1.
Case
laws are very important tools to strengthen and establish our case in the court
of law.
2.
Every
provision of law guides / mandates / directs the courts of law to adopt certain
or set of course of actions which must or preferably be taken in a specific
situation.
3.
And
therefore, the judges whilst confronting with the factual backdrop of a case, if
so necessitated, whilst applying the principles of interpretation of laws, interpret
and gather the letter and spirit of the concerned applicable laws, and then having
been ascertained, (a) the factual position of the case and (b) the (interpreted)
position of law, decide the issue / case before it, one way or the other.
Perhaps, this is how precedents of law take birth.
4.
And,
it is well settled that it is not everything said by a judge while giving
judgment, constitutes a precedent. The enunciation of the reason or principle
on which a question before the court has been decided, is alone binding as a
precedent. Every judgment to qualify to be a precedent should invariably answer
an issue of law; and a decision is available as a precedent only if it decides
a question of law.
5.
The
observations of Apex Court in a case before it are very useful in this respect.
Sudevanand versus State through CBI [(2012) 3 SCC 387]
Para
28: Now, the interpretation of a legal provision and its application to a set
of facts are two different exercises requiring different approaches.
28.1:
"Interpretation" means the action of explaining the meaning of
something. For interpreting a statutory provision, the court is required to
have an insight into the provision and unfold its meaning by means of the
well-established canons of interpretation, having regard to the object,
purpose, historicism of the law and several other well-known factors. But, what is important to bear in mind is
that the interpretation of a legal provision is always independent of the facts
of any given case.
28.2:
"Application" means the practical use or relevance (of something to
something); the application of a statutory provision, therefore, is by
definition case related and as opposed to interpretation, the application or
non-application of a statutory provision would always depend on the exact facts
of a given case. Anyone associated with the process of adjudication fully knows
that even the slightest difference in the facts of two cases can make a world
of difference on the question whether or not a statutory provision can be
fairly and reasonably applied to it.
7.
The
earlier decided judgments of High Courts and Apex Court are so critical in our daily
fight to justice, I have decided to find out the simplest manner in which the
judgments may be cited and explained before the court.
8. The purpose of
relying upon a case law (judgment), is to tell the Judge, look, there is a judgment of High Court / Apex
Court, which had dealt with the provision of law / proposition of law, to which
we are concerned in the instant case also;. The said High Court / Apex Court had interpreted the law / proposition
of law, and have held that ……
9.
Therefore,
first of all, it must be clearly known
to us the issue or the fact which is under controversy, and which is required
to be proved.
10.
And
then we may look for the relevant
statute and the provision of the said Statute which deals with the
aforesaid issue or fact;
11.
And
then, we may look for judgment of High
Court or Apex Court which has deliberated upon the said provision of law,
or has deliberated upon the “expression” employed in the provision;
12.
And
then, it is imperative for us to find
out the discussion and explanation to law / proposition of law set out therein
in the judgment, and this needs to be pointed out to the court, as, the law
or the proposition of law being laid down in the said judgment.
13.
With
further argument that the case at hand
also confronts an identical situation having clear applicability of the
aforesaid law or the proposition of law;
14.
And
if so required, it may further be explained to the court the factual backdrop in which the High Court / Apex Court had
laid down the law / proposition of law.
15.
In
my limited exposures to court of law, I have observed that judgments cited
before the Court are summarily rejected, with a standard rejection argument,
“the facts are different in the present case, and therefore the judgment cited
doesn’t help the party advancing it. However, this doesn’t happen all the time.
Thank you.
Sandeep Jalan
Advocate
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Thank you.
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