Divorce juries

Parsis used their clout to get preferential treatment
Dr Mitra Sharafi

Extract from Dr Mitra Sharafi’s book Law and Identity in Colonial South Asia: Parsi Legal Culture, 1772-1947 published by Cambridge University Press. Reprinted with permission from the author. From 1865, matrimonial disputes among Parsis were decided by what was effectively a  jury of co-religionists. The Parsi jury was an anomaly. No other South Asian community had the right to a jury in marital cases – nor, for that matter, did Europeans living in British India. Although personal law governed most other religious communities in matrimonial disputes, colonial judges (typically European) applied these bodies of law. Furthermore, the jury was not used......



To read the entire article, you must be a Parsiana subscriber.

Already Subscribed? Sign in

Subscribe now to get Full Access

SUBSCRIBE