378 DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR : WRITINGS AND SPEECHES
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I have already given notice of an amendment to the original article. In view of the amendment of Dr. Ambedkar, there should be consequential changes.
Mr. Vice-President : All right.
*Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I am very glad for the kind interruption. It does not remove my difficulties at all. Does it mean to say that the State ‘makes’ a custom or usage ? Still you have the difficulty to face that the State has to make a law including custom or usage.
The Honourable Shri B. G. Kher : Of course, it means ‘ whenever necessary’. That is always understood in law. I am sorry to interrupt.
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar : Probably he may not find it necessary to continue his speech if I refer to him this fact, namely, that the expression “law” in (3) (a) has reference to law in 8 (1).
Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad : I am again grateful for the kind interruption of Dr. Ambedkar that the words ‘custom and usage’ have the force of law and so forth....
† Mr. Vice-President : Shall we resume discussion of article 8 ? Is there any Honourable Member who wishes to speak on it ?
The Honourable Dr. B. R. Ambedkar (Bombay : General) : Mr. Vice-President, the amendment of Mr. Naziruddin Ahmad, I think, creates some difficulty which it is necessary to clear up. His amendment was intended to remove what he called an absurdity of the position which is created by the Draft as it stands. His argument, if I have understood it correctly, means this, that in the definition of law we have included custom, and having included custom, we also speak of the State not having the power to make any law. According to him, it means that the State would have the power to make custom, because according to our definition, law includes custom. I should have thought that that construction was not possible, for the simple reason, that sub-clause (3) of article 8 applies to the whole of the article 8, and does not merely apply to sub-clause (2) of article 8. That being so, the only proper construction that one can put or it is possible to put would be to read the word ‘Law’ distributively, so that so far as article
8, sub-clause (1) was concerned, ‘Law’ would include custom, while sofar as sub-clause (2) was concerned, ‘Law’ would not include custom.
*CAD. Vol. VII, 26th November 1948. p. 642.
† Ibid., VII. 29th November 1948, pp. 644-45.