Early years
In the 1950s, one advantage of being a part time student in the Government Law College, Bombay was that it used to recruit a distinguished set of part-time teachers who would stray from their legal practice to give morning lectures. Undoubtedly, the most outstanding professor was young Nani Palkhivala. He happily did not restrict himself to the bare subject of the Evidence Act, 1872. He had become a part-time teacher in 1949 when he was 29 years old. He aroused the keen interest of the students even from neighbouring classes. The most fascinating part of his lecture was the way in which he could weave stories and contentions in law. You heard as much about Macaulay, the Draftsman as Macaulay, the Author. He had a way of narrating one story after another by holding the spell-bound attention of students. For instance, while speaking on language, Macaulay first was introduced as an author of Evidence Act, 1872 and the Indian Penal Code, 1860 but slowly moved to his mastery of language and literature

Posted on: January 27th, 2021