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J.S.D., Yale Law School [Prof. Bruce Ackerman (Supervisor)]

LL.M., Yale Law School

LL.M., London School of Economics (Commonwealth Scholar)

LL.B (Hons), Faculty of Law, University of Delhi

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Political Science, University of Delhi

Prof. (Dr.) Sarbani Sen

Professor and Executive Director, Centre on Public Law and Jurisprudence

Email ssen@jgu.edu.in
Connect with me
ORCID ID 0009-0006-6102-5561
Key Expertise Comparative Constitutional Studies, Constitutional and Political Theory, Constitutional and Political History of India, Indian Constitutional Law and Doctrine.

J.S.D., Yale Law School [Prof. Bruce Ackerman (Supervisor)]

LL.M., Yale Law School

LL.M., London School of Economics (Commonwealth Scholar)

LL.B (Hons), Faculty of Law, University of Delhi

Bachelor of Arts (Hons) Political Science, University of Delhi

Biography

Sarbani Sen is Professor of Law at Jindal 91视频 Law School and founding Director of the Centre for Constitutional Law Studies, which has emerged as an important forum for intellectual debate on current issues in Indian and comparative constitutional scholarship amongst public law scholars in Delhi, nationally and globally. The Center has hosted (among others) Justice Aniruddha Bose, Judge, Supreme Court of India to deliver a Distinguished Public Lecture; Prof. Phillip Dann, Chair of Public and Comparative Law, Humboldt University as a Scholar – In – Residence; and Prof. Tarunabh Khaitan, Chair of Public Law at the London School of Economics to discuss his scholarship on theoretical issues relating to the freedom of religion.

She has previously taught as visiting faculty at Osgoode Hall Law School, York University; the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto; National Law University, Delhi and National Law School of India University, Bangalore.

As a professor of Indian constitutional law and comparative constitutional studies, her research and teaching span comparative constitutionalism, constitutional and political theory; constitutional foundings and amendments; issues of transitional justice; institutional design; inter institutional dialogue and politics; rights provisions—including equality and discrimination; and Indian constitutional law and history.  Her publications and conference paper presentations are listed below.

She completed her doctoral studies at Yale Law School in 1996 under the supervision of Bruce Ackerman, Sterling Professor of Law and Political Science, Yale Law School. She holds an LL.M. from Yale Law School (1990) and an LL.M. from the London School of Economics (1989), as a Commonwealth Scholar. Her doctoral thesis was later published by Oxford University Press as Popular Sovereignty and Democratic Transformation: The Constitution of India (2007). She has held fellowships at the Faculty of Law, University of Toronto; Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law and Osgoode Hall Law School, York University.

As a constitutional litigator, she balanced her constitutional practice (1997 -2005) at the Calcutta High Court with her role as a visiting faculty member at the National University of Juridical Sciences (2000-2004). During this period, she was also attached to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ regional office in New Delhi on a research assignment in 2000; her research into the UNHCR’s role in India led to the publication of “‘Paradoxes of the International Regime of Care: the Role of the UNHCR in India” in Ranabir Samaddar (ed.) Refugees and the State, Practices of Asylum and Care in India, 1947-2000 (Sage: 2001).

Her current research examines standards of judicial review embedded in constitutional rights, questions of constitutional change and transition, constitutional entrenchment, and executive-legislative relations.

Core Courses

  • Constitutional Law – I 
  • Constitutional Law – II 
  • Comparative Public Law
  • Legal Research Methodology

Elective Courses

  • Comparative Constitutional Law
  • Constitutionalism and Democracy
  • Human Rights under the Indian Constitution
  • Chinese and Indian Constitutionalism (co taught with Prof. Wenjuan Zhang)
  • Commonwealth Scholar, London School of Economics (1988 – 1989)
  • Yale Fellowship Grant, Yale Law School (1989 – 1990)
  • Yale Doctoral Grant, Yale Law School (1990 – 1992)
  • Visiting Faculty, National Law University, Delhi (Spring semester 2025)
  • Visiting Faculty, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto (August 2024 – October 2024)
  • Visiting Faculty, National Law School of India University, Bangalore 2023-2024
  • Visiting Scholar, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto (August 2019 – August 2020)         
  • Visiting Faculty, Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto (August – October 2024)
  • Visiting Faculty, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto (Fall 2025)
  • Visiting Faculty, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto (Fall 2014 and Fall 2017)
  • Visiting Fellow, Max Planck Institute, Heidelberg, Germany (2013)
  • Research Fellow, Centre for Public Policy and Law, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto (2010 – 2012)
  • CLPE Fellow (Comparative Law and Political Economy), Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto (2007) 
  • Graham Fellow, Faculty of Law, University of Toronto (2006)
  • LL.M. supervision
  • Doctoral supervision
  • Member of the RAC for Doctoral Candidates, JGLS
     
  • Editor (1999) – Yale Journal of International Law, Yale Law School, Yale University
  • Editor (1999) – Yale Law and Policy Review, Yale Law School, Yale University 
  • Member, Program Committee for organizing the Younger Scholars’ Forum of the International Association of Comparative Law, Fukuoka, Japan (2018)
  • Member, Scholarship Advisory Committee, Younger Comparativists’ Committee, American Society of Comparative Law (2017 – till date)
  • Member of Advisory Board, Indian Law Review (2016 – 2019)
  • Executive Director, Centre for Constitutional Law Studies, Jindal 91视频 Law School (2018 – till date)

