TOPIC GUIDE: UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

AMP

2015

AMITY MOCK PARLIAMENT 2015

12TH – 13TH, FEBRUARY 2015

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TOPIC GUIDE: UNIFORM CIVIL CODE

Introduction

Uniform civil code of India is a term referring to the concept of an overarching civil law code in

India. A uniform civil code administers the same set of secular civil laws to govern all people

irrespective of their religion, caste and tribe. This supersedes the right of citizens to be governed

under different personal laws based on their religion or caste or tribe. Such codes are in place in

most modern nations.

The common areas covered by a civil code include laws related to acquisition and administration

of property, marriage, divorce and adoption.

The Constitution of India attempts to set a uniform civil code for its citizens as a Directive

Principle, or a goal to be achieved.

The term civil code is used to cover the entire body of laws governing rights relating to property

and otherwise in personal matters like marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption and inheritance.

The demand for a uniform civil code essentially means unifying all the personal laws to have one

set of secular laws dealing with these aspects that will apply to all citizens of India irrespective

of the community they belong to. Though the exact contours of such a uniform code have not

been spelt out, it should presumably incorporate the most modern and progressive aspects of all

existing personal laws while discarding those which are retrograde.

UCC in the Constitution

Article 44 of the Constitution of India declares that "The State shall endeavour to secure for the

citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India." The Article which is one of the

Directive Principles of State Policy is considered fundamental to the governance of the country.

The State cannot disregard the Directives as the Constitution casts positive duty on the State to

direct its legislative policies towards the total fulfillment of the Directive Principles. Also, no

part of the country is excluded from the expression "territory of India" in Article 44 though the

application of the laws made by Parliament may be regulated in terms of the temporary,

transitional and special provisions of Part XXI of the Constitution.

However, in response to this, there exists Article 14 which guarantees the Fundamental Right of

equality before law, Article 15 which prohibits discrimination against any citizen on grounds

only of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth and Articles 25-29 providing religious and

cultural freedom. Article 13 of the Constitution says that all laws in force in India at the time of

the commencement of the constitution, if repugnant to any of the fundamental rights, have to

cease to apply in any manner whatsoever. Article 372 at the same time requires that "all the laws

in force in the territory of India immediately before the commencement of this constitution shall

continue in force therein until altered or repealed or amended by a competent legislature or other

competent authority."

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1950-1985

The framers of the Indian Constitution were convinced that a certain amount modernisation was

required before a uniform civil code was imposed on citizens belonging to different religions. It

was also feared that any attempt to ignore personal laws of various religions might lead to

civil war, wide-scale rioting and social unrest.

Thus, the forefathers of constitution who imposed several reforms upon the Hindu law were

cowed down by the threats of Islamists and kept the sharia strictly unaltered. Hence, the Muslims

and Christians had to be to be governed by their own set of laws.

India's leaders at the time wanted a secular constitution on the model of a western

democracy. However, what resulted was not secularism in the western sense of the word,

but rather a 'secular' state with religious laws for its religious groups. Mushir ul-Haq points

out that in India 'secular' means "non-intervening in the matter of religion." The religious groups

in India are many, mainly consisting of a Hindu majority, a significant Muslim minority, and

smaller amounts of Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Christians, Jews, and tribal people.

The Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 extended to the whole of India except the state of Jammu and

Kashmir. The effect of the Hindu Marriage Act was to prohibit polygamy amongst Hindus and to

increase the right of the divorced wife to maintenance or alimony. The act applied to everyone in

India except Muslims, Christians, Parsees, and Jews. Since Jews and Parsis are a small minorit,

and since Christians were governed under an already modern or progressive law, Muslims

remained de facto the only large community with a distinct religious law that had not been

reformed to reflect modern concepts.

The legal practice of excluding Muslims continued with the passage of the Dowry Prohibition

Act of 1961 which specifically excluded "dower or mahr in the case of persons to whom the

Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) applies". In 1973, on a debate over the revision of the Criminal

Procedure Code, it was pointed out in regard to maintenance of divorced wives that in cases

involving Muslims, the court should take note as to whether the woman had received

maintenance under the Personal Law. For Muslims, this meant the period of idda or three months

after the divorce.

