From a comment in MR in a post about new Supreme Court order about 500 metres from highways for bars
"First, India is a ‘common-law’ country like the UK, US is, as opposed to a ‘civil law’ country. This matters because the “spirit of the law” must be obeyed in a common-law country, not the “letter of the law”. What this means is that having a “zig-zag” of 500 meters is not in accordance with the “spirit of the law” (contrary to AlexT’s title), but only with the “letter of the law”. In a “civil law” country, this ‘trick’ would work so that the shopkeeper can serve alcohol, but not in India. That’s the theory. In practice, in these developing countries there’s only one law: the golden rule. He who has the gold, rules. So a quick bribe to the local official in charge will solve any problem. That’s probably how the shopkeeper in this story got around the law in India.
"First, India is a ‘common-law’ country like the UK, US is, as opposed to a ‘civil law’ country. This matters because the “spirit of the law” must be obeyed in a common-law country, not the “letter of the law”. What this means is that having a “zig-zag” of 500 meters is not in accordance with the “spirit of the law” (contrary to AlexT’s title), but only with the “letter of the law”. In a “civil law” country, this ‘trick’ would work so that the shopkeeper can serve alcohol, but not in India. That’s the theory. In practice, in these developing countries there’s only one law: the golden rule. He who has the gold, rules. So a quick bribe to the local official in charge will solve any problem. That’s probably how the shopkeeper in this story got around the law in India.
Internet: Common Law Countries: The United States, England, India, Canada Civil Law Countries: EU, pretty much everywhere else."
It also links to this article with nice pictures.
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