Property rights are contentious in any jurisdiction. But the right to property in India, adopted as a fundamental right in Article 31 of the Constitution of the India, 1950 (“Article”), has had a particularly tumultuous legal and political history. It holds the distinction of being the second most debated Article in the Constituent Assembly, the most amended provision of the Constitution and the only fundamental right to ever be deleted. The history of the Article is commonly understood as arising from an ideological institutional conflict between a Parliament in pursuit of socialism and a judiciary safeguarding individual freedoms. However, looking at the Article and its initial amendments from a “law and development” perspective provides a critique of the current narrative of “conflict” and offers an alternative interpretation of the history of Article 31. The paper argues that rather than arising from the pursuit of either authoritarian socialist planning or an egalitarian social revolution, the travails of the Article came in the context of India’s quest for economic modernity through a process of “passive revolution”. The powers of eminent domain reinforced in the Article empowered the state to modernise economic relations in industry and agriculture by restructuring a semi-feudal pre-capitalist property rights regime established during colonialism along productive capitalist lines. In this process, the Article helped to consolidate the powers of the developmental state in the domain of economic policy; forged the relationship between state, market and the individual; and helped shape the regime of private property rights in India. Understanding the evolution of the fundamental right to property in India therefore, not only tells a key part of India’s development story but also contributes to the “law and development” literature by assimilating diverse historical experiences within its framework, which, as critics have long argued, tends to have a strong Eurocentric bias.
Corresponding author: Rashmi Venkatesan, Assistant Professor (Law), National Law School of India University, Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru 560 072, Karnataka, India, E-mail: rashmivenkatesan@nls.ac.in
The author would like to thank Aman Saumil Vasavada for his diligent research and assistance in writing this paper. The author is also immensely grateful to the reviewer, editor and Prof. Jennifer Beard for their comments and feedback on earlier drafts of this paper.
Agrawal, P.K., Land Reforms in India: Constitutional and Legal Approach (New Delhi: M D Publications, 1993). Search in Google Scholar
Allen, T., The revival of the right to property in India, 10 Asian journal of comparative law, no. 1 (2015). Search in Google Scholar
Allen, T., The right to property in commonwealth constitutions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). Search in Google Scholar
Ambedkar, B.R., “Memorandum and Draft Articles on the Right of States and Minorities” in B.S. Rao (ed.), The Framing of India’s Constitution: Select Documents, vol. II (Delhi: Universal Law Publishing Co, 2004). Search in Google Scholar
Ananth, V. K., The Indian Constitution and Social Revolution, SAGE Series in Modern Indian History, vol. XVI (New Delhi: SAGE Publications, 2015). Search in Google Scholar
Appu, P.S., Land Reforms in India: A Survey of Policy, Legislation and Implementation (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing Houses, 1996). Search in Google Scholar
Austin, G., The Indian Constitution: Cornerstone of a Nation (New Delhi: Oxford India Paperbacks, 1999). Search in Google Scholar
Austin, G., Working a Democratic Constitution (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1999). Search in Google Scholar
Bagchi, A.K., Land Tax, Property Rights and Peasant Insecurity in Colonial India, 20 The Journal of Peasant Studies, no. 1 (1992). Search in Google Scholar
Bakshi, A., Social Inequality in Land Ownership in India: A Study with Particular Reference to West Bengal, 36 Social Scientist, no. 9/10 (2008). Search in Google Scholar
Bandyopadhyay, R., Global Review of Land Reform: A Critical Perspective, 31 Economic and Political Weekly, no. 11 (1996). Search in Google Scholar
