Justice V Dhanapalan and the art of exporting jurisprudence
In the corridors of constitutional law, it is common to witness the importation of foreign doctrines into our legal framework — often without rigorous scrutiny of their compatibility with our constitutional ethos.
This practice, sometimes theatrically advanced by advocates, has led to a jurisprudential landscape shaped more by borrowed wisdom than indigenous insight.
Rare indeed is the occasion when a doctrine, born within our own judicial womb, finds its way into foreign jurisdictions — exported not by accident, but by design.
The late Justice V. Dhanapalan, of Tamil Nadu in India, was one such jurist who not only understood this possibility but actively encouraged it.
I had the privilege of engaging with him during my tenure as a Court of Appeal judge. At a legal function, I introduced to him my jurisprudence on the oath of office — a doctrine I had developed through a series of judgments, rooted in the rule of law and designed to test arbitrariness in governance.
This…
‘Mesti teruskan walaupun sukar’ – Hamilton