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Public interest litigation (Nikhil Soni vs. Union of India & Ors. Civil Writ Petition No.7414/2006) contesting the legality of the Jain fast to death, known as sallekhanā or santhārā, was filed in 2006. In response, the Rajasthan High Court issued a ban of the practice in 2015 which was quickly stayed by the Indian Supreme Court, where the case awaits a final verdict. The rise of the case through the courts and its surrounding controversy occurred parallel to the rise in widespread use of social media and messaging apps, resulting in a magnification of discourse and activism and thrusting Jains into a defensive public position that demanded a coordinated communal response employing "visibility tactics." Widening the picture of public discourse about santhārā to include these spaces, this article will explore how the technological mediations of Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram form a context-specific multilingual archive that indexes Jain sociality around the fast, including resistance to criminalization, anxiety about surveillance and regulation, and local and internal disputes. Unlike printed patrikas (communal newsletters), the speed, frequency, and reach of online media traverse national, state, and social boundaries. The article also describes how women have meaningfully accessed and shaped these new discursive spheres, such as virtual svādhyāya (self-study) groups and Jain-specific mobile apps, facilitating and transforming the spread of Jain religiosity and reimagining Jain geography as multimodal following developments in santhārā's symbolic and social power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has generally dealt with questions raised by cases concerning the common interests of States in an episodic, fragmentary, and at times contradictory manner. However, a number of significant rulings have thus far been given, and recent developments have brought the issue of public interest litigation back into the spotlight. This article aims to bring together into a coherent and systematic framework the relevant data that can be drawn from the ICJ's contentious case law. To this end, the examination is divided into three parts, distinguishing respectively between questions that can be considered to have been already resolved (i.e. questions concerning the jurisdiction in public interest cases), those that are currently being clarified (i.e. the issue of standing to institute proceedings for the protection of common interests) and those that are still entirely open (i.e. the qualification of the legal position of the omnes , the relationship between the standing of the specially affected State and that of the other omnes , and the remedies that the omnes are entitled to claim from the wrongdoer). The article highlights the ICJ's unwillingness to address the question as to whether Article 48 ARSIWA may currently be deemed to reflect customary international law and some inconsistencies between the approaches of the ILC and the ICJ as regards collective obligations. This proves that, despite considerable progress in recent case law, the legal regime of collective obligations remains far from being clear, and many aspects still deserve close scrutiny. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent developments in marine environmental public interest litigation in China raise questions about the procedure and operation of the procuratorial organ – a body that can support public interest aspects of litigation. This article examines the legal basis of public interest litigation in both a civil and criminal context. It considers the practice of other States, including the United States, as a point of comparison. A key issue is to determine the meaning of public interest, and how this relates to national or social interests, since this will influence the work of procuratorial organs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the decriminalisation of homosexuality in Botswana. It discusses the various cases that addressed issues relating to LGBTIQ+ in Botswana to highlight the incremental approach toward decriminalisation of homosexuality laws. The article also highlights the role and the contribution of civil society to the decriminalization of homosexuality in Botswana. It does so by providing an overview of queer activism in Botswana and highlights the various queer actors in the country. The article notes that the Botswana Court of Appeal has emphatically settled the debate concerning the constitutional protection of members of the LGBTIQ+. This article points out that the successes recorded in Botswana by civil society as regards the decriminalisation of homosexuality are attributable to several factors. These factors include the consolidated efforts of civil society in the country, the advocacy that accompanied the decriminalisation of homosexuality litigation and the use of various public interest litigation strategies. Combined, these factors paint a clear picture of the nature of queer lawfare in Botswana. Overall, the article highlights that while some sections of the society in Botswana are still reluctant to recognize members of the LGBTIQ+ community as right bearers, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that there has been a great shift toward inclusivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses the role of third States in public interest litigation – i.e., ongoing proceedings concerning interests which they share with the international community. It scrutinizes third-State intervention in inter-State cases through the prism of rules and principles arising in public interest litigation, and aims to clarify the limits of such participation. Having synthesized the relevant law and doctrine of intervention practice before the ICJ and other institutional courts, it considers the extent to which third-State interests find expression through Articles 62 and 63 of the ICJ Statute. It examines the invocation of international legal responsibility on the basis of obligations erga omnes and erga omnes partes , as well as the prospect