The Common Law in India - College of Social Sciences and ...

The Indian Constitution 171forces in the country pointed to the need for a strongcentral government such as a unitary state mightwell produce. On the other side were the alreadyexisting partly autonomous provincial units, theIndian states, British paramountcy over which hadlapsed and which had to find a place in the Indianpolity and the federal structure in the Act of 1935which attracted them to a federal state. The lureof the Act of 1935, which contained the frameworkof such a general government as could well be workedupon and turned into a federation suited to India'sneeds, proved irresistible. India's adoption of a federalstructure may thus be traced to the parliamentarystatute of 1935.This statute had, in making suitable provisions forthe Government of India, naturally drawn largely onthe previous Government of India Acts of which itwas the successor. In fact it reproduced in some casesthe language of some of the earlier ConstitutionActs. Its scheme was largely based on parliamentarylegislation which had created federations in Canada,Australia and South Africa. That was the model onwhich the Constituent Assembly worked in fashioningthe Indian Constitution.The fighters for Indian freedom who had assembledin the Constituent Assembly to shape the country'sConstitution had no desire to make a break with thepast. They were deeply conscious of the importanceof continuity in so far as it could be maintained consistentlywith the country's desire for a republicanform of government. A careful study was made ofthe constitutions of different countries all over the