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Law and Terror in the Age of Colonial Constitution Making

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2024

Ranabir Samaddar
Ranabir Samaddar*
Affiliation:
Calcutta Research Group

Abstract

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In this exploration into the close relation between terror and law, I attempt first to show that the relation between terror and law is not a simple question of relating violence to law, but to the very process of constitution making. Second, laws relating to terror may or may not find a formal place in the constitution, but this relation is essential to the working of the basic law, of the foundational concept of the rule of law. Third, intelligence gathering occupies a key place in this relation, and this activity, which has no mention in the constitution almost anywhere in the world, is the fulcrum on which reasons of state stand. Fourth, intelligence is the close monitoring of human movement, of the body, of the physical activities, and in this physical form of politics we have the meeting of the body and reasoning, terror and constitution, violence and law. And finally, the article describes a specifically Indian experience; yet may have larger significance in terms of retrieving the history of constitution making.

Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 53 , Issue 4 , November 2006 , pp. 18 - 33
Copyright
Copyright © ICPHS 2006

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