NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Chapter 4 - Understanding Laws

1. Write in your own words what you understand by the term the ‘rule of law’. In your response include a fictitious or real example of a violation of the rule of law.

Ans. Law is a set of rules that governs a group of people and is usually imposed by a government or institution. It has a variety of effects on politics, economics, and society. The term "rule of law" refers to the fact that all laws apply equally to all people of a country and that no one is above the law. Any crime or rule of law violation has a specified punishment and a process for determining guilt. On the highways, the most prevalent illustration of a rule of law infraction can be witnessed.

The rules of the road are disregarded by both motorists and pedestrians. Pedestrians rarely use the zebra crossing and freely cross the road, endangering themselves as well as other road users. Speed limits are not followed, and drivers do not stop behind the line at traffic signals. Motorists who do not follow traffic laws risk being punished or endangering pedestrians or other motorists.

2. State two reasons why historians refute the claim that the British introduced the rule of law in India.

Ans. The argument that the British imposed the Rule of Law in India is refuted by historians for two reasons: 

1. Colonial law was arbitrary, such as the Sedition Act of 1870. Anyone who opposed or questioned British authority may be punished without a trial under the Act.

2. Indian nationalists were influential in the creation of British India's legal system. Indian lawyers began to defend and fight for the rights of Indians. Indian judges also had a significant part in the decision-making process.

3. Re-read the storyboard on how a new law on domestic violence got passed. Describe in your own words the different ways in which women’s groups worked to make this happen.

Ans. Women's organisations in India worked tirelessly to get the new domestic violence law passed. They used various venues such as public protests, hearings, meetings with other organisations, press conferences, and petitions to the government to introduce a new reformed domestic violence bill that included demands such as monetary relief, protection from eviction from the shared household, and protection orders against further violence. The Parliamentary Standing Committee received responses from a number of women's organisations as well as the National Commission for Women. In 2005, a new measure was submitted in Parliament. Domestic violence used to be defined as "injury or harm or threat of injury or harm" committed by an adult male against a woman. In 2006, the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, which had been passed in 2005, was expanded to include physical, economic, sexual, verbal, and emotional abuse.

4. Write in your own words what you understand by the following sentence on pages 44- 45: They also began fighting for greater equality and wanted to change the idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey, to the law as including ideas of justice.

Ans. This line refers to Indian nationalists' demonstrations against British authorities' violations of the rule of law and the development of a robust legal system that supports Indian residents. British colonists discriminated against Indians in their own land, with the Sedition Act of 1870 being the most notorious example of lawlessness.

Anyone who protests or criticizes British authority could be prosecuted without a trial under the Act. Indian freedom warriors protested the Act, arguing that a more reasonable system of rules based on egalitarian values would be preferable.

Many Indians began practising law and utilized it to demand and get equal rights for all people. For example, moderate politicians such as Dadabhai Naoroji, Madan Mohan Malviya, and Motilal Nehru were attorneys who believed in the constitutional system. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was an Indian lawyer who believed in encouraging Indians to be self-sufficient. 

In addition, Indian judges took a larger part in the decision-making process. As a result, during colonial authority, Indians played a significant part in the evolution of the rule of law.

NCERT Solutions For Class 8 Social Science - Social and Political Life Chapter 4 Understanding Laws

NCERT Solutions For Class 8 Civics Chapter 4 Understanding Laws 

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Class 8th Civics Chapter 4 global issues solutions understanding laws Class 8 NCERT Solutions are provided to help revise the concepts at your pace and practice to perfection.  

You all are very familiar with some of the common laws in our country. Laws that are based on marriage, the age at which a person can vote, and also laws dealing with the buying and selling of the property. Do you know who makes the laws? The Parliament of India is in charge of making laws. 

Only the Parliament of India can make law in our country. A bill is first introduced in the Lok Sabha or the House of People. People of India elect their representatives to represent them in Lok Sabha through direct elections. There are discussions held during that stage and there could be suggestions. 

