Upendra Baxi, LLM (GLC, Bombay), SJD (BOALT Hall, Berkeley), is a towering figure amongst Southern jurists, one who has made innumerable and invaluable contributions to Southern accounts of human rights, constitutional law, international law and tort law (amongst other areas). Professor Baxi has been the Southern jurist who has done most to be attentive and responsive to the juristic traditions and justice demands of the myriad subaltern communities of the Global South.
He began his law teaching career at the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law University of Sydney (1969-1973). He was Professor of Law at the University of Delhi (1973-1996). He was Dean of the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi (1975-1978). He was the honorary director (research) of Indian Law Institute (ILI) (1985-1988). He was Vice Chancellor, University of South Gujarat (1982-1985). He was the President of the Indian Society of International Law (ISIL) (1992-1995). He was Vice Chancellor of the University of Delhi (1990-1994). He was Professor of Law in Development at the University of Warwick (1996-2008), where has been an Emeritus since 2009. He was a Ford Foundation Professor of Human Rights at The West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (Kolkata) (2004-2006).
He is an honorary professor of the National Law School of India University (Bangalore); the National Academy of Legal Studies and Research (NALSAR, Hyderabad); the National Law University (Delhi), and the Gujarat National Law University (Gandhinagar); Jindal Global Law School (Delhi).
He has also taught as visiting faculty at the University of Sydney, Duke University, Washington College of Law, The American University; Global Law Program New York University Law School, and at the University of Toronto.
In 1999, he was invited to deliver the Hague Lectures in Private International Law by the Hague Academy of International Law.
In 2011, he was awarded the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, by the Government of India. He is the author of numerous hugely influential books, including the Indian Supreme Court and Politics (1980); The Crisis of the Indian Legal System (1982); Towards a Sociology of Indian Law (1985); Valiant Victims and Lethal Litigation: The Bhopal Case (co-edited with Amita Dhanda) (1986); Law and Poverty: Critical Essays (1988); Mambrino’s Helmet?: Human Rights for a Changing World (1994); The Rights of Subordinated People (co-edited with Oliver Mendelsohn) (1994); his Hague Lectures in Private International Law – Mass Torts, Multinational Enterprise Liability and Private International Law (2000); The Future of Human Rights (2002), which is now in its 4th edition; and Human Rights in a Posthuman World (2008).
The interview with Upendra Baxi was conducted by Dr Adil Khan and Professor Sundhya Pahuja over the course of several days in New Delhi in 2015. An edited transcript is available below. The Interviews formed the basis of the article, Adil Hasan Khan and Sundhya Pahuja, ‘The southern jurist as a teacher of laws: an Interview with Upendra Baxi’ (2018) Jindal Global Law Review (351-373). It was part of a special issue of the Review celebrating the work of Upendra Baxi. The journal issue is available here.
