Guide to the Indian Legal System for Foreign Law Students and Researchers

India runs a common law system inherited from British colonial administration, layered over a written Constitution that is the longest in the world and over 75 years of its own case law, statutes and constitutional amendments. For a foreign law student or academic researching India for the first time, a few structural points make the rest of the system easier to follow.

A written Constitution with judicial review

The Constitution of India, 1950 is supreme law. Courts, led by the Supreme Court of India, have the power to strike down legislation and executive action that violates it, a power the courts themselves developed through cases like Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala (1973), which held that even a constitutional amendment cannot alter the Constitution’s “basic structure.”

A unified but federal court hierarchy

Unlike the United States, India does not have separate state and federal court systems. One integrated hierarchy, District Courts, High Courts (one or more per state), and the Supreme Court at the apex, applies both central and state law. There are 25 High Courts and one Supreme Court.

Codified core law, common law method

Much of Indian substantive law is codified: contract law largely follows the Indian Contract Act, 1872, criminal law now follows the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (replacing the colonial-era Indian Penal Code), and evidence follows the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023. But interpretation still proceeds through binding precedent (Article 141 makes Supreme Court decisions binding on all courts), so reading case law alongside the codes is essential, not optional.

Where to start reading

For a structured starting point rather than scattered sources, Lexfolio’s free guides cover the Indian Constitution, the new criminal law codes, and the court system in more depth, and the certificate courses include options built specifically around comparative and regulatory topics (AI law and governance, contract law, IP law) if you want a structured syllabus rather than open-ended reading.