of intervention on this basis. It then identifies and addresses jurisdictional and procedural questions arising in these and other instances of "public interest" intervention. It concludes by envisaging the prospective institutional development of multilateral participation in public interest litigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars consider deficient local accountability mechanisms a key shortcoming of China's response to environmental issues. Through empirical analysis of the new procurator-led public interest litigation (PIL) system, this study examines whether – and to what extent – this shortcoming can be remedied by empowering the juridical institutions. It concludes that thanks to the procuratorates' political insider status, relative autonomy from local politics and extensive resources, procurators have generally found ways to maintain a delicate balance between holding executive agencies environmentally accountable and managing local governments' resistance to the PIL system. However, reliance on top-down political support may ultimately hinder the expansion and stability of the procuratorial PIL system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Given a disproportionate scholarly focus on a high-profile litigation on manual scavenging – the manual cleaning of human faeces – in India, this paper aims to explore the experiences of NGOs led by Dalits – formerly "untouchables" – in navigating the judiciary to eradicate manual scavenging. It does so by first exploring the frequency and characteristics of court cases on manual scavenging, and second by exploring obstacles and opportunities that affect whether and how Dalit actors involve courts in their efforts. Through a mixed- and multi-method research, drawing on participatory field research, data from Right to Information requests, court judgments and interviews, the paper operationalises the concept of legal opportunity structure and shows that the choice to litigate is made carefully and is shaped by practical concerns. Notably, caste normativity both pushes Dalit actors towards litigation, and shapes how Dalit actors can engage with the judiciary. This power of caste to shape recourse to state law has serious implications for the idea that law and the judiciary are neutral and available to all equally. While previous literature focuses on public interest litigation and high-profile court cases on manual scavenging, this paper provides the first dataset on manual scavenging litigation, shows that such cases are the minority, and foregrounds experiences of Dalit actors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational criminal law treaties could give rise to public interest litigation concerning the breach of an obligation erga omnes partes, meaning an obligation owed by one state party to all other states parties. This article aims to contribute to scholarship on the subject of erga omnes or 'community interest' norms by exploring the potential for international litigation concerning non-compliance with obligations under two transnational criminal law treaties in particular: the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. Transnational criminal law treaties have been overlooked in the existing literature on community interest norms, even though states parties have a common interest in ensuring compliance with the obligations assumed under these instruments, and the treaties have the potential, at least in theory, to give rise to public interest litigation. International courts and tribunals, as well as scholars, can and ought to engage in deeper analyses of what constitutes an obligation erga omnes partes under a multilateral treaty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Article 70 of Personal Information Protection Law of the People's Republic of China provides a framework for the public interest litigation system of personal information protection. After a comprehensive review of the public interest litigation system of personal information protection combined with legislative norms and judicial cases, it finds that the applicable conditions of public interest litigation of personal information protection in China are relatively general, the rules of the subject of litigation right are not clear, the litigation path is biased, the pre-litigation procedure is not set up comprehensively, the litigation request is relatively single, and the litigation procedure design is thin. In order to give full play to the effectiveness of the system, more legislations should be supplied. Specific measures are suggested as follows: to refine the types of illegal processing of personal information and the requirements for the number of victims; to clarify the relationship between administrative power and procuratorial power; to clarify the order of three types of legal subjects filing information public interest litigation and the qualification conditions for prosecution by relevant organizations; to clarify the relationship between the three types of public interest litigation and establish a mechanism for the selection of litigation types; to optimize the pre-litigation procedure setting from the review of litigation initiation to the follow-up of implementation; to set up new public interest demands of prevention, compensation and recovery; to actively explore the claims for damages and punitive damages in information public interest litigation; and to explore special rules in terms of public interest jurisdiction, proof, mediation, withdrawal of litigation and second instance in accordance with the law in combination with the particularity of personal information protection, so as to promote the good operation of information public interest litigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate litigation is on the rise. The role that nongovernmental organizations play in its facilitation is reflective in the numerous cases that are being brought by them to the Courts. However, it is not always easy and the NGOs have to face legal challenges in matters such as those relating to standing requirements ('who may sue') and validity of their