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  • Original research article
  • July 27, 2026
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Limited legality: special legal regimes in British India, 1858-1937

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Abstract

The article analyzes the formation and evolution of special legal regimes in British India between 1858 and 1937. The study aims to identify the specific features and role of these regimes within the system of colonial administration in India during the second half of the 19th and the first third of the 20th centuries. The work examines the legislative mechanisms through which the colonial administration restricted the application of general legal norms in specific regions, establishing a special governance framework in their stead. Primary attention is paid to the Government of India Act of 1870, the Scheduled Districts Act of 1874, their subsequent modifications, and the provisions of the Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms of 1919. The article demonstrates that the proclaimed decentralization and the expanded participation of public representatives in lawmaking were accompanied by a steady increase in the discretionary powers of the executive branch over frontier and tribal territories. Based on the analysis of documentary sources, it is established that between 1858 and 1937, a multi-tiered system of special legal regimes developed in British India, which allowed for the selective application of general legislation in designated territories. The study demonstrates the continuity of these legal regimes up to their formal abolition in 1937, as well as their long-term impact on the subsequent constitutional and legal frameworks of independent India and Pakistan. The topic under study has not previously been addressed in Russian historiography due to both its highly specialized nature and a historical lack of accessible source materials. Furthermore, processes related to the legal structure of British India have long remained outside the priority areas of Russian research on South Asian history. The scientific novelty of the article lies in providing the first comprehensive description of these specific mechanisms of legal regulation in colonial India.

Research materials

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Author information

Timofey Yuryevich Zevatskiy

Saint Petersburg State Institute of Technology (Technical University)

About this article

Publication history

  • Received: June 8, 2026.
  • Published: July 27, 2026.

Keywords

  • Британская Индия
  • законы об управлении Индией
  • реформы Монтегю – Челмсфорда
  • перечневые округа Индии
  • слаборазвитые районы Индии
  • British India
  • Government of India Acts
  • Montagu–Chelmsford Reforms
  • Scheduled Districts of India
  • backward tracts of India

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