While the period 1950–1985 can be summed up as one where Muslim Personal Laws were

exempted from legislation and they remained un-reformed, it can also be seen as a period where

there were secular avenues opened to Muslims, the biggest of which was the passage of the

Special Marriage Act, 1954. The idea behind this act was to give everyone in India the ability

to marry outside the personal law, in what we would call a civil marriage. As usual the law

applied to all of India, except Jammu and Kashmir. In many respects, the act was almost

identical to the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, which gives some idea as to how secularised the

law regarding Hindus had become. The Special Marriage Act allowed Muslims to marry under it

and thereby retain the protections, generally beneficial to Muslim women that could not be found

in the personal law. Under the act polygamy was illegal, and inheritance and succession would

be governed by the Indian Succession Act, rather than the respective Muslim Personal Law.

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Divorce also would be governed by the secular law, and maintenance of a divorced wife would

be along the lines set down in the civil law.

Personal Law under assault (1985-2005)

The Shah Bano case led the Indian Supreme Court on 23 April 1985 to judge that the divorcee

Shah Bano was entitled to maintenance under section 125 of the Criminal Procedure

Code (CrPC). Bano was a 73-year old Muslim woman whose husband divorced her using

the triple talaq whereby the husband has the right to unilaterally divorce his wife by saying "I

divorce you" three times in three periods. When the husband stopped paying her maintenance

after the time required by Muslim law, she petitioned the court claiming that the criminal code

should apply to Muslims, and that she deserved more maintenance than she would be given

under Muslim Personal Law. The court, perhaps anticipating a Muslim protest, then argued that

even in the Quran a woman is entitled to maintenance due to Sura 2:241-242.

The government of Rajiv Gandhi, acted quickly, passing the Muslim Women Act in 1986, a law

that essentially provided for maintenance for Muslim women outside the criminal code, thus

ensuring that Muslim women were not protected under the constitutional right to equality, and

that they could no longer have recourse to section 125 of the CrPC. The act was an improvement

on the former divorce rights under the Shariat Act, or Muslim Personal Law that Shah Bano had

found wanting.

The Shah Bano case is still seen as a turning point in the question of Muslim Personal Law in

India, for it proved that despite the Supreme Court's call for equality, the legislature would

do everything in its power to keep the Personal Law off limits.

The Right wing parties campaigning on behalf of Muslim Women has caused minority and

women's groups to actually temper their anger over the discrimination of women in

Muslim personal Law, and Muslim conservative groups have become more steadfast in its

defence.

In addition to the rulings under the Muslim Women's Act, women's groups have challenged the

Act's constitutionality since it appears to contradict the promise of sexual equality found in the

Indian constitution. These petitions have not been taken up by the Supreme Court, probably due

to the fear of disturbances it would cause among the Muslim community. In fact, in 1997, when

one such petition seemed like it would be heard by the court, an article appeared in the press

claiming Muslim "religion in danger".

Towards a Uniform Civil Code

Those wishing to reform the Muslim Personal Law have often cited Muslim countries as

examples that such reform is possible. Terence Farias, in his chapter The Development of Islamic

Law points out that the 1961 Muslim Family Law Ordinance of Pakistan "makes it obligatory for

a man who desires to take a second wife to obtain a written permission from a government

appointed Arbitration Council." The interesting point regarding Pakistan is that until 1947 both

India and Pakistan had governed Muslims under the Shariat Act of 1937. However, by 1961

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Pakistan, a Muslim country, had actually reformed its Muslim Law more than India had

and this remains true today.

Mushir Al-Huq and Tahir Mahmood, both Muslim writers on Islamic Law in India, have pointed

out the reforms meted out in Tunisia and Turkey where Polygamy was

abolished. Iran, South Yemen, and Singapore all reformed their Muslim laws in the 1970s.

What has the Supreme Court said on the issue? Very recently, while hearing a case pertaining to whether a Christian has the right to bequeath

property to a charity, the court regretted the fact that the state had not yet implemented a uniform

civil code. This is not the first time that the apex court has expressed itself in favour of a

uniform civil code or taken a dim view of the government's and legislature's inability to

bring it into being. There have been other occasions, like during the Shah Bano case and later in

the Sarla Mudgal case, where too the apex court has come out strongly in favour of the

enactment of a uniform civil code. However, none of these comments are binding on the

executive or the legislature and do not amount to orders. At best, they exert some moral pressure

on the Indian state to move towards formulating a uniform civil code.

