Act, Foreign Exchange Management Act (FERA has been repealed).
Selected "new economy" regulatory statutes that have been recently implemented to regulate those "new economy"sectors which were deregulated in the 1990s. The deregulation was in itself sometime deliberate and often arbitrary executive decisions leading to unequal application of economic laws on different sectors in the country.
Competition Law: enabled by the Constitution, which envisions distribution of wealth, the competition law is slowly being implemented. Socialist laws and newer efficient market bestow significant advantage to existing institutional players, creating concentration of wealth at unprecedented levels.
Money Laundering Act
Increased introduction of market efficiency economics into judicial decisions, in particular, the rhetoric of development (Special Economic Zones, Foreign Direct Investiment, Public Private Partnerships)
Property Law: Property rights were curtailed in the 1970s and have not enjoyed a full restoration, except where international obligations have enabled the government to legislate expansion in intellectual property concepts.
Tribunalisation of the system. The normal courts increasingly do not exercise primary jurisdiction over a host of issues that have been removed to the domain of administrative law, creating a two-tier judicial system, with wide disparities in efficiency and cost in favour of tribunals.
Right to Information Act, 2005 and Consumer Act, 2005: Substantive and procedural grant of new rights is creating new citizen involvement. In particular, the seminar will examine the recently introduced case attempting to use Consumer Protection Act and tribunals to achieve compensation for beneficiaries of food aid.
Environmental laws and the Bhopal toxic cleanup case. The seminar will examine the panoply of environmental regulation through studying the Bhopal toxic cleanup case.