Origin, Purpose and Significance of Fundamental Rights

A Mumbai local cancels your train, and you complain on Twitter. The railway, the BMC, and the state-run bank down the road all answer to you in a way your neighbour's tuition class never will. Why? Because the Constitution promises certain rights against one kind of power, the State, and then deals with laws that try to break that promise. Who counts as the State, and what happens to a law that violates your rights? Articles 12 and 13 answer both questions.

In two minutes

Part III of the Constitution gives enforceable rights against the State; Article 12 tells you who the State is, and Article 13 makes every law that violates those rights void to the extent of the violation, which is the source of judicial review.

The rest of this chapter

The full explanation, the cheat sheet, every previous-year question at every mark weight, the quiz and the answer skeletons are part of Constitutional Law – I on LexBlox Semester. Sign in to unlock the subject, or read Module 1 of Legal Language and Writing free.