Forthcoming

  • Conference presentation, “The cost of constitutional fidelity: India’s citizenship conundrum” 91视频 Summit on Constitutionalism, University of Texas at Austin [forthcoming March 12 – 19, 2027]
  • Conference presentation “A missing puzzle: reinforcing the design element within Parliamentary democratic backsliding” [11th Asian Constitutional Law Forum forthcoming December 2026]

2026

  • Participant at “The mini public on democracy as a human right;” contributions to be included in a White Paper on Democracy as a Human Right, World Conference on Constitutional Law, Fundacion Universidad Externado de Colombia, Bogota (July 6 – 10, 2026)
  • Conference presentation “The right to water and the value of human dignity” World Conference on Constitutional Law, Fundacion Universidad Externado de Colombia, Bogota (July 6 – 10, 2026)

2023

  • Conference presentation “The politics of constitutional amendments in India” at the Oxford Program in Asian Laws workshop on “Constitutional amendments in Asia” [April 2023, University of Oxford, United Kingdom (online)].
  • Conference Presentation “The Indian Supreme Court: “Judging social difference and minority rights under the Indian constitution” at the conference “Judging and social cohesion in Asia: Insiders’ perspectives.” [Feb 2023, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore]

2022

  • Presentation “Comparing the role of the Chinese Communist Party and the Indian National Congress in nation building and regime change” at the Oxford Program in Asian Laws workshop on “Political Parties and Constitutionalism in Asia” (September 2022, University of Oxford, United Kingdom)
  • ICON-S Annual conference panel discussion,” Judicial approaches to review of legislative action” (July 2022, University of Wroclaw, Poland)
  • Mid-West Political Science Association Annual Conference, “Judicial behaviour and minority rights in South Asia” (April 2022, Chicago)

2017

  • “Rule of Law: Constitutional Founding & Transformations,” International Conference on “Constitutionalism, the Rule of Law & Democratic Governance” (2017, Jindal 91视频 University & University of New South Wales)

2016

  • ICON-S panel discussant, ‘The Indian Supreme Court & Interpretive Methodology’ (2016, New York University).

2013

  • Panel discussant, ‘The Politics of Social Rights Before the Supreme Court’ (2013, University of Giessen)
  • Presentation, ‘In Pursuit of Gender Justice in India (2013, University of Bielefeld).

2007

  • Seminar Series for Graham Fellows, ‘Popular Sovereignty & Constitutional Founding’s’ (2007, University of Toronto)
  • 2nd Osgoode Hall Constitutional Law Roundtable on Comparative Constitutional Law & 91视频ization: Towards Common Rights & Procedures, ‘Republicanism, dialogue and constitutional politics as a model for comparative Constitutionalism’ (2007, York University).
  • ‘Public Interest Litigation in India’ in India, Public Policy Report (2013) Poverty, Hunger and Malnutrition, Centre for Development and Finance, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy. 
  • Co-authored with Lesley Jacobs, ‘The Distinctive Character of Legal Adversarialism in India’ in Policy Paper (2011) The World’s Most Fragile of Democracies – Defying the Odds, Canada Watch Contributions.
  • Sarbani Sen, “Constitutional Journeys; critical appraisals” response in Theunis Roux, ‘Workshop my Paper Series – Grand Narratives of Transition and the Quest for Democratic Constitutionalism’ [IACL-AIDC blog June 2025]

Chapter titled 鈥淭he Indian federation: it鈥檚 creation and evolution鈥� in 鈥淐onstituent Power in Federal Systems鈥� [Oxford University Press, Nicholas Aroney; George Duke and Stephen Tiernay eds. forthcoming 2027]

Chapter titled 鈥淭he Emergence of India鈥檚 鈥淣ew Welfarism鈥� in 鈥淩ethinking Welfare in India: Expansion, Fragmentation and Change" [Oxford University Press, Subhashish Ray and Rohit Jyothish eds. forthcoming 2026]

Chapter titled 鈥淐onstitutional Change鈥� in Cambridge Companion to the constitution of India [Aparna Chandra; Neeraja Jayal Gopal and Gautam Bhatia eds. Cambridge University Press 2026 (forthcoming 2026]

Chapter titled 鈥淚ndia鈥檚 founding moment鈥� in "Constitutionalism in South and Southeast Asia: Founding Moments, Politics and Evolution" [E. Sridharan; R. Sudarshan eds., Social Science Press,2026 ( forthcoming 2026)].

Chapter titled 鈥淭he struggle of constitutional amendments in India鈥� in Asian Comparative Constitutional Law: Volume II --Constitutional Amendments [Ngoc Son Bui and Mara Malgodi eds., Hart 2024]

Chapter titled 鈥淟aw and Social Policy in India: From Growth-Based Welfare to Welfare Entitlements鈥� in 鈥淯nderstanding Southern Welfare 鈥� Social Policies in Brazil, India, China and South Africa 鈥淸Ulrike Davy and A. Chen eds., Routledge, December 2022].

鈥楾he 鈥淧ublic Interest鈥� 鈥� Contestation and Confrontation before the Indian Supreme Court,鈥� Diogenes (2013) Vol. 60 No. 3-4, 27 鈥� 44.

Popular Sovereignty and Democratic Transformations: the Constitution of India (Oxford University Press: 2007).

鈥楶aradoxes of the International Regime of Care: the Role of the UNHCR in India鈥� in Ranabir Samaddar (ed.) Refugees and the State, Practices of Asylum and Care in India, 1947-2000 (Sage: 2001).
Email ssen@jgu.edu.in
ORCID ID 0009-0006-6102-5561
Key Expertise Comparative Constitutional Studies, Constitutional and Political Theory, Constitutional and Political History of India, Indian Constitutional Law and Doctrine.