If the government of India accepts the suggestions then amends the bill and then reintroduces it. If everything goes well then it goes for the voting in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Once the bill is passed by the Lok Sabha the bill goes to the Rajya Sabha or the Council of States as the members are elected by the state legislature. 

The Bill again goes through the same process in the Rajya Sabha. If the Bill is passed by the Rajya Sabha, then it goes to the President of India for final approval. 

The President of India can choose to send it back to the Lok Sabha if he or she feels any amendment is required in the bill though it happens very rarely. And eventually, the President has to sign the bill to make it a Law. 

Important Points to Remember

1. The council of Ministers that is collectively responsible to the houses of the People twitch is the Lok Sabha of our country. 

2. The Indian Constitution provides for the three-tier system of governance for separation of power. The three tiers include the Executive, the Legislature that is the parliament as well as the Judiciary. 

3. Parliamentary privileges are special rights, immunities as well as exemptions enjoyed by both the Houses of the Parliament, their committees, and also their members. 

The individual privileges of the members are granted in such a way that they cannot be arrested during the parliament sessions. They also cannot be arrested before the 40 days of the parliamentary sessions as well as after the 40 days of the parliamentary sessions. 

This privilege is only available only in civil cases and not in criminal cases or not even in preventive detention cases. 

What Do You Mean By The Term 'Act'? 

The term Act in common language is very synonymous with the terms legislation, statute, and law. The constitution of India specifies issues and gives power to the Central Government to make laws. 

For example, defence and telecommunication laws are made by the central government of India. Such laws are also known as the Central Acts and they are passed by the parliament. After being passed by the parliament of India, the act should receive the assent of the President of India. In the very final stage, the act must be notified in the Official Gazette. The act does not come into force until and unless that act is not notified in the Official Gazette. 

The Information Technology Act was passed by the Parliament and it received the assent of the President of India in the year 2000 of 15 August. The Act was notified in the Official Gazette on 17 October 2000. If anyone had violated the provisions of this particular Act on 16 October 2000, then he or she would not be liable for his or her wrongdoing because the Act was not in force in India on 16 October 2000. 

The constitution of India also specifies issues and grants power to the state government to make certain laws. For example, the laws on shops like cyber cafes. Such types of laws are also known as State laws and they are passed by the State Legislature. After the law has been passed by the State legislature, the Act should receive the assent of the Governor of the State. In the very final stage, the act should be notified in the Official Gazette of the respective state, or else the Act will not come into force. 

An Act comes into force when it is passed by both Houses of Parliament that is the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha. After the Act is passed, it should be assented to by the President of India and then notified in the Official Gazette. 

Classifications of Bills

• Government Bills, if it is initiated by a Minister. 

• Private Member’s Bill if it is initiated by a Private Member. 

• After the dissolution of the Lok Sabha all the Bills except the bIlls introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending therein lapse. 

How Does A Bill Become An Act?

A Bill undergoes three readings in each of the House of Parliament. 

• The First Reading

The very first reading consists of the introduction of a Bill. In many cases, the bill is also referred to by the relevant Parliamentary Standing Committee for the examination and then reported within three months. 

• The Second Reading

The next stage is the Second Reading starts only after the Committee submits its reports on the Bill to the Houses. 

The second reading of a bill also consists of two stages - discussion on the principles of the bill and its provisions generally and also the clause by clause consideration of the Bill as introduced or as reported by the Select or the Joint Committee. The Amendments given by the members to various clauses are moved at this stage. 

• The Third Reading

The third reading refers to the discussion on the motion that the bill is passed or is to be returned. The arguments are also made either against or in favour of the bill that will be passed or be returned. 

After the bill has been passed by one of the two houses, it is sent to the other House where it goes through the same procedure. The bill is not again introduced in the other House, it is then laid on the Table of the other House which constitutes its first reading there. 

After the bill is passed by both the Houses of the Parliament, it is then presented to the president of India for his or her assent. The president of India can assent or even withhold his or her assent to a bill or he or she can even return a non-money bill for reconsideration. If the bill is again passed by both the houses with or without the President’s amendment, he or she cannot withhold his or her assent. 