What had prevented a uniform civil code from coming into being? Since it involves a change in laws, an obvious prerequisite is sufficient support for the move

within Parliament. The reason this has been difficult to achieve has been because most parties

have held the view that the reform of laws pertaining to the personal domain is better done by

pressure for such change from within communities rather than as an imposition from above.

Further, for historical reasons, the demand for a uniform civil code has acquired communal

overtones which have overshadowed the innate merits of the proposal.

To put the delay in perspective, however, it should be added that Article 44 of the Constitution is

by no means the only directive principle to have not been implemented more than half a century

after it was laid down. Most directive principles continue to remain pious doctrines rather than

the law of the land.

Need for UCC

1. Personal laws and status of women

The most significant manner in which personal laws in civil matters affect the rights discourse is

by delineating rights for women belonging to their respective religious communities. The

‘family’ remains one of the most contested sites of women’s rights. One of biggest criticisms

working against personal laws is that these antiquated provisions are discriminatory towards

women and seek to undermine their position within the private domain. Personal religious laws

need to be tested for their conformity with principles of egalitarianism that are the touchstones of

our Constitution as well as international declarations/agreements to which India is a party.

There are five broad sets of family laws in India based on the religions professed by its different

communities. Hindu law governs all Hindus, as also Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs. Muslim law

applies to Muslims, Christian law governs Christians, Parsee law applies to the Parsees and Jews

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have their own personal law. Many provisions of the various Indian personal laws are notorious

for being discriminatory towards women. A brief description of how women’s rights are

undermined under various personal laws follows:

Marriage: The right of all men and women of certain to marry through free consent and with

complete freedom in the choice of a spouse is recognized internationally. However, Indian

personal laws are found wanting in this aspect. Muslim law, for instance, appears to recognize

the right of a guardian to contract his minor ward into marriage. There is a remedy in the form of

‘option of puberty’ (right to repudiate marriage on attaining puberty) but it is restricted for as far

as women are concerned. Under Hindu law (Hindu Marriage Act, 1955) too, it is not the mere

absence of consent but the obtaining of consent by fraud or force or vitiation of consent by

proved unsoundness of mind that renders the marriage void. Fortunately, Special Marriage Act,

1954, possibly the most progressive piece of Indian legislation enacted under family law,

overcomes the bar or strict restrictions on inter - religious marriages under personal law.

Polygamy is a contentious issue in today’s world where monogamy, fidelity and family welfare

are the norm. This institution used to prevail in Hindu society previously but modern legislation

(The Hindu Marriage Act, 1956) prohibits bigamy (covering both polygamy and polyandry) the

Penal Code makes it an offence. Muslim personal law, however, recognizes and permits the

institution of polygamy. Many scholars believe that under Indian circumstances, polygamy is

largely an anachronism from patriarchal times and that very few Indian Muslims practice it. This

view may be correct to some extent but ignores that such a practice that is the prerogative of a

select few creates fissures and religious tensions in society. There have been many instances in

the past of abuse of this practice as permitted under Islam. Often, non-Muslims convert to

Islam in order to marry more than once and while Courts examine the intention behind

such conversions to decide on the question of validity of second marriages, such a

phenomenon generates strife and also affects rights of the parties involved.

Divorce: Traditional Hindu law did not recognize the concept of divorce but modern law

provides for it under the Hindu Marriage Act, 1956, which largely provided for fault-grounds

which either spouse could avail in order to obtain a divorce.

The most remarkable, and most discriminatory, feature of Islamic law of divorce is the

recognition of the concept of unilateral divorce, wherein the husband can divorce his wife

unilaterally, without any cause, without assigning any reason, even in a jest or in a state of

intoxication, and without recourse to the court and even in the absence of the wife, by simply

pronouncing the formula of repudiation. Muslim law also entitles the woman to ask for a divorce

under certain restricted circumstances. Modern law (The Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act,

1939) allows a wife to obtain a divorce through the intervention of a judge, before whom she

must establish one of a limited number of acceptable bases for divorce. The fact that on a

moral plane, divorce is reprehensible in Islam and has been denounced by Prophet does not

provide relief to women as unilateral divorce continues to be an accepted practice in many

countries including India.

