This book presents a theory of political liberalism in the British post-colonies.

Part I. Liberal-Legal Orders: 1. Emasculating the executive: the federal court and civil liberties in late colonial India: 1942-4 Rohit De; 2. The legal complex in the struggle to control police brutality in India Charles R. Epp; 3. Priests in the temple of justice: the Indian legal complex and the basic structure doctrine Manoj Mate; Part II. Despotic Orders: 4. Lawyers, politics and publics: state management of lawyers and legitimacy in Singapore Jothie Rajah; 5. Lawyers and the disintegration of the legal complex in Sudan Mark Fathi Massoud; 6. The Sri Lankan legal complex and the liberal project: only thus far and no more Deepika Udagama; Part III. Volatile Orders: 7. 'Custodian of civil liberties and justice in Malaysia': the Malaysian bar and the moderate state Andrew Harding and Amanda Whiting; 8. Liberal protagonists? The lawyers' movement in Pakistan Sadaf Aziz; 9. Miscarriage of chief justice: judicial power and the legal complex in Pakistan under Musharraf Shoaib A. Ghias; 10. From judicial autonomy to regime transformation: the role of the lawyers' movement in Pakistan Daud Munir; 11. Postcolonial liberalism and the legal complex in Zambia: elegy or triumph? Jeremy Gould; 12. Legal complexes and the fight for political liberalism in new African democracies: comparative insights from Malawi, Zambia and Namibia Peter Von Doepp; 13. Judge and company: courts, constitutionalism and the legal complex Malcolm M. Feeley.