Know More About An Act 

• An Act is generally divided into a preamble which gives the intention behind the Act. 

The preamble to an Act reveals the intention behind an Act, which contains the very essential features of the Act And also the socio-political objective it seeks to address. Courts refer to the preamble of an Act only, when the provisions of the Act are more comprehensive and it may narrate the grounds as well as the causes for making the statute. 

• Penalties and also the punishments for violating the Act. The rules and regulations cannot go against the act under which they have been passed and they also cannot go beyond the scope of the Act. 

Rules and also regulations are made under the powers given by an Act and they are part of ‘Law’. 

Powers of the Government of India and its officials to make the rules and regulations.   

• Section 87 of the Information Technology Act gives the Central Government of India to make rules to carry out the provisions of the said Act. The Central Government of India passed the Information Technology rules under this power in the year 2003. 

Do All The Laws Apply to Everyone in India?

Members of the Constituent Assembly had the consensus that there should be no arbitrary exercise of power in independent India. Therefore, they instituted several provisions in the constitution that would establish the Rule of Law. 

The most important of all these was that all the people in independent India are equal before the law in terms of religion, caste, creed, sex, and status. Equality of law without any discrimination between any individual based on caste, creed, religion sex, or financial status. 

The rule of the law means that all the laws apply equally to every citizen of the nation and no one is above the law. The government officials, and also the wealthy people are not above the law. Even the Prime Minister of India and also the President of India is bound to follow the law. 

Any crime or violation of any law has a very specific punishment as well as the process is a specific process through which the guilt of the person must be established. 

In ancient India, there were very innumerable overlapping local laws that created discrimination. In some cases, the punishment received was based on gender as well as on the caste of the guilty. The laws were harsh on the people from lower caste backgrounds. This slowly began to change because this system of law began to further evolve during the colonial period. 

Rules of India During the British Government

It is often believed and considered that the Britishers introduced the rule of law in India. Historians have criticized and disputed this very claim on several grounds. According to historians, the colonial law was very arbitrary, and also that the Indian nationalists played a very important role in the development of the legal sphere in British India. 

Some of the biggest examples of the arbitrariness that continued to exist as part of British law is the Sedition Act of the year 1870. The idea of sedition was broadly understood within this Act. 

Another Example of the arbitrariness of the British Government was the Rowlatt act. This Act allowed the British government to imprison Indian people without any due trial. Great Indian nationalists including Mahatma Gandhi were vehement in their opposition to the Rowlatt Bill despite a large number of protests against the Rowlatt Act came into effect on 10th March of the year 1919. 

Protest Against The Arbitrary Use of the Authority by Britishers

Many great Indian nationalists began to protest and also criticize the arbitrary use of authority by the Britishers. They also began to fight for the great quality and wanted to change the whole idea of law from a set of rules that they were forced to obey. 

The Making of Laws in Independent India

The adoption of the constitution of India also has served as the foundation on which our representatives began to make laws for the country. Every year our representatives pass several new laws as well as revise existing ones for example the Hindu Succession Amendment Act 2005. 

According to this law the daughters, sons as well as their mothers can get an equal share of the property. Similarly, many new laws have been enacted to control pollution and also to provide employment. 

Conclusion 

Vedantu's NCERT Solutions for Class 8 Social Science Chapter 4, "Understanding Laws," represent a commendable resource for students delving into the realm of legal principles and governance. These solutions offer comprehensive explanations and insights into the intricacies of laws and their significance in our society. Vedantu's dedication to accessible education ensures that students have access to well-structured and informative resources that enhance their understanding of this crucial subject. These solutions not only aid in academic excellence but also cultivate a deeper appreciation for the legal framework that governs our lives. Vedantu's commitment to facilitating learning makes these NCERT solutions an indispensable tool for students aspiring to excel in their social science studies and understand the dynamics of law in our society.