Tribal Customary Laws of North-East India

Contents: Prelude. 1. Introduction. 2. Area and universe of study. 3. Micro level study of tribes and their customary practices. 4. Epilogue. Glossary. Select bibliography. Case studies. Index.

The British Colonial administrators imposed their law, justice and jurisprudence on the native people little realizing the importance of the indigenous customary laws. Obsession with written records made them feel that the only nature system available was the "Dharma Sastra" which found an admirer in Warren Hastings. Even this traditional Indian law the Colonial scholars treated as inadequate, incomplete and contradictory. hence the imposition of Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence on the native population. However, there are areas like the North-East India where the Colonialists did not impose their system and let tribal customary practices administered by the village council to continue. The scarcity of information regarding practices and sanctions of the tribal societies of North-East India has been keenly felt by academic and administrative circles for it shackled the developmental activities throwing up new problems like tribal rights on land and forest. The earlier attempt of ethnographers to study the customary laws were flawed by their traditional evolutionist approach or piecemeal approach to individual questions. The present study comprising of anthropological analysis of data from seven major tribes living in seven states of North-East India is a beginning in the attempt to understand the tribal customary laws adopting a holistic approach since the entire matrix of these tribal societies orbits around the oral traditions.