MAHARASHTRA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY, NAGPUR

B.A.LL.B.(Hons.) Year-II, Semester-IV: Academic Year : 2020-2021

First Open Book Assessment, March-2021

Course Code and Name: 4.5 Sociology-II

Name of Student : Akanksha Bohra UID: UG19-08

Answer 1.
Law is reflection of what society wishes. It gives deep insight about how society functions. A
society is a web of social relationship. Law i.e rules and regulations help are establishing rule
of conduct in maintaining these relationships. Laws are laid down by the supreme power in
the State, directing what is right and prohibiting what is wrong. Law of any sophisticated
country changes continuously as per demands and circumstances of society. It is dynamic in
nature. Hence the law cannot remain rigid. The society places a vital role in formulation and
implementation of laws. As the society is growing constantly, the law must be in tune with
the society and its dynamics. In order to establish an intersection between law and society we
have to be accustomed with the factors that are leading the society to grow progressively.
Social Change refers to “any changes in defined patterns of inter-human relationship and
standards of conduct”. We witness social transformation which happen or occur due to
different factors such as technology, ideology, geography, political and economic policies
and institutions. However, when any practice which is being coerced upon the members of
the society which leads to social disturbance and turmoil in the society, we resort to law in
order to cut off the outgrown age-old practices and traditions. The transformation witnessed
by the society must be a positive and favourable one, if it fails to be within this ambit, we
need backing of Laws and sanctions to create a balance in the society.
Norms are defined as acceptable and appropriate behaviours and form a part of learning
process. Laws helps in not only formulating the norms which are acceptable to a given
society, but also evaluates the norms, which the society must adhere to for its own welfare.
These rules or norms help us to model a better society by following law for the sake of
consistent and uniform practice. The norms and customs which are acceptable by society
becomes law. Thus, norms are socially enforced through social sanctions.
There are two contrasting views on this relationship firstly Law takes care of justice and the
moral sentiments of the society, and this can be achieved by staying close to the prevailing

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 social norms and general practices. Secondly, law can bring social evolution in a country
where majority of people do not follow capitalism but socialism. American Judge Benjamin
Cordozo quoted nicely that the “Final cause of law is the welfare of society”. When any law
changes, it indicates that the society is heading towards development and progress. When
society changes law it indicates maturity of the society and fulfils the need and demands of
the contemporary aspects of the society. The will of people in the matter of ‘Delhi Rape
Case’ should be appreciated where they thought on how the culprit should be punished by
law which compelled the government to consider the sentiments of the society and act upon
those suggestions which ultimately resulted into untimely amendment of criminal law bill
came into existence. The change that the society wanted was initiated by them and made into
existence by law. Hence the intersectionality between law and society operates in times of
need.
This intersectionality plays an important and indirect role in social change by shaping
various social institutions, which in turn have a direct impact on society. There have been
many examples that help indicate that the law plays a vital role in making social changes:
1. ABOLITION OF SATI SYSTEM
Sati was a custom in Indian culture in which widows would throw themselves in fire. Earlier
it was a very courageous and heroic act and was done by the choice. But after that it became a
forced practice. This custom was followed during ancient times and continued till the colonial
rule. The British government made efforts in making this practice/custom a punishable
offence but still it prevailed in certain parts of India. But with time being , the tradition was
forced brutally upon the women and even after their denial for the same, they were coerced
by the society. Looking at the forced practice, the law took some steps and introduced a
special law for the treatment of persons who followed sati custom and made it punishable to
death sentence under Commission of Sati Act, 1987. Now this tradition is a forgotten one as
the law came forward to support the society and bring or impose a change that saved them
from any ill practice thus forming a better place for women to live.
2. WIDOW REMARRIAGE
Widow Remarriage was not a very common practice. It was a custom that was matter of
disgrace in Hindu society. The society prevented the remarriage in order to maintain their
pride and respect. When British government formulated laws, it allowed the widows to have a
share of her husband’s property which was even more rebelled by the elite class of society.
Thus, the women in ancient times was controlled by to factors i.e depending on their gender
which was suppressed and by not giving them equal property rights as compared to their male

