Secularisation and Theologisation
The formation of Hindu law has been chronicled by historians and others as a complex process involving the negation of customary law and the upholding of sacred texts, upon which codes of law were formulated. This paper seeks to interrogate the truth behind this narrative by examining the category o...
| Published in: | Journal of law, religion and state |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
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| In: |
Journal of law, religion and state
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| Further subjects: | B
Hindu Law
Henry Maine
secularisation
colonialism
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | The formation of Hindu law has been chronicled by historians and others as a complex process involving the negation of customary law and the upholding of sacred texts, upon which codes of law were formulated. This paper seeks to interrogate the truth behind this narrative by examining the category of Hindu law and the processes that allowed it to emerge within the British colonial legal imagination. It argues that the making of Hindu law was a process of theologisation within an outer framework of secularisation i.e. the Christian theological framework embedded in the secular framework of Western legal epistemology was the background by which “Hindu law” emerged in the eyes of the colonisers. It examines Western legal notions of divine law, natural law, and human law and the role of historical jurisprudence in this process. It finally concludes by examining the implications of the argument for the formation of secular legal systems. |
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| ISSN: | 2212-4810 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of law, religion and state
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22124810-00401002 |