The Tagore Law Lectures are an annual lecture series organised and hosted by the University of Calcutta , in India . The series is named after Prasanna Kumar Tagore , an Indian lawyer and politician, who left an endowment for the series in 1868. The first lecture in the series was delivered by Herbert Cowell, in 1870, on Hindu law as administered in British courts in India.
15-551: The Tagore Law Lecture series was funded in 1868 by Prasanna Kumar Tagore , an Indian lawyer and politician. In 1868, Tagore provided by his will that a law professor, to be known as the 'Tagore Law Professor' was to be appointed by the Senate of the University of Calcutta, and that this Professor's duties would be to: "...read or deliver, yearly at some place within the town of Calcutta, one complete course of Law Lectures, without charge to
30-548: A National Council of Education (NCE) at Jadavpur. It later became Jadavpur University . Ghosh was the first president of NCE. Keeping in line with his ideals, Sir Rashbehari Ghosh Mahavidyalaya was established at Ukhrid in Khandaghosh CD Block in 2010. He also established schools and hospital in his village. He donated a princely sum (almost 33% of financial expenditure) to Acharya Praffulla Roy for establishing Bengal Chemical and Pharmaceutical Works. Considering
45-618: A member of the Indian National Congress and leaned towards the moderate wing. He had deep faith in progress, but was opposed to radicalism in any form. He served as the President of the Congress for two terms. First in the historic 1907 Surat Session, succeeding Dadabhai Naoroji , after which the Congress split into Moderates and Extremists, and then the year after in Madras, 1908. Ghosh was
60-703: A member of the Bengal Legislative Council (1891–94, 1906–09) and the Council of India . He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire (CIE) in the 1896 New Year Honours and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Star of India (CSI) in the 1909 Birthday Honours . He was knighted in the 1915 New Year Honours and conferred with his knighthood on 14 July of that year. Ghosh's contributions earned him
75-545: A series of honours, such as the Tagore Law Professorship (1875–76) at Calcutta University and an honorary DL degree from Calcutta University (1884). He made a fortune through his legal practice, but donated much of it by way of charity and endowments. He established Torkona Jagabandhu School (1894). In 1913, he established an endowment for scientific studies at Calcutta University with an initial capital of ten lakh rupees. He also donated 13 lakh rupees to establish
90-672: The Hindu law of partition, inheritance, and adoption and M.C. Setalvad's 1974 lecture on the relation between the Union and States in the Indian Constitution. A list of the Tagore Law Lectures that have been delivered is below. Rash Behari Ghosh Sir Rash Behari Ghosh CSI CIE (23 December 1845 – 28 February 1921) was an Indian politician, lawyer, social worker and philanthropist. Rashbehari Ghosh
105-639: The Indian lawyer and constitutional law scholar, was also invited to deliver lectures for the series, but declined on the grounds that his professional commitments would not allow him to develop lectures that fit the series' standards of legal research. In 2020, the Calcutta University published the Tagore Law Lectures delivered between 1868 and 1986 on their library website, making them publicly accessible, as part of an initiative to digitise records and rare documents. Scholar and lawyer Rajeev Dhavan has described
120-808: The Secretary of State for India contained 15 members. The Council of the Secretary of State, also known as the India Council was based in Whitehall . In 1907, two Indians, Sir Krishna Govinda Gupta and Nawab Syed Hussain Bilgrami , were appointed by Lord Morley as members of the council. Bilgrami retired early in 1910 owing to ill-health and his place was taken by Mirza Abbas Ali Baig. Other members included Raja Sir Daljit Singh (1915–1917), C. Rajagopalachari (1923–1925), Malik Khizar Hayat Tiwana (1924–1934) and Sir Abdul Qadir The Secretary of State's Council of India
135-479: The Tagore Lecture Series as the 'most celebrated' of Indian endowed lectures on law, noting that the research produced for these lectures represents a 'black-letter' tradition, aimed at documenting the law and not critically assessing it. This assessment is echoed by e Rajkumari Agrawala, who has critiqued the series for its focus on a formalistic approach to law, and noted a lack of theoretical appreciation in
150-628: The contributions made by Ghosh for the people of India, a street was named after him in Kolkata . Rashbehari Avenue , named after him, starts from Chetla -Sahanagar Bridge ( Shaheed Jatin Das Setu ) and runs eastwards to Ballygunge and Gariahat . His house in Burdwan District has been kept intact. His family members still reside there. Few of his descendants have joined the legal profession. Council of India The Council of India (1858 – 1935)
165-518: The lectures delivered under this endowment. The Tagore Law Lectures have been often cited by courts in India as references for the interpretation of Indian laws. The Privy Council in 1941 relied on Upendra Nath Mitra's Tagore Law Lecture in 1932, concerning the law of limitation . The Indian Supreme Court has relied on multiple Tagore Law Lectures including William O' Douglas 's 1939 Lecture on comparative U.S. and Indian law, Julius Jolly's 1883 lecture on
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#1732855960334180-651: The students and other persons who may attend such Lectures." Tagore's will further provided for the publication of a minimum of 500 copies of these lectures, to be distributed for free. In his inaugural lecture, Herbert Cowell noted that the intention of this bequest was apparently to encourage the preparation and publication of textbooks on Indian law. The Tagore Law Lectures were delivered by leading Indian, British, and American scholars and jurists, including Rash Behari Ghose , Gooroodas Banerjee , Sir Frederick Pollock , Roscoe Pound , and John Woodroffe , and former U.S. Supreme Court judge, William O'Douglas . H.M. Seervai ,
195-684: Was an advisory body to the Secretary of State for India , established in 1858 by the Government of India Act 1858 . It was based in London and initially consisted of 15 members. The Council of India was dissolved in 1935 by the Government of India Act 1935 . It is different from the Viceroy's Executive Council based in India, which was the advisory body and cabinet of the Governor-General of India/Viceroy, which
210-833: Was born on 23 December 1845 in Torkona village in Khandaghosh area. His family belonged to the Sadgope caste and resided in Purba Bardhaman district, Bengal Presidency . He attended Burdwan Raj Collegiate School and Presidency College, Kolkata . He obtained a first class in the MA examination in English. In 1871, he passed the Law examination with honours and was awarded the Doctor of Laws degree in 1884. Ghosh became
225-625: Was originally established in 1773 as the Council of Four . In 1858 the company's involvement in India's government was transferred by the Government of India Act 1858 to the British government . The act created a new governmental department in London , the India Office , headed by the cabinet-ranking Secretary of State for India , who was in turn to be advised by a new Council of India (also based in London). But this new council of India, which assisted
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