State Law, Dispute Processing, and Legal Pluralism: Unspoken Dialogues from Rural India

Cover
Half Title
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of
Contents
List of figures
Preface
Acknowledgements
Glossary
1. Setting the context
	1.1 Law in action: Using ethnography to understand state law
	1.2 State–non-state, formal–informal, official–unofficial: Choice of
terminology
	1.3 The Indian judiciary’s relationship with non-state actors of dispute processing
		1.3.1 The course of litigation: Trends and developments
	1.4 Non-state forums: The forgotten story
	1.5 State and non-state: Parallel mechanisms of dispute processing?
2. Early learnings
	2.1 The community
	2.2 The location
	2.3 Insider-outsider: Asking the right questions
	2.4 Everyday life and gaining access
	2.5 A Background of the communities
		2.5.1 The Koḷī community in Gonjhé
		2.5.2. The Pandit, Thakur and Bhotia- of the Kumaon
	2.6 Conclusion
3. Many laws, many orders
	3.1 Disputes within the context of everyday life
	3.2 Gossip: The dialogue about disputes
	3.3 Dispute processing in the communities of Gonjhé and Dharamgarh valley
		3.3.1. The nature of community solidarity and its impact on dispute processing
	3.4 The movement of disputes
	3.5 The layers of legality in Gonjhé and the villages of Dharamgarh valley
4. The legal landscape
	4.1 Sarka-r: Community perceptions about the State
	4.2 Dispute processing in the communities of Gonjhé and Dharamgarh
valley: Understanding value dynamics
	4.3 Engaging with state law: Of resistance and embracement
	4.4 Resisting the state? The working of community-based mechanisms to emphasise postulational values of the community
		4.4.1 Demystifying the Panca-yat: About layers of legality
engaging the Bira-deri, Bha-vkı-, MandaI., and Sama-j
		4.4.2 Seeking out the supernatural
		4.4.3 Guides, mediators, advocates: Individual actors with the non-state machinery
	4.5 Structural adaptations: Learning from the State?
		4.5.1 Written documentation: Lending the formal touch
	4.6 In transition: Perceptions, notions, and customs
		4.6.1 Changing local practices
		4.6.2 Transforming approaches and ideas
	4.7 Barefoot lawyers
	4.8 Dispute processing and the dynamics of self-preservation
	4.9 Safe-guarding values, reinforcing solidarity: Self-preservation at the level of the community
5. Subtly but surely: Embracing the values of state law
	5.1 Case study 1: Protection of natural resources
	5.2 Case study 2: Ensuring maintenance and freedom from violence
	5.3 Case study 3: Inter-caste marriages and value of individual choice
	5.4 Analysis
		5.4.1 The choice of a mechanism and values
		5.4.2 Choice of mechanism and familiarity
		5.4.3 Choice of mechanism and an understanding of the self
	5.5 Conclusion
6. Concluding thoughts and reflections
	6.1 A community’s sense of order regulates its engagement with state law
	6.2 Resistance and embracement: Engagement with state law
	6.3 Non-state forums and actors: Questions of legitimacy
	6.4 The Supreme Court’s view in light of the empirical evidence
	6.5 Thinking together is thinking ahead
	6.6 Perceiving law as a social process
Bibliography
Index