The Indian & Portuguese Constitutions

book synopsis/description:

The book briefly outlines the Constitutional History of India as well as Portugal. It emphasis on the similarities and the differences in approach on Constitutional issues amidst the academia in Portugal and India. It discusses the salient features of the Portuguese and the Indian Constitution.

Justice A.M. Bhattacharjee, an eminent jurist and author of several books, in the foreword writes:

“ In fact, the present Constitution of India of 1950 is one of the finest products of Comparative Survey and Research in the different Constitutions of the World”.

Referring to the Portuguese Constitution he adds:

“ Portugal has a very old and rich tradition of experiment with written constitution as early from 1822, the latest being the Sixth Constitution of 1976….”

And further he writes:
The present Constitution of Portugal of 1976, and the Four substantial Revisions thereof in 1982, 1989, 1992 and 1997 , deserve serious consideration by our Constitutional Lawyers and Dr. Carmo D’Souza has really rendered a commendable service by drawing our attention thereto. The original Constitution had very much a Socialists frame and slant with appreciable stress on “Classless society”, exercise of power by “Working Class”, ‘expropriation’ of properties of big land–owners, “Socialist Economy” and other allied matters. But all these have thereafter been appreciably toned down and consciously diluted in these four successive Constitutional Revisions to consort with Plurarist Economy, Private Sector Undertakings, Free and Open Market Ideology and consequential in-depth enlargement of rights of Individual.