Book Review (Spotlight Weekly)

Legal Lane

The book highlights major legal and constitutional trends in Nepal

By A CORRESSPONDENT

Nepal has a relatively long history of judiciary. The courts here have already settled a number of constitutional and legal disputes.

One of the unique traditions of Nepalese judicial system is that it uses Nepali language. Unlike other South Asian countries, the country's judiciary is rich in setting the precedents in its own language. In India and other south Asian countries, the legal proceedings are mostly held in English language.

For Nepalese readers and legal practitioners, there is an enormous repository of materials available on judicial decisions and interpretations.

In the context of globalization, there is a growing demand among non-Nepali speaking population to know about the workings of the Nepalese legal system.

Keeping the international audiences in mind, Nepal Bar Council, an independent legal institution, devoted to promoting, protecting and regulating the activities of the law practitioners of the Kingdom of Nepal, annually publishes a book covering legal and constitutional issues, disputes and settlements in Nepal.

At a time when there are no other publications that bring out legal books in English language, the publication of Annual Survey of Nepalese Law 2002 is a commendable effort. In the past when Nepal Law Society, a non-governmental organization, used to bring out "Essays on Constitutional Law", there used to be no dearth of publication covering serious constitutional and legal issues. Following the closure of publication, the English readers had lost opportunity to read Nepal's legal and constitutional issues.

Fortunately, the annual survey can fill this void. This survey covers all major events, trends and developments occurred in the field of Nepalese laws and legal system during 2002. Although the book has covered 22 surveys including various issues, it has totally ignored the major constitutional matters settle by the court regarding the dissolution of House of Representatives.

In the year 2002, the case of dissolution of House of Representatives was a major constitutional debate and survey could not have been complete without covering the landmark decision of the Supreme Court. Although editor Acharya mentioned this in his executive summary, it is too little in terms of space given to this issue of high importance.

On his foreword, advocate and former president of Nepal Bar Association Radhey Shyam Adhikary explains the constitutional crisis faced by Nepal following the dissolution of House of Representatives and dismissal of Sher Bahadur Deuba's government.

"It is very unpleasant to note at this juncture that there are no House of Representatives and the government accountable to the people in the country. No body knows when and how the election would be held and parliament would start functioning," writes Adhikary in his foreword." Clearly speaking, the constitutional development of this country is again passing through an unfortunate but interesting phase and of which the students of legal field have much concern."

"Out of 22 survey covered in the book, the executive summary has mainly dealt with major events that occurred in the Nepalese law and legal system in the year 2002.The rest including the Proposed Draft Criminal Procedure Code are specific and related subject," said Editor Acharya. "We hope that this publication, like previous one, will help to shed light on the major trends and events that occurred on the part of Nepalese law and legal systems in the year 2002."

From Nepal's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and its legal and economic implications by Dr, Bharat Bahadur Karki and an overview of the judiciary in Nepal by Purna Man Shakya to Ravi Sharma Aryal's Salient Features of Cites and its implication in Nepal, many renowned lawyers have contributed their opinions on specialized legal issues.

Dr. Ram Krishna Timalshina's Prisoners' Right and Prison condition in Nepal, Anil Kumar Sinha's Legal Framework of the Taxation System in Nepal, Dr. Shankar Kumar Shrestha's Victim Justice System, Sapana Malla Pradhan's Inclusion of Women's Human Rights and Politics of Exclusions and Sonali Regmi's Law Relating to Abortion in Nepal, all articles are written in specialized areas by specialized lawyers.

Annual Survey of Nepalese Law 2002
Published by Nepal Bar Council
Edited by Bhimarjun Acharya
Price: Undisclosed
Pages: 448