Maintenance: Under Indian law, the right to maintenance is civil in nature but it is also placed

under the criminal code and can be pursued therein.

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Under Hindu law, a wife has a right to be maintained during her lifetime as per the provisions of

the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956. In what can be called an attempt to reinforce

the conservative idea of a Hindu wife, an “unchaste” wife is not entitled to separate residence

and maintenance. As far as Muslim law is concerned, many interpretations of the sharia do not

grant divorced women a right to maintenance from their former husband’s beyond the three-

month waiting period following the divorce, called the iddat period. In India, the Dissolution of

Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 denies divorced Muslim women the right to claim maintenance. In

the Shah Bano judgment, the judiciary attempted to get rid of this anomaly by explicitly bringing

such Muslim women under the purview of the secular Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973

(wherein a wife is entitled to claim maintenance against the husband on the ground of the

husband’s neglect or refusal to maintain her).

Inheritance: Under the Hindu law, the Mitakshara branch of law that primarily governs

succession amongst Hindus in the country denied to a Hindu daughter a right by birth in the joint

family estate and this flowed logically from the fact that her place in the paternal family was

only temporary as she was belonged to her husband’s family on marriage. Modern day

amendments to Hindu law of succession gave Hindu widows the right of succession her

husband’s estate. Till recently, Hindu law was still discriminatory in that the Hindu Succession

Act, 1956 excluded the daughter from coparcenary ownership of ancestral property. In 2005 the

Parliament, by an amendment, took a radical but much - awaited step towards ensuring equality

between Hindu men and women as far as succession is concerned, and conferred upon daughters

the status of coparceners in the family of their birth, thereby bringing an end to the centuries -

old rules of Hindu inheritance that have lost their relevance and justifications. Though the full

extent of implications of this amendment are yet to be observed, it is nonetheless a commendable

and desired step in the effort to check in - built biases against women in personal laws of this

country. More importantly, this radical amendment was brought by the Parliament without facing

any resistance or impediment on the part of the Hindu community.

Guardianship and Adoption: A mother has been assigned a statutorily subservient position in

the matter of guardianship and custody of her children. The father is designated the first natural

and legal guardian of his minor; the mother is the natural guardian only after the father. Under

Muslim law, the father is the sole guardian of the person and property of his minor child.

Adoption is a salient feature of Hinduism, more so because the concept is alien to Christian,

Muslim and Parsee law unless custom and usage among the above sects permit it. The Hindu

Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956 statutorily recognizes adoption and is applicable to

Hindus. The Act brought about significant changes to the law of adoption amongst Hindus and

has improved the position of women in this regard. However, despite these changes, adoption is

another area in family relations where a female suffers discrimination based purely on her

marital status. As with other aspects of Hindu personal law, amendments have recently been

proposed so as to give women the same rights as men to guardianship and adoption of children

irrespective of marital status.

2. Constitutional guarantees

There is a compelling need to study the personal religious laws from a human rights

perspective. India has time and again pledged its commitment to upholding the normative

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regime of human rights, be it in the provisions of the Constitution or the terms of the various

international covenants and treaties.

Principles of equality, non - discrimination and fairness which form an essential part of the

human rights discourse are the subject matter of the debate regarding personal laws of India.

These principles are enshrined in the Preamble to the Constitution, Fundamental Right and the

Directive Principles. Gender equality is a facet of equality and it is one of the basic principles of

the Constitution. Moreover, the doctrine of equality as enshrined in Article 14 of the Constitution

of India is not merely formal equality before the law but embodies the concept of real and

substantive equality which strikes at all the inequalities arising on account of vast historical,

socio-economic an customary differentiation. Thus, we see that Article 15(3) of the Constitution

empowers the State to make special provisions for protection of women and children. Article

25(2) mandate that social reform and welfare can be provided irrespective of the right to freedom

of religion. Article 44 which directs the state to secure for its citizens a Uniform Civil Code

throughout the territory of India is the cornerstone for women’s equality in the country and must

be urgently implemented so as to eliminate antiquated discriminatory norms of religious laws.

