Justice has emanated from nature.......What is the relevance of this statement of Cicero in the Indian Legal System?

Question: ‘Justice has emanated from nature. Therefore, certain matters have passed into custom by reason of their utility. Finally, the fear of law, even religion, give sanction to those rules which have been both emanated from nature and have been approved by custom’. What is the relevance of this statement of Cicero in the Indian Legal System?

Find the answer to Hindu Law only on Legal Bites. [‘Justice has emanated from nature. Therefore, certain matters have passed into custom by reason of their utility. Finally, the fear of law, even religion, give sanction to those rules which have been both emanated from nature and have been approved by custom’. What is the relevance of this statement of Cicero in the Indian Legal System?]

Answer

The bond between nature and humans is as old as humans themselves. Initially, the sole survival source was adapting to the natural environment. For that, a large number of innovations and practices related to natural resources were born and evolved. This allowed the small communities to survive in a particular locality. In India, such locality-based communities have prospered and are rooted by signifying the practices related to nature.

As a result of the continuous and long usage of these natural resources, these communities have acquired knowledge about their regions and have adapted a lifestyle suitable to the ecosystem in which they reside. And they have passed down these beliefs and knowledge from one generation to another in the form of customs and usages.

During the primitive age, there was no concept of law, it was only these customs and usages that were used for survival. The principles of the communities were based on the long and continuous use of these customs and usages. When these communities expanded with time and evolved into larger forms, these customs and usages became fundamental for their growth.

With time the rules and regulations of cities and states belonging to particular regions traced their roots to the customs and usage used during the primitive time belonging to natural resources. These customs were later converted into customary laws with the force of law. This process became the reason to trace the origin of social laws to nature by the Roman thinker and philosopher Cicero.

India has always been a biomass-based civilization. The local communities and other evolved communities trace their practices to the area where they hail from. Different regions in India have their specific set of customs and practices based on their respective ecosystems. Ancient customs under Hindu law have their origin in the usage of such practices belonging to the natural resources of specific areas.

Indian Legal System is a transformed and evolved form of ancient Indian practices that were subjected to a certain place or community. It is among the world’s oldest laws and originates mainly from religious texts and scholarly books prepared by the Sages.

Whether it be of any community, the laws initially were generated through nature, by following a set of practices to perform and regulate certain acts and by distinguishing right and wrong. The fear of religion was put in the picture to ensure the following of regulations without questioning them. Under Hindu jurisprudence, the customs were the ‘Reeti’, ‘Riwaj’, ‘Vyahavar’, and, ‘Rasm’, these were the set of rules which were binding in nature for the followers of particular groups.

Under Hindu jurisprudence, the customs acted as the backbone of all the ancient religious texts and all the regulations made since then. The customary practices were binding in nature at that time as they were valued. Those practices, with time and adaptations, became the words of sages and acted as a binding force on the basis of religion. The religious texts under Hindu law are considered a product of the customary practice of those times.

Customs and customary laws are recognized as an important source of law in the Indian Legal System. Article 13 of the Indian Constitution defines law to include custom and usage in it. The Hindu codified laws are themselves derived from long-run customary practices only. The laws relating to inheritance, property, etc., are derived from customary practices. Many of the Indian Laws have traces of ancient customs in them.

Customs are reflected in most of the codified Hindu Laws. After independence, various Hindu Laws were codified, such as Hindu Marriage Act (1955), Hindu Succession Act (1956), Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act (1956), etc. All of these acts are codified customs that evolved with the needs of time and society.

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