claims. The present article attempts to analyse the working environment of the NGOs by taking references from different jurisdictions, with a special emphasis on the climate policy framework of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Supreme Court's ruling in the Urgenda climate case requires that the Netherlands government step up the fight against climate change to reduce CO2 emissions by the end of 2020 by 25% (relative to 1990). Urgent action against 'dangerous climate change' was deemed scientifically necessary to safeguard the right to life of Netherlands residents. Upon close analysis, however, this revolutionary judgment appears to be based on uncritical examination of the factual evidence presented by Urgenda, judicial misappropriation of legislative power, expansive interpretations of the applicable law, careless or incomplete reasoning, and intentional omissions. Due to these deficiencies, the court's ruling will have serious consequences for future policy-making in The Netherlands and the liability exposure of companies in relation to climate change. This article analyses the judgment and discusses its implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When it comes to the violation of a human right of a person, there are numerous remedies, which are provided under the Constitution of India (for short, Constitution) and the various other Statutory enactments, to provide the requisite relief to the aggrieved party. However, mere incorporation of the remedy in the letters of the Legal Statutes is not enough; it is also to be ensured that an effective, smooth and incorporative mechanism is also provided for availing such remedies, that is, it is to be seen that the procedure for availing the remedies is not so cumbersome and costly that the downtrodden and poor sections of the society are unable to avail the same. One of the popular oft-quoted talismans of Mahatma Gandhi, our founding Father of the Nation is that "the efficiency and utility of any scheme can be tested on the touchstone of a poor person only". This talisman is, in fact, the basic theme around which my research article dwells. In this research, I will be analyzing the effectiveness and efficiency of the various remedies, which have been provided in the Legal Framework of our Country, concerning the poor and downtrodden sections of our society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The women's movement in Pakistan strategically used the courts to fight for rights-based empowerment over the last 40 years. Its demand to hold the state and judiciary accountable for delivering on its constitutional promise of fundamental rights has led to landmark public interest litigation jurisprudence. This paper presents for the first time the movement's full history of litigation in its key areas of concern: sexual and reproductive rights, protection from discriminatory laws and informal justice mechanisms, socio-economic and environmental rights and political rights. Achievements include positive verdicts, sensitizing judges, progressive legislation and increased public awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Good governance and Rule of Law are inter-connected phenomenon. Good governance is required at all levels. To uphold the good governance it is the collective duty of the state institutions to perform efficiently under the umbrella of the Supreme Law of the land. "The existence of massive corruption, institutional clashes, Constitutional crisis and lack of accountability, poor law and order conditions may harm the good governance in the country". To strengthen the good governance is the prime responsibility of the Executive and when the Executive failed to take measures to uphold the governance, resultantly, the Rule of Law will be in danger. Ultimately the Judiciary has to come forward to take action for the promotion of "Good Governance", "Rule of Law" and enforcement of the "Fundamental Rights" of the people like health and education, because the Judiciary is the custodian of the Constitution and the fundamental rights of the masses. A debate in country has aroused in these days, that whether the Courts are exercising their powers beyond their Constitutional domain or not? In the response of this debate, the recent case law study and Constitutional provisions depicts that in all recent suomoto cases the "Supreme Court of Pakistan" has exercised its power in Constitutional Jurisdiction as envisaged in "Article 184(3) of The Constitution of Islamic Republic of Pakistan, 1973", Moreover, after the analysis of the Constitutional provisions the author is of the view that, in the current regime the Honourable Chief Justice of Pakistan has not transgressed his powers beyond the Constitutional provisions which are explained in this Article as Constitutional manacles on the jurisdiction of the superior Courts of Pakistan. Most of the recent suo-moto cases on health and education issues come under the preview of the matter of public importance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Pakistan, The judiciary takes on the driving seat particularly in the last decade. The judiciary takes up all the cases of Public Interest litigation (PIL), ranges from the inconsequential cases of kite flying to the privatization of national institution and to the constitutional cases. This proactive role of judiciary has created apprehensions not only in Pakistan but at international leval too. The opponents of judicial activism hold that it cross its jurisdictional limits and interfere in the matters which are purely the prerogative of executive and legislature. The recurrent use of judicial powers by the Pakistan's apex court under the suo moto jurisdiction has taken up all the matters i.e. social, economic, political and constitutional. Pakistan has adopted the parliamentary democracy under the separation of power. The proactive role of judiciary violates the very principle of this theory by crossing its limits. The present research focuses on (i) The concept, origin and scope of judicial activism (ii) The impact of judicial activism in the political, constitutional