NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science Civics Chapter 4 for 2019-20.

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science Civics Chapter 4 Understanding Laws (अध्याय 4: कानूनों के समझ) (Unit 2 of Social and Political Life – III) to Study online along with the NCERT Solutions for other subjects also.

Class:	8
Subject:	Social Science (Civics)
Chapter 4:	Understanding Laws

Table of Contents

1 NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science Civics Chapter 4
- 1.1 Understanding Laws: Question Answers

NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science Civics Chapter 4

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Understanding Laws: Question Answers

8 Civics Chapter 4 Understanding Laws Solutions

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Important Questions on Chapter 8 Civics Chapter 4

Laws in ancient time
In ancient India, there were innumerable and often overlapping local laws. Different communities enjoyed different degrees of autonomy in administering these laws among their own. In some cases, the punishment that two persons received for the same crime varied depending on their caste backgrounds, with lower castes being more harshly penalised. This slowly began to change as this system of law began to further evolve during the colonial period.

How do Indian evolve the rules of law during colonial period?

By the end of the nineteenth century, the Indian legal profession also began emerging and demanded respect in colonial courts. They began to use law to defend the legal rights of Indians. Indian judges also began to play a greater role in making decisions. Therefore, there were several ways in which Indians played a major role in the evolution of the rule of law during the colonial period.

How Do New Laws Come About?

The Parliament has an important role in making laws. There are many ways through which this takes place and it is often different groups in society that raise the need for a particular law. An important role of Parliament is to be sensitive to the problems faced by people. The role of citizens is crucial in helping Parliament frame different concerns that people might have into laws. From establishing the need for a new law to its being passed, at every stage of the process the voice of the citizen is a crucial element.

What are Unpopular and Controversial Laws?

The situation where the Parliament passes laws that turn out to be very unpopular. Sometimes a law can be constitutionally valid and hence legal, but it can continue to be unpopular and unacceptable to people because they feel that the intention behind it is unfair and harmful. Hence, people might criticise this law, hold public meetings, write about it in newspapers, report to TV news channels etc.
In a democracy like ours, citizens can express their unwillingness to accept repressive laws framed by the Parliament. When a large number of people begin to feel that a wrong law has been passed, then there is pressure on the Parliament to change this.

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Table of Contents

1 Write in your own words what you understand by the term the ‘rule of law’. In your response include a fictitious or real example of a violation of the rule of law.
2 State two reasons why historians refute the claim that the British introduced the rule of law in India.
3 Re-read the storyboard on how a new law on domestic violence got passed. Describe in your own words the different ways in which women’s groups worked to make this happen.
4 Write in your own words what you understand by the following sentence on page 44-45: They also began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey, to law as including ideas of justice.
5 Who makes laws?

Write in your own words what you understand by the term the ‘rule of law’. In your response include a fictitious or real example of a violation of the rule of law.

The “rule of law” states that everyone, regardless of any discrimination, is equal before the law. In an independent and democratic India, all citizens from a rickshaw puller to the Prime Minister are to be judged equally before the law if they violate it by committing a crime. Every violation of a law or commitment of a criminal offense has a specific process to establish guilt and cite its punishment. The “rule of law” ensures that equality is maintained by passing the same judgment on a criminal regardless of his/her status or background.
Violations of the “rule of law” are, sadly enough, aplenty in India. In our country, if one has power or “contacts” with influential people, then it is easy to get away with even gross violations of laws and rules. For example, most politicians today own property and wealth worth crores but they do not even file tax returns on the same. The assets they declare are probably not even half of what they originally own. However, an ordinary income tax official cannot dare to question them for fear of losing his job, because the former have “power” that this official does not possess.

State two reasons why historians refute the claim that the British introduced the rule of law in India.

Historians refute the claim that the British introduced the rule of law in India on account of two main reasons. Firstly, colonial law was not devoid of arbitrariness. The Sedition Act of 1870 bears testimony to this. This Act allowed the police to arrest any person protesting against the British government, without due trial.
Secondly, Indian nationalists played a pivotal role in the framing of the Indian Constitution that upholds equality of all to law.
Hence, historians vehemently refute the claim that the British introduced the rule of law to India, because Indians were constantly discriminated against in various spheres of the social, political and administrative life of the country.

Re-read the storyboard on how a new law on domestic violence got passed. Describe in your own words the different ways in which women’s groups worked to make this happen.

Women’s groups worked hard and untiringly towards the passing of the new law on domestic violence in India. They used different forums like public protests, hearings, meetings with other organizations, press conferences and petitions to the government to introduce a new reformed bill on domestic violence to include demands like monetary relief and protection against being evicted from the shared household. While earlier, domestic violence only entailed “injury or harm or threat of injury or harm” by an adult male against a woman. The Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005 extended to include physical, economic, sexual, verbal and emotional abuse.

Write in your own words what you understand by the following sentence on page 44-45: They also began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey, to law as including ideas of justice.

This line refers to the protests of Indian nationalists against the violation of the rule of law by British authorities. Indians were discriminated against in their own country by the British colonists and the Sedition Act of 1870 was the most prolific example of the breach of the rule of law. This Act was remonstrated against by Indian freedom fighters in favor of a more just set of rules based on ideals of equality.
Many Indians began to practice the legal profession and used it to demand and gain equal rights for all. Thus, Indians played a major role in the evolution of the rule of law during times of colonial rule.

Who makes laws?

The Parliament has an important role in making laws. There are many ways through which this takes place and it is often different groups in society that raise the need for a particular law.