Adjudicating Social Death
Caste Exclusion, Civil Rights and the Colonial High Courts
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2634834 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Zoe Headley (National Council for Scientific Research, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 17 |
| Publication date | 2018-03-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1960-6060 • E-ISSN: 1960-6060 |
| Publisher | OpenEdition (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.4000/samaj.4448 |
| OpenAlex | W2793014620 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 12 |
This contribution is part of a larger investigation into the phenomena of out-casting among Hindus in South India. Here, I seek to unravel the legal trajectory of caste exclusion in the colonial court by examining the occurrence, extent and content (legal and social) of these litigations. I begin by examining the legal status of caste, as a body, under British rule. Caste exclusion being one kind of punitive sanction, among a range of other sanctions applied in situations of a severe breach in kin-caste rules, it is necessary to examine what understanding was arrived at regarding these rules and which legal treatments were applied. I then explore the occurrence of suits involving caste excommunication and present the main features of some twelve cases to get an overall sense of the nature of the litigations involving excommunication, the outcomes, the social profiles of those involved. Finally, I look more deeply into a handful of cases to assess the grievances of the (excommunicated) complainants and the strategies of the defendants. The aim is to identify the legal provisions invoked both by complainants and defendants and to unravel the reasoning of the judges caught between considerations of promoting individual civil rights, while not infringing on caste social rights
Caste · Colonialism · Criminology · Political science · Punitive damages · Sanctions · Sociology · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Law · Law in Society and Culture · South Asian Studies and Diaspora
Worship and Conflict under Colonial Rule
Courts of Law and Styles of Self in Eighteenth-Century Madras
Excommunication as Everyday Event and Ultimate Sanction
Ideology and Ethnicity under British Imperial Rule
Group Membership and Group Preferences in India
Barristers and Brahmans in India
The Administration of Hindu Law by the British
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |