At the age of 19, Mohandas left home to study law in London at the Inner Temple, one of the city's four law colleges. Upon returning to India in mid-1891, he set up a law practice in Bombay, but met with little success. He soon accepted a position with an Indian firm that sent him to its office in South Africa.
The world of legal education into which Gandhi stepped in the fall of 1888 would be almost unrecognizable to legal educators today. It is now almost universally true that there is a serious academic component in one's training for the bar, usually in a university context.
As a 19-year-old, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had left India for the first time on September 4, 1888, to get enrolled in the centuries-old law institute Inner Temple in London. Having become a barrister, M.K.
A professor at West Virginia University's College of Law recently published book that explores a side of Gandhi most are not familiar with: his early years as a lawyer in South Africa. It's the first extensive examination into this chapter of Gandhi's life.
He used to tell his clients that he would not take up cases which are false and unfounded. This great tendency propelled Gandhiji to be called as an honest, upright, and a principled lawyer in the legal profession. He was even respected for his work in South Africa.
Born and raised in a Hindu family in coastal Gujarat, Gandhi trained in the law at the Inner Temple, London, and was called to the bar at age 22 in June 1891....Mahatma Gandhi.Mahātmā GandhiOccupationLawyer anti-colonialist political ethicistYears active1893–1948EraBritish Raj22 more rows
Gandhi's status as a lawyer had given him credibility with the authorities and with his own community. His practice had provided his immediate family and, at times, his extended family, too, with income. Indeed, Gandhi's practice was so financially successful that he was able to...
1893From 1893 till 1913 Gandhiji practised in South Africa. Early in his practice he realized that "the true function of a lawyer was to unite parties riven asunder".
For the next two years, Gandhi attempted to practice law in India, establishing himself in the legal profession in Bombay. Unfortunately, he found that he lacked both knowledge of Indian law and self-confidence at trial.
Gandhi's Life as a Lawyer Revealed. Mahatma Gandhi is widely recognized as a leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India who employed nonviolent civil disobedience, inspiring movements for civil rights across the world. A professor at West Virginia University’s College of Law recently published book that explores a side ...
By the end his practice, his entire practice is devoted to his political, moral, and spiritual beliefs. And at that point he becomes integrated.
“In fact in one of his first cases in India where he tried to launch a practice and failed, he had to basically withdraw from the case because he was too nervous in court!” . DiSalvo remarks.
DiSalvo gives much credit to the many law and history students who read through some 10,000 newspapers from South Africa which held keys to unlocking details of Gandhi’s career as a lawyer and a politician. DiSalvo says it was that Herculean effort that perhaps prevented anyone else from writing this book earlier.
First published by Random House India, and most recently by University of California Press, DiSalvo says producing this work that explores Gandhi’s early life in South Africa has been a goal since he discovered that Gandhi was in fact a lawyer for 25 years before becoming a pacifist reformer in India. “I was astounded,” DiSalvo says, “because he ...
Charles R. DiSalvo in his office at the College of Law at West Virginia University. Mahatma Gandhi is widely recognized as a leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India who employed nonviolent civil disobedience, inspiring movements for civil rights across the world.
However, the person he became had much to do with his life as a lawyer. Gandhi sailed for England on 4th September, 1888 to study law and become a barrister. He was called to the Bar on 10th June, 1891 and was enrolled in the High Court of England the next day. A day later, he sailed home.
Facts according to Gandhi constituted three-fourths of the law and if we took care of the facts of a case the law would take care of itself. If there was one characteristic more than another that stamped Gandhi as a man, it was his extraordinary love of truth.
In 1984, his special portrait was unveiled in the library. Furthermore, Gandhi’s bust now adorns the coffee room of the Inner Temple and his statue has been installed in its lawns.
Gandhi as Lawyer. Mohandas Gandhi was an Indian activist who was the leader of the Indian independence movement against British colonial rule. Employing nonviolent civil disobedience, Gandhi led India to independence and inspired movements for civil rights and freedom across the world.
Upon his first appearance in a Durban courtroom, Gandhi was asked to remove his turban. He refused and left the court instead.
By the time he arrived 24 days later in the coastal town of Dandi, the ranks of the marchers swelled, and Gandhi broke the law by making salt from evaporated seawater. The Salt March sparked similar protests, and mass civil disobedience swept across India.
In 1885, Gandhi endured the passing of his father and shortly after that the death of his young baby. In 1888, Gandhi’s wife gave birth to the first of four surviving sons. A second son was born in India 1893. Kasturba gave birth to two more sons while living in South Africa, one in 1897 and one in 1900.
Gandhi formed the Natal Indian Congress in 1894 to fight discrimination.
In response, Gandhi called for a Satyagraha campaign of peaceful protests and strikes.
Gandhi’s Religion and Beliefs. Gandhi grew up worshiping the Hindu god Vishnu and following Jainism, a morally rigorous ancient Indian religion that espoused non-violence, fasting, meditation and vegetarianism.
In 1888, 18-year- old Gandhi sailed for London, England, to study law. The young Indian struggled with the transition to Western culture.