and democratic process of Pakistan. The research will conclude that judiciary needs to adopt the policy of self-restraint rather than self-indulgent. Adherence to the democratic principle of separation of powers completely, Pakistan can build a strong democratic political system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recourse to litigation and positive judicial interventions is one of the most effective tools to meet public health objectives. The present review envisions compiling litigation and judicial measures in Southeast Asia Region (SEAR) while assessing their role in advancing smokeless tobacco (SLT) control, and equally highlighting, how tobacco industry has used litigation to undermine tobacco control efforts in the Region. The litigation, especially from the SEAR, up to 2017, that have facilitated SLT control or have been used by the tobacco industry to challenge an SLT control policy decision were reviewed. Most of the litigation related to SLT control from the Region are on pictorial health warnings. Bhutan has imposed a complete prohibition on sale, manufacture and import of all kinds of tobacco products and the litigation there relates to the prosecution of offenders for violating the ban. Judiciary in the Region is well informed about the ill-effects of tobacco use and remains positive to tobacco control initiatives in the interest of public health. In India, several SLT-specific litigation helped in better regulation of SLT products in the country. Litigation has compelled governments for effective enforcement of the domestic tobacco control laws and the World Health Organization (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). Parties to the WHO FCTC must now use Treaty Article 19 to strengthen their legal procedures and make the tobacco industry liable, for both criminal and civil wrongs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the opportunities to use international human rights law to protect one's right to life against the effects of climate change. It discusses four legal avenues: greening the existing human rights paradigm, formulating a new substantive right to the environment, public interest litigation and intergenerational justice. This is illustrated with case law from the European Court of Human Rights and various national jurisdictions. The main finding is that the human rights system should become more open towards public interest litigation and intergenerational justice, complemented by a broadening of the standing requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Since the first decade of the 2000s, there has been serious concern that public interest litigation (PIL) in India, which was launched by the Supreme Court in the late 1970s to protect the rights of weaker sections of the society, has come to be occasionally used against them instead. Can PIL in India truly serve as a model for other developing countries in promoting the basic rights of their citizens? Reconsidering the conditions that enable the judiciary to engage in judicial activism through PIL, this paper argues that writ jurisdiction is the key factor in considering the peculiarity and sustainability of Indian PIL, as the unique development of its jurisdiction has contributed to increased power for judges in delivering social justice to society and has also opened the possibility of judges pursuing their own agendas through the resulting informalization of procedure and remedy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The military conflict within India's borders whose origins are in the marginalisation of tribal peoples involves the government forces and the Naxalite rebels. This conflict has become more intense in the last decade with land being acquired to enable corporations to mine resources and the lack of redress for the Adivasi, who are the indigenous people who inhabit these territories. The alienation of the rural communities tribes from the north eastern states, which are located on the 'red corridor' is because the government has failed to implement protection for Scheduled Tribes who carry a protected status in the Indian constitution. The Naxalite movement has channelled in a violent struggle which has led to an emergency declared under Article 355, and there has been an incremental increase in the rate of fatalities. The failure of public interest litigation and the enforcement of the Armed Forces Special Power Act (AFSPA) means that the domestic remedies for empowerment are not successful. The breach of human rights has to be assessed against the insurgency of the Naxalite guerillas and the Geneva Conventions that are applicable under the Non International Armed Conflict (NIAC). This paper will assess the rural origins of the conflict, environmental damage and the litigation by the Adivasi communities before addressing the rules under which the protections are available under the international humanitarian law. This will argue for the strict implementation of the Geneva Conventions and for NIAC to be liable for intervention as an International Armed Conflict (IAC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The context for land resistance in liberalising India is dynamic. As the state promotes capital investment, lines between public and private are blurred. Land is central to these efforts, as new industries, mines, large-scale agricultural projects and infrastructure initiatives all require vast amounts of land. The introduction of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) in the Indian state of Goa highlight land deal tensions. Following protests rallying thousands and widespread public mistrust of land and regional planning processes, the state’s chief minister halted the zones. This action mollified public unrest and temporarily appeased anti-SEZ social movements. However, scepticism arose as the chief minister failed to legally de-register the zones and return SEZ lands to original owners or collectives. Amidst state inaction, movement members sought judicial justice. Protest and corruption theories are integrated with political interpretations of liminality in this article to frame how social movements shift their patterns of intervention in response to or in anticipation of inaction. Enhanced opportunities for corruption, exemplified by the SEZ model, lead movements to adapt strategies of resistance beyond state-oriented protest. The interventions discussed represent a shift in the ritual form of protest and the degree of political engagement with the judiciary. The multi-faceted contestation altered power structure, while politicising and scrutinising land deals. