Events

25 Jan 2018

5:30 pm

Warren Chan Moot Court, CUHK Graduate Law Centre, 2/F, Bank of America Tower, Central

Prof. Sanoj Rajan

Professor Sanoj Rajan is the Visiting Scholar of the “ICCR Visiting Professorship of Indian Studies” programme at CUHK Law. He is also an Affiliate Expert with Harvard Humanitarian Initiative at Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA and an honorary Visiting Professor for the International Criminal Justice program offered by the International Christian University at Kinshasa, Congo. Before joining CUHK, Prof. Rajan was the Dean and a full professor at the School of Law, Ansal University, India. He has written and spoken widely on International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights Law, Refugee Law, Statelessness and Citizenship Laws.

Online Registration: https://cloud.itsc.cuhk.edu.hk/webform/view.php?id=4318407

All are welcome! If you would like to attend, please register online before 5:30 pm, 22 January 2018. Registrations will be accepted on a first come first served basis.

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Every civilisation had its norms of warfare before the modern laws of the war evolved. India, one of the oldest civilisations in the world also had some unique norms of warfare which stood out in terms of demonstrating the concepts of proportionality, distinction and victims’ protection comparable to modern laws of war. This talk will take you through the Dharma-based Hindu and Buddhist norms for conflict in Ancient India and then proceeds to a detailed examination of the practices of “Ankam and Mamamkam” on the medieval Malabar Coast in South India. “Ankams” were ad hoc duels fought in lieu of war by professional warriors to resolve inter-state disputes, and thereby minimising the injuries and sufferings an actual war would create. “Mamamkam” was a periodic contest designed to allow a relatively bloodless challenge of reigning kings without resorting to a full-fledged war. The success and popularity of these practices made it widely adopted not only by the local rulers but also by some of the European colonialist of that period. The talk ends by looking into the prospects of using these principles in modern laws of war especially using the emerging automated warfares.

This talk is based on a research study by the speaker, entitled ‘Principles of Laws of War in Ancient India and the Concepts of Mitigating Armed Conflicts through Controlled Fights’ published in the Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies (Brill Nijhoff, Leiden), 5 (2014) 1-19