Banerjee, A., Land Reforms: Prospects and Strategies, Working Paper no, 99-24, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Economics (1999). Search in Google Scholar
Basu, D.D., Commentary on the Constitution of India, vol. III (8th ed., New Delhi: LexisNexis Butterworths Wadhwa, 2008). Search in Google Scholar
Baxi, U., Towards A Sociology of India Law (New Delhi: Satvahan Publications, 1989). Search in Google Scholar
Bentley, J.M. and T. Oberhofer, Property Rights and Economic Development, 39 Review of Social Economy, no. 1 (April, 1981). Search in Google Scholar
Besley, T. & R. Burgess, Land Reform, Poverty Reduction, and Growth: Evidence from India, 115 Quarterly Journal of Economics, no. 2 (2000). Search in Google Scholar
Bhargava, R., “Introduction: Outline of a Political Theory of the Indian Constitution” in R. Bhargava (ed.), Politics and Ethics of the Indian Constitution (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2008). Search in Google Scholar
Birla, R., Stages of Capital: Law, Culture, and Market Governance in Late Colonial India (Durham and London: Duke University Press, 2009). Search in Google Scholar
Byres, T.J., “State, Class and Development Planning in India” in T. J. Byres (ed.), The State, Development Planning and Liberalisation in India (Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1998). Search in Google Scholar
Chatterjee, P., The Nation and its Fragments (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993). Search in Google Scholar
Coase, R.H., The firm, the market, and the law (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2012). Search in Google Scholar
Constituent Assembly Debates , Constituent Assembly Debates Official Report: vol. IX (30-7-1949 to 18-9-1949) (New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secretariat, 1949). Search in Google Scholar
Datar, A.P., Commentary on the Constitution of India, vol. II (2nd ed, New Delhi: Wadhwa and Company, 2007). Search in Google Scholar
De Janvry, A., The Role of Land Reform in Economic Development: Policies and Politics 63 American Journal of Agricultural Economics no. 2 (1981). Search in Google Scholar
De Soto, H., The Mystery of Capital: Why Capitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere Else (New York: Basic Books, 2000). Search in Google Scholar
Deininger, K., S. Jin and H.K. Nagarajan, Land Reforms, Poverty Reduction, and Economic Growth: Evidence from India, 45 Journal of Development Studies, no. 4 (2009). Search in Google Scholar
Deva, S., “Saving Clauses: The Ninth Schedule and Articles 31A – C” in S. Choudhry, M. Khosla and P. B. Mehta (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016). Search in Google Scholar
Deva, S., Does the Right to Property create a Constitutional Tension in Socialist Constitutions: An Analysis with Reference to India and China, 1 NUJS Law Review, no. 4 (2008). Search in Google Scholar
Domingo, P., Property rights and development (London: Overseas Development Institute, 2013). Search in Google Scholar
Driver, P.N., Problems of Zamindari and Land Tenure Reconstruction in India (Bombay: New Book Company, 1949). Search in Google Scholar
Frankel, F.R., India’s Political Economy 1947–2004 (2nd ed, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005). Search in Google Scholar
Gae, R.S., Land Law in India: With special reference to the Constitution, 22 International and Comparative Law Quarterly, no. 2 (1973). Search in Google Scholar
Ganguli, A.K., Right to property: Its Evolution and Constitutional Development in India, 48 Journal of the Indian Law Institute, no. 4 (2006). Search in Google Scholar
Goel, R.K., Managing Agents: Their Powers and Functions—A Historical Review, 3 Journal of the Indian Law Institute, no. 4 (1961). Search in Google Scholar
Goswami, O., Goras and Desis: Managing Agencies and the Making of Corporate India (Gurgaon: Penguin Random House India, 2016). Search in Google Scholar
Guha, R., A Rule of property for Bengal (2nd Ed., New Delhi: Orient Longman, 1982). Search in Google Scholar
Hazari, R.K., The Managing Agency System: A Case for its Abolition, The Economic Weekly [February, 1964]. Search in Google Scholar
