[INDOLOGY] Book Announcement: Equity and Trusts in Sanskrit Jurisprudence (OUP/British Academy 2025)

[Christopher Fleming]

(With apologies for cross-posting)

Hi all,

I am happy to announce the US publication of my recent monograph, *Equity
and Trusts in Sanskrit Jurisprudence. *
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/equity-and-trusts-in-sanskrit-jurisprudence-9780197267875?cc=us&lang=en

The book is open access and freely downloadable. I argue that a
Dharmaśāstric theory of Equity as supplemental (pāribhāṣika) Dharma
subtended the legal regulation of religious and charitable trusts in
pre-colonial South Asian history.

I also explore how Sanskrit Equitable principles were appropriated and
recast by colonial-era courts. The book concludes with a close reading of
the Supreme Court of India's reconfiguration of Anglo-Hindu case law
vis-a-vis Constitutional rights in some very prominent cases (Ayodhyā,
Padmanābhasvāmi, Kāśīviśvanātha, etc).

Those interested in the current litigation at the Supreme Court concerning
the Places of Worship Act might find the book relevant to understanding
some of the jurisprudential arguments being made there.
https://www.scobserver.in/cases/ashwini-kumar-upadhyay-union-of-india-constitutionality-of-the-places-of-worship-act-case-background/

Wishing all the very best,
Christopher Fleming
https://www.ames.ox.ac.uk/people/christopher-t.-fleming
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