"This work uncovers the historical roots and also the contemporary character of law and society in India. Steeped in years of fieldwork in both rural and urban India, the work places the new legal forces and processes introduced into India by the British alongside those that predated the colonial incursion and still have vitality today. Indian law is now undergoing a period of comparatively rapid change. Globalisation has brought dynamism to some of the law firms of India, particularly in Mumbai, and this impact is considered here. There is growing impatience with the slowness and inefficiencies of the courts - though, contrary to much opinion, litigation is seen here to be declining rather than growing. Meanwhile, there has been cumulatively dramatic change to authority in the countryside. The great flagship of Indian law continues to be the uniquely activist Supreme Court and its Public Interest Litigation, but equally intriguing are the group-based and sometimes law-like activities of washerfolk in rural Rajasthan, diamond traders in downtown Mumbai, and the myriad communities in the great 'slums' of urban India. These are the themes taken up in this volume"--Unedited summary from book jacket.