Herring, R.J., Land to the Tiller: The Political Economy of Agrarian Reform in South Asia (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2000). Search in Google Scholar
Hidayatullah, M., Right to Property and the Indian Constitution (New Delhi: Calcutta University-Arnold-Heinemann, 1983). Search in Google Scholar
Jain, M.P., Indian Constitutional Law (8th ed., Gurgaon: LexisNexis, 2018). Search in Google Scholar
Kaviraj, S., A Critique of the Passive Revolution, 23 Economic and Political Weekly, no. 45/47 (1988). Search in Google Scholar
Kennedy, D., “The “Rule of Law,” Political Choices, and Development Common Sense” in D.M. Trubek and A. Santos (eds.), New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Search in Google Scholar
Kennedy, D., “Three Globalizations of Law and Legal Thought: 1850–2000” in D.M. Trubek and A. Santos (eds.), New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Search in Google Scholar
Kennedy, D., Some Caution about Property Rights as a Recipe for Economic Development, Harvard Law School Public Law and Legal Theory Working Paper Series, paper No. 09-59 (2011). Search in Google Scholar
Koshy, V.C., Land Reforms in India under the Plans, 2 Social Scientist, no. 12 (1974). Search in Google Scholar
Lange, M., J. Mahoney and M. Vom Hau, Colonialism and development: a comparative analysis of Spanish and British colonies, 111 American Journal of Sociology, no. 5 (2006). Search in Google Scholar
Lee, Y.S., General Theory of Law and Development, 50 Cornell International Law Journal, no. 3 (2017). Search in Google Scholar
Menon, N., Citizenship and the Passive Revolution: Interpreting the First Amendment, 39 Economic and Political Weekly, no. 18 (2004). Search in Google Scholar
Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India , Pocket Handbook of Agricultural Statistics 2019 (2020). Search in Google Scholar
Murphy, J., Insulating land reform from constitutional impugnment: an Indian case study, 25 The Comparative and International Law Journal of Southern Africa, no. 2 (1992). Search in Google Scholar
Myrdal, G., Asian Drama, vol. II (New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers, 1985). Search in Google Scholar
Nehru, J., Jawaharlal Nehru’s Speeches (New Delhi: Publications Division, 1954) 2: p. 93 as cited in P. Chatterjee, The Nation and its Fragments (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1993). Search in Google Scholar
Newton, S., “The Dialectics of Law and Development” in D.M. Trubek and A. Santos (eds.), New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Search in Google Scholar
North, D.C., Institutions, institutional change and economic performance (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1990). Search in Google Scholar
Ohnesorge, J.K., Developing Development Theory: Law and Development Orthodoxies and the Northeast Asian Experience, 28 University of Pennsylvania Journal of International Law, no. 2 (2007). Search in Google Scholar
Pal, C., “Legal Aspects of Land Reforms” in M.L. Sharma and R.K. Punia (eds.), Land Reforms in India: Achievements, Problems, Prospects (Delhi: Ajanta Publications, 1989). Search in Google Scholar
Pipes, R., Property and Freedom (London: The Harvill Press, 1999). Search in Google Scholar
Pistor, K., The code of capital: How the law creates wealth and inequality (Princeton & Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2020). Search in Google Scholar
Planning Commission of India , Report of the task force on agrarian relations (New Delhi, 1973). Search in Google Scholar
Planning Commission , 2nd Five Year Plan (1956). Search in Google Scholar
Polanyi, K., The Great Transformation: The Political and Economic Origins of Our Time (Boston: Beacon Press, 1944/1957). Search in Google Scholar
Proceedings of the Meetings of the Advisory Committee (1947, April 21-22) in B.S. Rao (ed.), The Framing of India’s Constitution: Select Documents, vol. 2 (Delhi: Universal Law Publishing Co, 2004). Search in Google Scholar
Radhakrishnan, P., Land Reforms: Rhetoric and Reality, 25 Economic and Political Weekly, no. 47 (1990). Search in Google Scholar
Rajagopalan, S., Incompatible Institutions: Socialism versus Constitutionalism in India, 26 Constitutional and Political Economy, no. 3 (2015). Search in Google Scholar
