Description: By accessibly recounting and analyzing the unique experience of institutions in colonial Indiawhich were influenced heavily by both British Common Law and indigenous Indian practices and traditionsLaw and the Economy in Colonial India sheds new light on what exactly fosters the types of institutions that have been key to economic development throughout world history more generally. The culmination and years of research, the book goes through a range of examples, including textiles, opium, tea, indigo, tenancy, credit, and land mortgage, to show how economic laws in colonial India were shaped neither by imported European ideas about how colonies should be ruled nor indigenous institutions, but by the practice of producing and trading. The book is an essential addition to Indian history and to some of the most fundamental questions in economic history."
Brief description: Tirthankar Roy is professor of economic history at the London School of Economics.
Review Quotes: "Among emerging economies, India stands out for having a legal system that is both highly sophisticated and cumbersome. How did this come to be? Roy and Swamy's book is a masterly study of India's complex legal codes and customs that predated the arrival of East India Company, the brew that was created by the colonial masters modifying and bringing in English Common Law, and the further changes that occurred at independence. This is a book that is fascinating to read and one that will be of as much interest to the historian as to the economic policymaker."--Kaushik Basu, Chief Economist of the World Bank, Cornell University