The Institute of Law, Nirma University organised the inaugural ceremony of the International Virtual Conference on Language, Law, Literature: Dialogic Interfaces on 23rd March, 2021. The program was graced by the august presence of Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Judge (Retd.), Supreme Court of India as the Chief Guest. The conference is part of a larger project initiated by the institute. The conference is spread over a duration of two days, (23-24 March 24, 2021), wherein the objective is to explore the avenues and possibilities of conceptual and pedagogical enrichment across language, legal and literary studies through meaningful exchange of ideas and methods.
Justice Srikrishna in his inaugural address provided an insight into the field of law and literature. He stated that Indians have a special branch of knowledge known as ‘alankarshashtra’. Literature gives an insight into the nature of law as well as a unique insight into the existing human conditions. Simultaneously, it also provides as a new and dynamic approach to judiciary. He referred to law and literature movement and highlighted that scholars as Richard Weisberg, Benjamin Cardozo who were legal giants, as well as teachers of law, became responsible for the spreading of this movement. The perspective of law and literature also encompasses the way in which legal situations are presented in literature. He also spoke about the Indian scenario, wherein scholars and their works have focused on the twin objective of finding law in literature and literature in law, which is essentially the combination of forensic rhetoric and literary critique.
Earlier Prof. (Dr). Purvi Pokhariyal, Dean and Director, Institute of Law delivered the welcome address. She stated that the institute is making efforts to adopt these dialogic interfaces by organising such events which act as a platform for sharing experiences, experiments and innovations in pedagogical approaches. . The conference envisions to move ahead of the use of literary texts in legal curriculum for mere linguistic skill development. Literature could create ethical and empathetical aspects to legal norms, conventions and practices.
Ms. Bini BS, the event coordinator of the conference informed that that a galaxy of well-known speakers shall be gracing the conference, namely Professor Peter Goodrich (Director of the Program in Law and Humanities, at Cardozo School of Law, New York,) Professor Kalpana Kannabiran (Director of Council for Social Development, Hyderabad), Professor Upendra Baxi (Professor of Law in Development at the University of Warwick, United Kingdom and Research Professor at the Jindal Global Law School), and Professor Hema Ramanathan (Associate Professor at the University of West Georgia). There are sessions for paper presentations and plenary sessions in which scholars from different parts of the world will share their views.
Mr. Kushal Nandwani, Asst. Professor at the institute delivered the vote of thanks.