Parliamentary Debates Parliament of India Saturday 22nd September 1951 Part II - Proceedings other than Questions and Answers Official Report

I toured the whole of India in the capa- city of a member of the Age of Con- sent Committee and enquired into the various customs. [...] In fact, according to decisions of the Punjab Chief Court (107 of 1887, 100 of 1906 and several others), it has become a sort of law that there is no general custom except where the parties to a suit belong to the agri- culturist communities and even in that case the onus of proof of a certain cus- tom falls on the person who alleges it. [...] This is, however, not in the interest of the society and is not in accordance with the principles of justice. [...] Babu Ramnarayan Singh: How could they dare to say that things that have been in existence since times immemorial, since the beginning of the earth and the creation of the sun and the moon should now no more be followed? [...] Law does not mean this Law, according to the lexicon, means:—"Law is nothing but the will of the people expressed in terms of Law"—which, in other words, means—whatsoever is the will of the society, is placed in the form of a law and is called a law.