White Paper on Indian States (1950)/Part 12/Nature of Treaty Obligations
Nature of Treaty Obligations
248. It was one of the principal contradictions of the British rule in India, that while in England and elsewhere, feudalisma had died long ago, in India feudal rights continued to be guaranteed as a British obligation. It was a rather curious notion of treaty obligations that engagements entered into a long time ago on the fields of battle or immediately afterwards between rival commanders or their chiefs should last for ever and hold up the march of history.