Food For Thought (Law)

1. Each case will have to be decided on its own merits.

2. The Supreme Court must uphold the rule of law.

3. To facilitate grant of substantial justice procedural rigority may not be permitted to overpower the judicial discretion and in appropriate cases delay be condoned, abatement be set aside and substitution be allowed.

4. When an Act enjoins upon a specified authority that a particular act has to be done in a particular manner so that it may have jurisdiction to act further in the matter, the Act must be done in that manner in order to be considered valid, and confer on the authority such further jurisdiction.

5. A 'decree nisi' or 'rule nisi' (from Latin nisi, meaning “unless”) is a court order that does not have any force unless a particular condition is met, the ruling becomes a decree absolute (rule absolute), and is binding.

6. Adhering to the procedure prescribed under the rules is sine qua non in every proceedings.

7. In order to constitute a Court in the strict sense of the term, an essential condition is that the Court should have, apart from having some of the trappings of a judicial tribunal, power to give a decision or a definitive Judgment which has finality and authoritativeness which are the essential tests of a judicial pronouncement.

8. Once principles of natural justice is violated the order becomes a nullity.

9. Where questions of law were involved, the matter should be assigned to a Division Bench of the learned Tribunal.

10. One facet of principles of natural justice is that no body should be condemned unheard.

11. For the fault of the Court, a party should not be allowed to suffer.

12. The object of the Court is to decide the rights of the parties and not to punish them for mistakes they make in the conduct of their cases by deciding otherwise than in accordance with their right.

13. What cannot be done directly is not permissible to be made indirectly.

14. The object of the rule of law is to protect the weak and the helpless, the distressed and the down-trodden and it should not be restricted to a particular class or community.

15. Cause of action is a bundle of facts, which are required to be pleaded and proved for the purpose of obtaining relief claimed in the suit.

16. The Court would be slow to throw out a claim on a mere technicality of pleading when substance of the thing is there. It is for the Judge to apply law to the facts of the case.

17. Law need not be pleaded and it is the duty of the Court to apply law to the facts proved and found.

18. Whenever an order is struck down as invalid being in violation of principles of natural justice, there is no final decision and fresh proceedings are left open.

19. The reasonable opportunity is not confined only to the reply given to the show cause or the evidence adduced in its support, but it also includes the consideration of the defence taken by a person while taking a decision by the decision making authority.

20. A citizen has a legitimate and fundamental right to get justice by setting the criminal law in motion. A citizen has right to access judicial remedy which is a constitutionally protected right.

21. Fraud amounts to abuse of the process of Court.

22. Court is not expected to give indulgence to such indolent person, who compete with “Kumbhakarna” or for that matter with Rip Van Winkle.

23. Every award shall be a decree and the statement of grounds of every award shall be a Judgment.

24. If there is a conflict, attempt should be made to harmoniously construe the provisions.

25. The essence of a decision is its ratio, not every observation found therein.

26. A decision between the parties, which stands, not having been appealed from, binds them and it would not be open to either of the parties to challenge its correctness by initiating fresh proceedings.

27. Where power is to be exercised by certain authority in a certain way, it should be exercised in that manner or not at all and all other modes of performances are necessarily forbidden.

• If an action is required to be under taken in a particular manner then that has to be done in that manner or not at all.

• If the statute prescribes a thing to be done in a particular manner, the same should be done in the same manner or not at all.

28. Administrative action must be supported by reasons.

29. State action to be fair and legitimate.

30. Law made by Central Legislation shall prevail over the State Legislation.

31. At any stage before pronouncement of Judgment a case can be reopened to discover the truth, which is the very purpose of any judicial trial.

32. The power of review is not inherent in a Court or Tribunal. It is a creature of the statute.

33. Law affecting procedure is always retrospective.

34. The High Courts are not constituted as inferior courts in our constitutional scheme.

35. Challenge to judicial orders could lie by way of appeal or revision or under Article 227 and not by way of a writ under Article 226 and 32.

36. Where a statutory right to file an appeal has been provided for, it is not open to the HC to entertain a petition under Article 227 Constitution of India.