How Modi govt plans to use a Roman law to defang Indian tobacco industry

In the past few years, government has taken several measures to curb tobacco consumption - which kills more than 900,000 people each year in India

The Indian government is pushing the Supreme Court to apply a rarely used doctrine that would strip the $11 billion tobacco industry’s legal right to trade, an effort aimed at deterring tobacco companies from challenging tough new regulations.

New Delhi has for the first time asked the top court to classify tobacco as “res extra commercium”, a Latin phrase meaning “outside commerce,” according to a Reuters review of previously unreported court filing by the Health Ministry on Jan. 8.

If applied, the doctrine - which harkens back to Roman law - would have far reaching implications: in denying an industry’s