Due Process of Law

The book discusses the interesting and chequered history of "due process of law" from the emphatic denial of "due process" in A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras to its acceptance in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India. The author also explains the scope and applicability of the due process doctrine in regard to executive and legislative actions. He identifies its effective application in three spheres of Indian constitutional law: i) articulation of basic structure doctrine; ii) application of arbitrariness test derived from Article 14; and iii) recognition and creation of several unenumerated rights relating to life and personal liberty. The elusive nature of due process as explained by Frankfurter J, has also been analysed.

Due Process of Law by Abhinav Chandrachud is a scholarly investigation of the fascinating, important, and an evergreen topic of "judicial review and substantive due process". The author has attempted to capture the spirit of "due process" as it developed in American Jurisprudence and how it has been gradually assimilated in Indian constitutional law in the last three decades.

The book traces the origins of due process of law taking into account its expanded scope and ambit from merely procedural due process to substantive due process. The difference between the two has been lucidly explained and analysed. The interesting and chequered history of "due process of law" from the emphatic denial of "due process" in A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras to its acceptance in Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India has been well-documented.

1. The author also explains the scope and applicability of the due process doctrine in regard to executive and legislative actions. He identifies its effective application in three spheres of Indian constitutional law: i) articulation of basic structure doctrine;
2. application of arbitrariness test derived from Article 14; and
3. recognition and creation of several unenumerated rights relating to life and personal liberty.

The book fills the vacuum in regard to this branch of law in India. It will be of considerable interest and assistance to serious students of law as also members of the Bar and the Bench.

Table of Contents:

Table of Cases

1. Introduction
2. Meaning of Substantive Due Process
3. Due Process of Law and the Constituent Assembly of India
4. The Early Year
5. The Birth of Procedural Due Process
6. Substantive Due Process
7. Conclusion

Subject Index