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rights gains for members of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex ( LGBTI) populations in Chile have been highly contentious since democratisation, indicative of the stigmatisation directed towards non-normative gender and sexual identities. This article addresses the role of activist lawyers pursuing LGBTI rights cases through the courts, and draws on McAdam and colleagues' (2001) concept of a 'broker' to examine the lawyers' roles in linking previously unconnected sites within the judiciary and further afield. The analysis draws these processes together through interactionist perspectives of meaning-making and how they relate to stigma, deviancy and identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Koushal v Naz the Indian Supreme Court overturned a High Court judgment which had declared unconstitutional section 377 of the Indian Penal Code criminalising 'carnal intercourse against the order of nature'. In doing so, it has rebranded gay and transgendered Indians as criminals. This case note explores some of the structural problems that led to this judgment. The first problem is the transformation of the Indian Supreme Court into a populist, quasi-legislative, institution that sees itself as a tool of governance. This has put significant pressure on its counter-majoritarian role. The second relates to the sheer size of the Court's docket (given its wide jurisdiction and lax standing rules), coupled with the Indian legal academy's inability and unwillingness to continuously demand judicial fidelity to the law. These factors have led to the normalisation of unreasoned or poorly-reasoned judgments and a breakdown of stare decisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As germination and rise of public environmental awareness in Taiwan, large-scale air pollution, water pollution, noise, land subsidence and other public hazards harming human health and living environment caused by various production or consumption activities are generated. Facing the situation of environment increasingly aggravates, environmental public interest litigation system is constructed. First, Article 9 of Administrative Procedure Law stipulates public interest litigation ;then, Article 34 of Environmental Basic Law clearly stipulates important elements of public interest litigation. In the research, taking the first environmental public interest litigation in Taiwan as the example, collusion process between government and developer, and private environmental protection groups finally obtaining victory through the continuous effort and litigation are iilustrated, thereby uncovering so-called " legal" saying by government and developer. Environmental maintenance and improvement is the duty of every citizen should do, but not only the duty of government, which is mentality of environmental public interest litigation development should have and road must take. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article concerns the practice of excluding or limiting the liability in expenses of public interest litigants, a comparatively recent development in the United Kingdom legal systems. Such orders are called protective expenses orders (PEOs) in Scotland and protective costs orders (PCOs) in England and Northern Ireland, and in all three jurisdictions have been developed by the judges in the exercise of the wide discretion they have traditionally enjoyed in relation to awards of expenses. During 2013, new rules of court on PEO/PCOs were adopted in all three jurisdictions applying specifically to public interest environmental law litigation. This article provides an analysis of PEOs in Scotland in the light of the introduction of the new rules for environmental cases and of the English experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russian nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) increasingly pursue domestic change by litigating before the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). The Russian government aims to decrease the amount of these applications and curtail the activities of these NGOs. In Russia, where legalism is often performed but sparsely delivered, NGOs engage into advocacy to supplement their international litigation. Advocating for domestic policy changes has, however, become potentially dangerous for NGOs under new curtailing legislation. Through interviews with Russian human rights practitioners, this article analyzes how two NGOs – the Anti-Discrimination Centre Memorial and the Committee against Torture – work in between their belief that law can effect into change and the necessity to supplement their litigation with other strategies. In particular, it analyzes the interactions between the state and the NGOs by examining, first, how NGOs mobilize claims before the Court as leverage in disputes, and second, how a restrictive environment affects the NGOs’ litigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2005 a human rights petition at the Supreme Court challenged the tradition of living goddesses called Kumaris and, in particular, that of the former royal Kumari, who lives a sequestered ritual life until puberty, and who used to bless and legitimate the king once a year. The case went on while Nepal overthrew its king and was declared a secular state in 2007. When the judgment was pronounced in 2008, the goddess was still at her post and now blessed the president. This court case is taken to illustrate the directions and form that Nepali secularism is taking. It reveals a distinctive form of secularism where the state is involved in