Gandhiji always used to tell his friends and clients that truth triumphs and one must always follow the path of truth and non-violence. His dependence on truth always proved to be a boon for him in and outside the courtroom. He was honest not only to the Court but to his clients as well.
Gandhiji's father, Karamchand Gandhi, served as a Chief Minister in Porbandar and other States in Western India. His mother, Putlibai, was a religious woman.
In 1893, Gandhiji obtained a contract to perform legal services in South Africa for one year and he went to Durban. When Gandhiji arrived in South Africa, he was disappointed by the racial discrimination faced by Indians at the hands of white British authorities.
In Johannesburg, while appearing for a case, Gandhiji noticed that his client had misled him and provided him with wrong facts. He scolded his client and immediately requested the Court to dissolve his case there and then only, which shocked the opposite Counsel. The Judge praised the morals and ethics of Gandhiji.
Gandhiji denied to move to the back of the train and in the fullness of time, he was thrown off the train at a station in Pietermaritzburg.
He would never shy away in accepting his mistakes and would never hide any ignorance of the law, if he had any, to his clients. Gandhiji used to discuss and deliberate about the intricacies of laws with his colleagues and seniors which helped him to effectively analyse and grasp laws of different kinds.
Though the award of the arbitrator was in favour of Gandhiji's client, there were some errors in the accounts. Gandhiji's Senior Lawyer who was also engaged in the matter wanted the errors not to be identified before the Court but Gandhiji took an exception to his Senior's notion and argued the case himself.
Appendix VII contains the order issued by the Benchers of Inner Temple on 10th November 1922 disbarring Gandhiji and removing his name from the roll of barristers on his conviction and sentence to six years' imprisonment on 18th March 1922 by the Court of the Sessions Judge, Ahmedabad.
1. Mahatma Gandhi sailed for England on 4th September, 1888 to study law and become a barrister. He kept terms at the Inner Temple and after nine months' intensive study he took all his subjects in one examination which he passed. He was called to the Bar on 10th June, 1891 and was enrolled in the High Court of England the next day. A day later, he sailed home. After his return to India he started practice as a lawyer at first in the High Court at Bombay and a little later in Rajkot but did not make much headway in the profession. It was only when the hand of destiny guided his steps to South Africa that he soon made his mark there as a lawyer and as a public worker. Gandhiji practised as a lawyer for over twenty years before he gave up the practice of the profession in order to devote all his time and energy to public service. The valuable experience and skill that he acquired in the course of his large and lucrative practice stood him in good stead in fighting his battles with the South African and British governments for securing political, economic and social justice for his fellow-countrymen. Gandhiji was not a visionary but a practical idealist. As Sir Stafford Cripps has remarked: "He was no simple mystic; combined with his religious outlook was his lawyer-trained mind, quick and apt in reasoning. He was a formidable opponent in argument." 1
Appendix II contains select thoughts of Gandhiji on the law and the lawyers. Appendix III contains the text of the speech of the late B. N. Gokhale, ex-judge of the Bombay High Court at the symposium organized by the Bombay Branch of the Gandhi Smarak Nidhi on 1-7-1963 in which he dealt with Gandhiji's legal philosophy.
Gandhiji went to South Africa in April 1893 and stayed for a whole year in Pretoria in connection with the case of Sheth Dada Abdulla who was involved in a civil suit with his near relative Sheth Tyeb Haji Khan Mahammad who also stayed in Pretoria.
If there was one characteristic more than another that stamped Gandhi as a man amongst men, it was his extraordinary love of truth. The Mahatma was an ardent and inveterate votary of truth. Truth, like nonviolence, was the first article of his faith and the last article of his creed.
The prevailing note was one of sadness. It was realized, of course, that Gandhi had been conducting the most dangerous campaign, that that campaign had resulted in considerable bloodshed and disorder, and that one course and one only was possible, viz., the course which had been adopted.
It also gives an account of the farcical political trials held in the Punjab in 1919 during the Martial Law regime, when several innocent persons were sentenced by special courts to death or life-imprisonment on the flimsiest of evidence.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist and political ethicist who employed nonviolent resistance to lead the successful campaign for India's independence from British rule, and to later inspire movements for civil rights and freedom across the world. The honorific Mahātmā (Sanskrit: "great-souled", "venerable"), first applied to him in 1914 in South Africa, …
• Gandhi cap
• Gandhi Teerth – Gandhi International Research Institute and Museum for Gandhian study, research on Mahatma Gandhi and dialogue
• Inclusive Christianity
• List of civil rights leaders
• Ahmed, Talat (2018). Mohandas Gandhi: Experiments in Civil Disobedience ISBN 0-7453-3429-6
• Barr, F. Mary (1956). Bapu: Conversations and Correspondence with Mahatma Gandhi (2nd ed.). Bombay: International Book House. OCLC 8372568. (see book article)
• Bondurant, Joan Valérie (1971). Conquest of Violence: the Gandhian philosophy of conflict. University of California Press.
• Gandhi's correspondence with the Indian government 1942–1944
• About Mahatma Gandhi
• Gandhi at Sabarmati Ashram
• Works by Mahatma Gandhi at Project Gutenberg