Common Sense and Legal History in India brings together the shorter works of Richard W. Lariviere on one important tradition of law in classical and medieval India- the corpus of Sanskrit legal texts called dharmaśāstra. Lariviere's contributions to both general and specific topics of Hindu law have changed our understanding of the depth and complexity of legal ideas, the possibilities and limits of Sanskrit legal sources for historical study, and the continuing relevance of dharmaśāstra in colonial and contemporary India.