Harvard University And American Dream – A Legal Examination

James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America (1931) first talked about “The American Dream” in the following words:“(T)hat dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for every man, with opportunity for each according to his ability or achievement … (it is) a dream of a social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the...

Bar's Veto: Why Judicial Reforms In India Fail To Take Root

In the first article in Livelaw's much needed delay series, authors, Vasudev Devadasan and Amarendra Kumar, recommended the following changes in the Supreme Court to reduce pendency:1. The Court should do away with 'Miscellaneous Days', scheduled on Mondays and Fridays, where the Court conducts admission hearings orally. Instead of oral hearings, the Court can rely on written submissions...

Assignment Of Arbitration Clauses In India – Discovering Consent To Arbitrate

Judicial opinion is split between the automatic assignment of arbitration clauses, on the one hand, and the specific reference requirement, on the other. The former suggests that when a contract is assigned, any arbitration clause in it also stands assigned - however the specific reference theory requires that the assignee must specifically refer to the arbitration clause, consenting to...

Stalled Seas: Contemporary Shipping Accidents And India's Unratified Maritime Laws

In just three weeks, two large cargo ships had encountered operational failure in the territorial waters of India. A Liberian-flagged vessel, MSC ELSA-3, the first ship, allegedly suffered ballast problems and, as a result, capsized beyond the territorial sea of India. In the second case, a fire broke out in the Singapore-flagged vessel MV Wan Hai 503, resulting in cargo damage and destruction...

India's Abortion Law: Progressive On Paper, Hesitant In Practice

At a time when many nations are retreating from reproductive rights, India presents a curious contrast: a country that legalised abortion over five decades ago with minimal public protest or political controversy. Yet, what appears progressive in law often falters in practice. India's Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, enacted in 1971, was ahead of its time. But in the face of...

Stifling Competition: Why CCI's Table Tennis Verdict Is A Game-Changer For Sports Regulation

The Competition Commission of India in a landmark decision has ruled against four table tennis associations for abusing their dominant positions, extending the reach of competition law into the realm of sports governance. It began with a single WhatsApp message, a brief advisory sent by a district-level sports official. But that message, warning players against participating in...

Soaring Through Safety: India's Aviation Laws And Quest For Safer Skies

The Indian aviation industry stands at a critical juncture. The proposition' Ude Desh ka Aam Nagrik' was proposed by the government in 2016, and since then, efforts have been made to make it a reality. With increasingly crowded skies, ambitious growth targets, and an expanding airline fleet. The recent tragic Air India Crash in Ahmedabad shows that progress without proper safety measures...

Parole Is The Rule, Denial An Exception—Justice Beyond Bars

The recent judgment of the Kerala High Court in Shafeena P.H. v. State of Kerala & Another, 2025 LiveLaw (Ker) 329, where Justice P.V. Kunhikrishnan granted parole to a prisoner to facilitate his child's admission to higher education, observing that a father's presence plays a vital role in a child's education.Parole rules are generally incorporated into Jail Manuals or established...

Inheritance Under Enemy Property Act, Back To Surface With Saif Ali Khan's Case

The interplay between sovereignty and individual rights is fully visible in the Enemy Property Act, 1968. The core constitutional issue is as to whether the State permanently appropriate privately owned property based on the geopolitical choices of ancestors? The Act empowers the government to appropriate the properties left behind by those who migrated to enemy nations – primarily Pakistan...

"We Worship Game, But Does It Mourn Us?” Chinnaswamy Stadium Tragedy Through A Legal Lens

On June 4, 2025, a city's joy turned to horror. What should have been a jubilant celebration of Royal Challengers Bangalore's IPL title win at Bengaluru's M. Chinnaswamy Stadium ended in a deadly stampede that claimed eleven lives and injured at least thirty-three more. Within hours, outrage rippled through the city and beyond—not just over the incident, but over how preventable it...

Need For A Refugee Law And Sensitisation Of Higher Judiciary

Recently, while dealing with a matter pertaining to the asylum of a refugee from Sri Lanka, the Supreme Court Justice Dipankar Dutta has made a remark that “Is India a Dharamshala to host refugees from all over the world? We are struggling with 140 crore population”. The petition was to allow a Tamil refugee to stay as an out-camp refugee so that he can make necessary arrangements to...

Snipped And Sued: The 10-Second Clip That Sparked A Copyright War

The Mohak Mangal and ANI controversy has grabbed national interest and sparked debates across platforms regarding the 'fairness' of the use of a 10 second clip owned by ANI in a video made by Mangal spanning close to 30 minutes. On one side we have a party seeking compensation for use of its copyrighted material whereas proponents of the opponent side claim that the usage of the clip...