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counterparts. To legalize this practice, Hindu Widow Remarriage Act was passed in 1856.
This made the stubborn practice of society bring down and empowered women with financial
and legal safeguard. It is a well-accepted concept that any cultural aspect has social and
economic effects and consequences. Thus, the practice of Widow remarriage not only
strengthened the women socially but also gave her a stable financial life.
This gives a fair understanding about how law and social change go hand in hand for the
betterment of society and brings society closer to development. Before formulating any
legislation or law, the policy makers must deeply analyse the previous practices adopted by
the society and the political, economic and social aspects involved. The primary function of
law can be concluded as a way to institutionalize norms and create a social change by
regulating the social interaction and integrate the society into a unit.
Answer 2
Sociology is a particular category of rules and social practices associated with it. The primary
function of law is having a regulation on social interaction and integration the society. The
laws are basically norms, the legal norms that help us to not injure a person, use public
properties, carry out our personal rights, and choose our leaders and many more. These norms
are further connected to practices by different roles, positions, interactions and organizations
in different ways. The normativeness of law can be understood as its ideal approach or its
moral evaluation. It’s an ideal prescription on how society should be ordered. Every society
has norms related to many social, political and economic conducts. These norms vary
according to the culture and temporary in nature. These norms are ideal state representations
of what we want or desire. For example, ‘Whatever Jesus ordered ought to serve as your
norm.’, but the norm holds value only if they are followed. This serves as a guide to people.
Legal norms exist in concrete settings of socio historical societies and never as a mere
abstract idea. Any study of law or in fact formulation of law should look at practices of law
and its implications which is different from normative dimension.
The practice of law is the study of any rule, practice or norm being followed and involves
investigation of factual dimension of law. These can be ideal rules or cultural rules or
practices. There is always a sense of duality of law which indicates difference between norms
and factual understanding. The sociology helps us understand this difference and allow us to
look into a different perspective. This duality can be explained with various examples from
history as well as our everyday lives. The most prominent example is Sabrimala Verdict
which could best explain this duality. In Indian Young Lawyers Assn. v. State of Kerala ,2018
SCC OnLine SC 1690, the facts of the case were that Sabrimala temple is located in Kerala

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 and is dedicated to Lord Ayyappa. This temple prohibits the entry of women in menstruating
years i.e. 10 to 50 years. This was seen as discrimination against women and violates the
freedom to religion for women in legal sense. The state withstood that the power resides in
hands of priests to decide the rules of the shrine. This fact with backed up by many laws
supporting the same, if this was based on a custom. The final judgment stated that it violates
the rights of women to follow their religious rights.
Considering the judgement, there are two approaches to view the jurisprudence behind the
given verdict :
1. The Ideal Approach says that it is correct and we should fight against discrimination done to
women and protects their rights. The women should have equal share in society be it at any
place. We should strive to bring equality in society.
2. The Material or Actual Dimension says what the reality has to offer. The people considered
this decision as interference of legal system in religious beliefs. Even the women were
opposing the decision as they have accepted their position and don’t want to question the
customs prevailing in the history. Socially women have accepted their position and don’t
wish to challenge the social believes.
Through this, it can be inferred that here exists a duality of law which implies that there is a
difference between the normative dimension and actual dimension.
EXAMPLES EXPLAINING DUALITY OF LAW :
1. Dowry Prohibition Act 1961
Dowry is giving some valuables or property by one family to other for performing marriage
rituals and connects as a family. The court abolished this practice of dowry taking by passing
a law that if any person found of giving or taking dowry will be imprisoned for at least 5
years. This practice burdened the bride’s family and were oppressed and obliged to give
groom’s family a huge part of their earnings. The ideal decision is for the bride and her
family who should not be burdened in order to form an alliance. It was for the betterment for
the society and stop inappropriate pressurizing of girl and her family. But this practice is still
followed and least reported crime in India. The families internally accept the valuables
without questions and mutually agreeing to accept dowry. This is real time practice and
material dimension to court’s verdict. Although the law tried to abolish the ill practice but
still the society doesn’t want to imbibe the same in actual practice.
2. India as secular nation
India is documented as secular nation which means that there is no state religion. Secularism
is defined as practice where a person’s religion will not affect any aspect of life and every

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 religion is equally respected. In ideal state, Everyone should come under same set of laws,
religious places should autonomous, educational institutes should be same for everyone But
in day to day aspect we come through facts that every religion comes under different set of
rules and these rules are made as per believes of these religions i.e existence of personal laws,
there are different laws practiced by majority and minority educational institutes. There are
many other aspects as well where India lacks to be completely secular in nature but still can
be called secular as committed through its constitution.
3. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and Their Rehabilitation Act
2013
This prohibited the manual cleaning of drainage places and the exploitation of the lower
classes. This was ideally brought up to maintain the dignity of an individual as the goals in
preamble to constitution. The right to live life with dignity is an implicit fundamental right
guaranteed in Part III of Indian Constitution. But in reality there are many numbers of people
who die while cleaning sewers and septic tanks and it has been increasing over last few years.
In 2019 we saw the highest number of manual scavengers die. All these above examples
affirm that the laws made by authority is followed and accepted only if society accepts it
whole heartedly and not when they are forced to do the same. This situation is not in major
aspects but in our everyday life. There has to be equal acceptance of law by the society to
move to next step of development.
Thus, it can be concluded that even though the branches of government i.e Judiciary,
Legislature and Executive deliver policies, judgements and legislation for the best interest
and well-functioning of the society. But the social practices differ from the ideal practices
established by the law. This is because these customs and practices have been imbibed and
absorbed by the people from ancient times and have been prevalent for ages. Thus, it is very
essential to understand the society and take steps to remove these practices from roots and
then establish laws which would prevent the people from indulging in such practices. Hence
after complete fundamental and rudimentary knowledge of historical practices, the state can
make laws to prohibit such practices and bring a wave of change both ideally and materially.

