The concept of law has been in existence in India since very early times. Yet, historically speaking, we witness a positive approach to jurisprudence in Kautilya's Arthashastra, assigned to c. 300 B.C. This is followed by such commentators as Manu, Yajnavalkya, Narada and others who in the early times have made substantial contribution. With the advent of the Moghuls, came the Islamic precepts of law and finally the British introduced judicial system for the entire British India. Our today's laws are based on the Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence.

It is a unique exhibition, first of its kind, ever to be held on such magnitude. It depicts the Indian Legal System through various periods with the help of artefacts of the British period contributed by different High Courts in India.

The exhibits consist of various Letters Patent issued by the British Monarchs in the form of Charters on parchment paper establishing Mayor's Court, Recorder's Court, Supreme Court and finally the High Courts in India and also appointing Judges to these Courts. There arc records of famous cases of martyrs including case papers of Khudiram Bose, Bhagat Singh etc. and Court Record of various Courts in India. There is furniture in the form of Judge's chairs from various High Courts, as well as Silver Maces of different Courts, Portraits and Photographs of famous Judges. Fiscal Philatelic collection of British India (1800 to 1947) and Princely States will also be on display.

The Supreme Court section gives a glimpse of the Apex Court's functioning through its landmark Judgments and traces its lineage through its predecessors, namely the Federal Court and the Privy Council and the birth of the Supreme Court after deliberations in the Constituent Assembly.

The Supreme Court of India came into existence on 26th January 1950, the day when an independent India joined the comity of nations as a Sovereign, Democratic Republic. Its inaugural session took place on January 28, 1950, in the Chamber of Princes in the Parliament Building, New Delhi. The Federal Court of India had its inaugural in 1937 in the same chamber where it sat for 12 years until the Supreme Court replaced it. The Chamber remained the seat of the Supreme Court until 1958, till it acquired a building of its own, located on the Mathura Road in New Delhi. The Court has played a very significant and productive role in laying the foundations of Constitutional Law & Practice. It has also exercised advisory jurisdiction. Its immediate predecessor, the Federal Court, too stood firm between the arbitrary action of the Executive and the people. The Federal Court has left behind a tradition of erudition, independence and courage which the Supreme Court has kept up. The Supreme Court is rightly a confluence of many traditions and many parts. It sees itself as an integrated whole. This exhibition is meant to show all that has gone into the Indian legal system at the apex of which is the Supreme Court.