Nihal Sahu

I'm a Research Fellow at Vidhi. Most of the time, I'm working on making Indian law and the legal system simpler, clearer, and more effective.

Essays

Abstractions and Drafting

similarities between law and code • structural issues in the drafting process • finding abstractions and constructing ontologies • plain language drafting • examples of great drafting

Microlawsuits

the lower limit on dispute resolution time • ai judges • slowness as legitimacy • dworkin's dream

Against Searching for Saints

in defense of paying people to do things • incentives solve principal-agent problems • motivated agents exist but are unevenly distributed and hard to identify

Authority

the development of modern states • statecraft has a technology tree • parliamentary democracy • separation of powers • rule of law

I Have a Favourite Band

literary earworms • finding identity • developing taste • rainbow kitten surprise • self-loathing

The Second Best is a Formal Order

notes on the death of Elizabeth II • legal realism • rule of law in India • the English roots of constitutional traditions

Government Health Spending in India

book review • the causes of low government spending • weak state capacity