3. Personal Law, Human Rights and Supreme Court

A major feminist critique of the current human rights discourse is that anti-discrimination

measures cannot concern themselves only with conduct of public officials, that is to say, with

relations between individuals and government. Discrimination in the ‘private’ sphere of home,

workplace and school must also be addressed, given the power vested in the institutions of

family and the community to arbiter the women’s rights and freedoms. The apex court of the

country has often fallen prey to this false public-private dichotomy by failing to intervene in the

personal laws governing private domain in order to check discriminatory practices therein,

probably regarding the need for changes in family matters etc. as ‘social’ and ‘developmental’

issues.

On the contrary, the Supreme Court has done a commendable job in addressing discrimination in

the public domain and has taken cue from the international covenants for this purpose. For

instance, it has laid down a number of guidelines amounting to judicial legislation in the field of

sexual harassment at work place. However, personal laws have often been kept beyond the

reach of fundamental rights by shifting the burden of sanitizing the discrimination in

personal laws to the Parliament. Surprisingly, Supreme Court has not hesitated in giving

full effect of certain other Directive Principles of State Place, such as the right to education,

and elevating them to the status of a Fundamental Right. A similar approach has not been

forthcoming on the Constitutional directive to bring about a uniform civil code, though the

courts have time and again exhorted the government of the day to take necessary steps in

this direction. As recently as February, 2011, the Supreme Court, while discussing lack of

uniformity in marriageable age and age of consent, pulled up the government for its failure to

overhaul personal laws of the minority communities, saying that it was a reflection on their

secular credentials.

Notably, the Court also observed that the government’s attempts to reform personal laws

had not gone beyond Hindus who have been more tolerant of such initiatives. Perhaps

the Shah Bano episode served as a landmark in the policy of judicial intervention in personal

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laws. The backlash of the community was not as unfortunate as the complete disregard by the

then government of Constitutional directives, egalitarian values and notion of justice.

4. Promotes Secularism

What we have right now in India is selective secularism which means that in some areas we

are secular and in others we aren’t. A uniform civil code means that all citizens of India have

to follow the same laws whether they are Hindus or Muslims or Christians or Sikhs. This forms a

secular ideal. A uniform civil code doesn’t mean it will limit the freedom of people to follow

their religion, it just means that every person will be treated the same.

5. Promotes Fair Treatment of all Indians

Right now we have personal laws based on particular religions, which means that while Muslims

can marry multiple times in India, a Hindu or a Christian will be prosecuted for doing the same.

All the laws related to marriage, inheritance, family, land etc. should be equal for all Indians.

This is the only way to ensure that all Indians are treated same.

6. Personal Laws Provide Loop Holes

The various personal laws are basically a loop hole to be exploited by those who have the power.

Our panchayats continue to give judgments that are against our constitution and that has to be

rectified. Human rights are violated through honor killings and female foeticide throughout our

country. By allowing personal laws we have constituted an alternate judicial system that still

operates on thousands of years old values. A uniform civil code would change that.

7. It Will Help in Reducing Vote Bank Politics

A uniform civil code will also help in reducing vote bank politics that most political parties

indulge in during every election. If all religions are covered under the same laws, the politicians

will have less to offer to certain minorities in exchange of their vote. Not having a uniform civil

code is detrimental to true democracy and that has to change.

Criticism of UCC

1. No urgent requirement: The code is neither a matter of priority nor a sine-qua-non for

national integration. The Code is considered to be a distant social objective. Some

intellectuals feel that implementation of the Code should logically pass through three

stages –

a) The first stage is the codification of the personal laws of various communities so

that over a period of time there is adequate basis in terms of comparative

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jurisprudence to serve as the foundation for the principles of the Uniform Civil

Code.

b) There also needs to be a transitional phase of optonality

c) If the code comes into conflict with the personal laws of any community, then the

particular community must be granted exemption.

2. Operational Problems: Ram Jethmalani talks about a serious practical difficulty in

adopting a uniform code of marriage. Since most people do not take the recourse to

Special Marriage Act, 1954 and prefer religiously formalized marriages, it is difficult to

think of a common code borrowing from all religions and customs. He thinks that the

proponents of the Code haven’t given serious thought to what it would look like and how

different religious customs associated with the solemnization of marriages would be

accommodated.