Answer 4
Max Weber, a German sociologist was one of the fathers of modern sociology. Weber in his
early education studied law, history, economics and philosophy. His famous work involved
“The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism” which gave a better understanding of rise
of capitalism and its effects. The scholars from 19th century like Weber were keenly

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 interested in how industrial civilization came into effect and were firm about the fact that
Law was the major factor of industrial civilization and because of this they paid special
interest in social role of Law. Therefore, the contemporary draws our attention towards the
relation between legal theories and social and economic changes associated with
industrialization called modernization.
Weber had a keen interest for Law and Legal sphere in social setup and its implications. This
dedicated effort led him to explain one major thing “Why industrial capitalism arose in
West”. He was aware that this will be a major reform of history and thus developed a
framework through which he could guide others about the same. The framework focused on
analytical dimensions of society and structures that corresponds to them. The fact that made
him more curious was the unique factual scenario about western society that gave rise to
capitalism. He paid special attention to difference in legal system of Europe and other
countries that helped him develop understanding of what was unique and different there and
thus backed up his idea of capitalism. When diving deep into history and studying different
civilization he came to a conclusion that Europe developed its different legal system. He
demonstrated that the economic factors specially played a very important role in molding
legal institutions in Europe. The unique feature of European legal system was that it kept law
separated from other political activities. This distinction made Weber believe that the
European law system is more rational that other systems. Weber had a deep and vast
knowledge of socio legal system and he had many definitions of Law at many different times
and is even used to describe various facts and philosophies. There are many elements of law
that plays important roles in a lot of legal phenomena but in Weber’s theory there were some
specific ones of more consideration.
1. COERCION
Weber identified law as “organized coercion”. This proved to be very fundamental view of
law in sociological system. He stated: “An order will be called law if it is externally
guaranteed by the probability that physical or psychological coercion will be applied by a
staff of people in order to bring about compliance or avenge violation.” But this definition
fails to differentiate law from commands and thus denying rules without organized coercive
machinery as laws. Weber focused on coercive quality of law a lot and forgot to cover every
aspect of it. This can be questioned from different directions. The main key of Weber’s
model was legal coercion but this only explained one part and failed to explain others. In
contemporary era also Law is an organized coercion as each set of legislation has certain do’s
and don’ts and upon non-compliance with those rules, there are punishments and sanctions.

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2. LEGITIMACY AND NORMATIVENESS
Weber defined Law as a form of “Legitimate order” i.e structured source of guideline for
right conduct. According to him, law is part of category of legitimate orders and normative
orders. These orders are “socially structured systems which involves normative perceptions
that to some degree are subjectively accepted by members of social group as binding for their
own sake without proper consideration of coercion”. Difference between normative orders
and law is that it is combined with the norms that are taken care by different departments
followed by sanctions. It states as “Law is simply an 'order', endowed with certain specific
guarantees of the probability of its empirical validity”. He combines coercion and legitimacy
and shows law as both power and authority. Weber projected law as understandable ideal
guidance to society. “Orders” that forced people to do against their wish are called “Law”,
but this doesn’t mean that all laws are forced upon people of society. He gave assertions that
law has an authority and was keen in finding the reasons why people would follow orders
without being threatened to be punished. Similarly, in contemporary situation, Law is viewed
as a legitimate order or the basic law of the land which guarantees certain rights to its citizen
in a legitimate way and confers upon them certain duties and obligations.
3. RATIONALITY
Weber classified different types of laws in terms of rationality. He explained rationality as a
measure of capability of legal system to formulate, propagate and apply laws. This is a major
criterion that differentiates different set of laws. Basically, the law in broader sense as per
Weber is that it is system that have standards, rule of conduct and principles which can be
easily or readily accepted by society without forcing or threatening them of severe
punishment if they fail to follow. The punishments even should be in accordance with rules
then the law can be justified as “rational”. As we move towards a more capitalist society the
laws are not that forced upon and are in a way for the betterment of society and mostly in
favour of society. Thus, helping us develop in every aspect. Rationality is still an essential
factor while formulating laws and rules as the rule so formulated by the state must be
reasonable and adhere to the lines of practicality.