supporting and reforming religion. The religious tradition here is seen as an asset for the state, worthy of preserving, provided it makes way for social reforms in tune with the times. Despite being reduced in court to a child capable of being deprived of her rights, the political power of the goddess remains intact and her role for the nation is recognized in the verdict; both human and divine, the Kumari has been acknowledged under the now secular legal regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India's green jurisprudence is an outcome of a proactive Supreme Court. The judiciary has expanded the constitutional meaning of 'right to life' to include environmental protection. The limited effectiveness of both the executive and administrators has promoted the judiciary into a de facto role as caretaker of the environment. The creation and usage of public interest litigation allows the rules of locus standi to be used by those claiming either 'representative standing' or 'citizen standing'. However, public interest litigation is not a 'magic bullet' and two case studies illustrate its limitations. Finally, the paper examines the recent establishment of the 'National Green Tribunal' and its possible role in promoting environmental protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The law on standing for public interest litigation in Hong Kong appears to be in disarray, as the courts have been vacillating between three different positions. In response to this unsatisfactory state of law, this paper argues that, in deciding whether a public-spirited claimant has locus standi to bring a judicial review claim against the government over the sufferance of a non-private injury, the following test should be employed by the courts. At the threshold stage when seeking leave, as well as proving that he or she has a reasonably arguable case, the applicant must show that he or she is the appropriate candidate to bring this judicial review action. Where the injury is a generalized grievance, this means that the claimant must raise a serious issue of public importance concerning a governmental breach of duty or illegality, and that he or she is a reasonable and effective party to bring this issue before the court. Where the injury is not a generalized grievance but the applicant is essentially asserting a third-party claim on behalf of another, the claimant must prove that he or she shares a close and common interest with the actual aggrieved in the subject matter of the litigation and he or she is a more effective litigant than the latter in bringing suit. These same principles in deciding the appropriateness of the claimant's candidature should also govern the rules of standing when the case goes to trial such that a claimant may still be denied standing at trial after the court has the opportunity to examine the full record at the hearing inter partes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents some ideas about the impact that court rulings can have on the political system. Unlike what is usually written about the role of the Judiciary on the subject of human rights, when the emphasis is placed on the patterns and methods the courts devise to respond to claims for the justiciability of these rights, the authors - who focus on the Chilean case - illustrate how strategic litigation can, even with adverse judicial outcomes, have a positive impact on the satisfaction of social rights. The paper will also show how this impact depends more on the sensibility of the political system to respond to the desperate situation in which many of its citizens find themselves, and on the fear of political pressure, than on the possibilities opened up by major court rulings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The post-disaster situation provides an insight into the role of rights in the relocation of social and legal spheres and the location of gender within. Grounded in four years of empirical research in the post-earthquake reconstruction process in Maharashtra, India, this article traces the World Bank and state government policy to relocate 52,000 houses and 67 villages. Lorde's (1996) analogy of 'the master's house' provides a metaphor for the location of women within the patriarchal architecture of the private and public sphere, which I relate to discourses of place and space and the local and global. Drawing upon feminist and post-colonial perspectives, this article challenges the essentialist binary locations of women within public and private domains of rights constructed within the World Bank and state housing policy, the public and private legal system and informal to alternative spheres of social and legal relations. Alternative women's meetings, street protests and gatherings at the village to international for a intersect and disrupt the boundary walls to relocate women across social and legal spheres. This experience provides the possibility of ultimately becoming the master of the relocation of social and local domains and one's location within. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A terse, brief order of the Supreme Court of India in the Networking of Rivers case in September 2002 impugns the role of public interest litigation in the wake of neo-liberal reforms. At a poignant moment in India's 'tryst with destiny', socio-legal studies in India stand disarmed and disempowered without adequate conceptual and theoretical tools to analyse and interpret the event in emancipatory ways. The case inaugurates a new phase in judicial activism and Public Interest Litigation in India, a subject that has been written about extensively both in India and elsewhere. In this article the Networking of Rivers case is used as a vehicle to explore the trajectories of developments in socio-legal studies in India and the ways in which it may have contributed to the present theoretical and conceptual impasse. The article argues for a more geo-historically differentiated understanding of the theoretical underpinnings of socio-legal studies in India and the 'Third World' generally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]