3. Wouldn’t significantly improve on the democratic ideals of India: In Nepal, the

establishment of a Uniform Civil Code did not improve upon national integration. Hence,

to consider the UCC as a go to solution for all problems would be incorrect. A

democracy, it can be argued can survive even by respecting separate personal laws

of different communities. It depends on the specific historical experience of the nation

and the texture of society. Indeed, many democratic nations of the world thrive today

without the existence of a UCC.

4. Threat to minorities: The Code is viewed by some as the threat to their religious identity

since the Code will seek to merge all personal laws into one. Historical abuse of power

by majority communities makes the minorities naturally vary of the further reforms.

Thus, convincing all to be comfortable and accepting of a Uniform Civil Code will turn

out to be a long and arduous process, one perhaps that will end in failure.

5. Civil riots: Given the unfavourable response to the idea of the Code, it is very likely

that protests would occur if the Code is shoved down the throats of the Indian

public. Given the strained ethnic and religious fabric of this country, it is better to leave

things that may cause tensions be.

Stand of Political Parties

The UCC is opposed by parties like Indian National Congress and Communist Party of India

(Marxist). It is supported by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and

Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

Conclusion:

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The real social opposition each time has come from the Muslim community that sees any

attempt to bring a UCC as an attack on its religious rights. The debate in India seems to have

gone the way of the secularists in this respect and the recent rulings by the Supreme Court

calling for a Uniform Code has not witnessed the protests and alarms that took place following

the Shah Bano case in 1985. It is quite possible that the Muslim community sees a Uniform code

as a fait accompli after almost 60 years of Indian independence. The matter is far more political

than legal. Every time the issue has come up there have been angry words from both sides of the

debate.

Not much progress has been made towards achieving the ideal of a uniform civil code which still

remains a distant dream. The only tangible step taken in this direction has been the

codification and secularization of Hindu law. The codification of Muslim law still remains a

sensitive matter. The unique feature of Islam is that the historical foundations of Islamic

religious law, i.e. sharia, include a universal system of law and ethics and purport to regulate

every aspect of public and private life. The power of sharia to regulate the behaviour of Muslim

derives from its moral and religious authority as well as the formal enforcement of its legal

norms.

MUST READ LINKS:

MUSLIM CODES:

http://www.csss-isla.com/Draft%20Code.pdf

http://www.vakilno1.com/bareacts/muslimperact/muslimpersonalact.html

HINDU CODES:

https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/225258

http://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/7870/11/11_chapter%204.pdf

http://bokakhat.gov.in/pdf/The_hindu_marriage_act.pdf

http://www.gujhealth.gov.in/images/pdf/legis/hindu-succession-act-1956.pdf

http://www.childlineindia.org.in/CP-CR-Downloads/HAMA%201956.pdf

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FRENCH CODES:

http://www.napoleon-series.org/research/government/c_code.html (ONLY BOOK 1 AND

BOOK 3 – TITLE 1)

TURKISH CODES:

http://www.justice.gov.tr/basiclaws/turkish_civil.pdf

http://www.international-divorce.com/turkey_civil_code_section_6_custody

http://iglhrc.org/sites/default/files/Turkish%20Civil%20Code_2.pdf

http://www.amazone.be/IMG/pdf/Efsa_Kuraner.pdf

CANADIAN CODES:

Attached Separately as a Word Document

GENERAL:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_civil_code_of_India

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/keyword/uniform-civil-code

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/ram-temple-uniform-civil-code-nonnegotiable-bjp/article5248859.ece

http://www.indiankanoon.org/doc/833730/

http://books.google.co.in/books?id=YwvaaHI8sjEC&pg=PT327&lpg=PT327&dq=uniform+civil+code+p

olitical+criticism&source=bl&ots=Kplq01CPD8&sig=bguVGGMKgBtHVbMvsE1tSoHaxYo&hl=en&sa

=X&ei=PrTOUumtMc7_rAeWwoGACg&ved=0CHUQ6AEwCQ#v=onepage&q=uniform%20civil%20c

ode%20political%20criticism&f=false