Madras High Court judge T.S. Sivagnanam on Wednesday released a book titled Supreme Court of India - The Beginnings written by George H. Gadbois Jr. and edited and introduced by Vikram Raghavan and Vasujith Ram.
Former West Bengal Governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi received the first copy at a function organised by the Madras Bar Association (MBA) and the Palkhivala Foundation held at the Law library Annexe of the Madras High Court. Justice Mr. Sivagnanam said the book, written several decades ago, was still pertinent. The statistical concept developed by Gadbois has come to stay with the advent of the computers.
Mr. Raghavan noted that the author was only 28 when he wrote the book. He had access to law reports and debates of pre-Independence legislatures since libraries in the U.S. were getting a lot of books from India. He said the author, whom they met on his death bed, had to work his way through his schooling. He came to India in 1961 for his PhD thesis. N. L. Rajah said that it was Sri Hari Singh Gour, who proposed the formation of a Supreme Court, he was the one who created the division between the Bar and the Bench and he was the person who made it possible for women to enrol as advocates.
MBA President Vijay Narayanan and secretary V.R. Kamalanathan, and advocates Suhrith Parthasarathy and S. Manuraj spoke.