Rajagopalan, S., Our Founders and the Right To Property, Pragati (24 July 2017), available at: accessed April 13, 2020. Search in Google Scholar
Rao, V.M., Land Reform Experiences: Perspective for Strategy and Programmes, 27 Economic and Political Weekly, no. 26 (1992). Search in Google Scholar
Rist, G., The History of Development: From Western Origins to Global Faith (London and New York: Zed Books Ltd, 2008). Search in Google Scholar
Rittich, K., Recharacterizing restructuring: law, distribution, and gender in market reform, vol. III (The Hague, London, New York: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2002). Search in Google Scholar
Rosenberg, N. and L.E. BirdzellJr., How the West Grew Rich: The Economic Transformation of the Industrial World (New York: Basic Books, 1986). Search in Google Scholar
Roy, T. and A.V. Swamy, Law and the Economy in Colonial India (London: University of Chicago Press, 2016). Search in Google Scholar
Sankaranarayanan, G., The Fading Right to Property in India, 44 Verfassung und Recht in Übersee / Law and Politics in Africa, Asia and Latin America, no. 2 (2011). Search in Google Scholar
Sathe, S.P., Right to Property after the 44th Amendment: Reflections on Prof. P. K. Tripathi’s Observations, AIR 1980 SC (J) 97 (1980). Search in Google Scholar
Seervai, H.M., Constitutional Law of India (Delhi: Universal Law Publishing Co, 1991). Search in Google Scholar
Shah, K.T., “A Note on Fundamental Rights” in B.S. Rao (Ed.), The Framing of India’s Constitution: Select Documents, vol. II (Delhi: Universal Law Publishing Co, 2004). Search in Google Scholar
Shihata, I.F.I and J.D. Wolfensohn, The World Bank in a Changing World: Selected Essays and Lectures, vol. II (The Hague, London, Boston: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1995). Search in Google Scholar
Singh, J., Separation of powers and the erosion of the ‘right to property’ in India, 17 Constitutional Political Economy (2006). Search in Google Scholar
Srikantiah, L., Property Rights under the Constitution, 3 Social Scientist, no. 9 (1975). Search in Google Scholar
Tripathi, P.K., Right to Property after the 44th Amendment: Better Protected than Ever Before, AIR 1980 SC (J) 49 (1980). Search in Google Scholar
Trubek, D.M. and A. Santos (eds.), New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Search in Google Scholar
Trubek, D.M. and M. Galanter, Scholars in Self-Estrangement: Some Reflections on the Crisis in Law and Development Studies in the United States, 1974 Wisconsin Law Review, no. 1062 (1974). Search in Google Scholar
Trubek, D.M., “The “Rule of Law” in Development Assistance: Past, Present and Future” in D.M. Trubek and A. Santos (eds.), New Law and Economic Development: A Critical Appraisal (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006). Search in Google Scholar
Tyabji, N., Forging capitalism in Nehru’s India (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2015). Search in Google Scholar
Upham, F.K., The great property fallacy: Theory, reality, and growth in developing countries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018). Search in Google Scholar
Upham, F.K., The Paradoxical Roles of Property Rights in Growth and Development, 8 Law and Development Review, no. 2 (2015). Search in Google Scholar
Varottil, U., Corporate Law in Colonial India: Rise and Demise of the Managing Agency System, NUS Working Paper 2015/2016 (2015), available at: accessed April 15, 2020. Search in Google Scholar
Wahi, N., “Property”, in S. Choudhry, M. Khosla and P. B. Mehta (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of the Indian Constitution (New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2016). Search in Google Scholar
Washbrook, D.A., Law, State and Agrarian Society in Colonial India, 15 Modern Asian Studies, no. 3 (1981). Search in Google Scholar
Xu, G., Property Rights, Law and Economic Development, 6 Law and Development Review, no. 1 (2013). Search in Google Scholar
Zachariah, B., Developing India: An Intellectual and Social History c, 1930-50 (New Delhi: OUP Catalogue, 2005). Search in Google Scholar
Published Online: 2020-11-19 Published in Print: 2021-01-27© 2020 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston