Colonial comparisons
Pennsylvania?s legal system retains peculiar ties to British colonialism that are relevant to both India and the U.S.
General the Marquess Cornwallis, the last major British military leader in what is now known as the United States, served two terms as governor general of India after his surrender in 1871 to a combined American-French force at the Siege of Yorktown.
In India he is known for instituting the permanent settlement and corresponding changes in the legal system. In the U.S. federal legal system, colonial remnants of British rule are strongest in the former proprietary colony of Pennsylvania.
In a proprietary colony, like a satrapy, the ruler can delegate sovereign authority to private parties to exercise on behalf of the ruler. This can result in the private party providing over-arching or erroneous interpretations of government policies.
In Pennsylvania, I worked for a municipality that brought suit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in a case that questioned the government?s granting of a land patent to a private party. The private party represented the sovereign in the case, which was dismissed after the municipality was deemed to lack legal standing to even bring a case that challenged the sovereign?s rights to grant permissions for the use of land and waters in the Commonwealth.
In India, although Ambedkar changed the constitution, he did not change enough of the old colonial laws in India. Nor were land reforms undertaken broadly enough to reverse the legacy of Cornwallis.
Colonialism retains strange and deep-seated roots in both countries.
Legal scholars are needed who can make a proper analysis of the process of decolonization, with the results available in a format that can be applied to help push the process forward.