Terms often found in newspapers

 ephemeral - lasting for a very short time

new words in legal expressions

 आदेश को अंतिम करना - order made absolute

न्यायनिर्णायक कृत्य - adjudicatory functions

अग्रिम विनिर्णय - advance ruling

और इसी प्रकार -  And so on

अधिकार - attribution

अपने हाथ में लेना - Assume to himself

सजीव या निर्जीव - animate or inanimate

विवाह के पूर्व का व्यवहस्थापन - antinupital settlement

प्रकट प्रतिफल - apparent consideration

gag order

1. a judge's directive forbidding the public disclosure of information on a particular matter.
2. galling

   1. causing annoyance or resentment; annoying.
   2. 
      

IMPORTANT LEGAL MAXIMS

 Ab Initio – From the beginning

Actionable per se – The very act is punishable and no proof of damage is required

Actori incumbit onus probandi – The burden of proof is on the plaintiff

Actus Reus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea – Conviction of a crime requires proof of a criminal act and intent. or an act does not make a defendant guilty without a guilty mind or an act does not constitute guilt unless done with a guilty intention

Alibi – At another place, elsewhere

Amicus Curiae – A friend of court or member of the Bar who is appointed to assist the Court

Audi alteram partem – No man shall be condemned unheard

Bona fide – In good faith

Caveat – A caution registered with the public court to indicate to the officials that they are not to act in the matter mentioned in the caveat without first giving notice to the caveator

Caveat actor – Let the doer beware

Caveat emptor – Let the buyer beware.

Caveat venditor -Let the seller beware.

Certiorari – A writ by which orders passed by an inferior court is quashed.

Corpus – Body.

Corpus delicti – The facts and circumstances constituting a crime and Concrete evidence of a crime.

Damnum sine injuria – Damage without injury.

De facto – In fact.

De jure – By law.

De novo – To make something anew.

Dictum – Statement of law made by judge in the course of the decision but not necessary to the decision itself.

Doli incapax – Incapable of crime.

Detinue – Tort of wrongfully holding goods which belong to someone else.

Estoppel – Prevented from denying.

Ex gratia – As favour.

Ex officio – Because of an office held.

Ex parte – Proceedings in the absence of the other party.

Ex post facto – Out of the aftermath, or After the fact.

Fatum – Beyond human foresight.

Factum probans – Relevant fact.

Functus officio – No longer having power or jurisdiction.

Habeas corpus – A writ to have the body of a person to be brought in before the judge.

Ignorantia juris non excusat – Ignorance of the law excuses not or Ignorance of the law excuses no one.

In other words, A person who is unaware of a law may not escape liability for violating that law merely because one was unaware of its content.

Injuria sine damno – Injury without damage.

Ipso facto – By the mere fact.

In promptu – In readiness.

In personam – A proceeding in which relief I sought against a specific person.

Innuendo – Spoken words which are defamatory because they have a double meaning.

In status quo – In the present state.

Inter alia – Among other things.

Inter vivos – Between living people. (especially of a gift as opposed to a legacy)

Interest Reipublicae Ut Sit Finis Litium – It means it is in the interest of the state that there should be an end to litigation.

Jus cogens or ius cogens – Compelling law.

Jus in personam – Right against a specific person.

Jus in rem – Right against the world at large.

Jus naturale – Natural Law

Jus – Law or right.

Locus standi – Right of a party to an action to appear and be heard by the court and be heard by the court.

Mala fide – In bad faith.

Mandamus – ‘We command’. A writ of command issued by a Higher Court to Government/Public Authority, to compel the performance of a public duty.

Mens rea – Guilty mind.

Misnomer – A wrong or inaccurate name or term.

Modus operandi – Way of working.

Modus Vivendi – Way of living.

Mutatis Mutandis – With the necessary changes having been made, or with the respective differences having been considered.Nolle prosequi – A formal notice of abandonment by a plaintiff or prosecutor of all or part of a suit.

Novation – Transaction in which a new contact is agreed by all parties to replace an existing contract.

Obiter dictum – Things said by the way. It is generally used in law to refer to an opinion or non-necessary remark made by a judge. It does not act as a precedent.

In other words, Obiter dictum means “that which is said in passing,” an incidental statement. Specifically, in law, it refers to a passage in a judicial opinion which is not necessary for the decision of the case before the court. Such statements lack the force of precedent but may nevertheless be significant.

Onus probandi – Burden of proof.

Pari passu – With an equal step.

Particeps criminis – A participator in the actual crime/partner in crime.

Per curiam (decision or opinion) – By the court.

Per se – By itself.

Persona non grata – A person who is unacceptable or unwelcome.

Opposite of persona non grata is persona grata.

Also, In diplomacy, a persona non grata is a foreign person whose entering or remaining in a particular country is prohibited by that country’s government.

Prima facie – At first sight.

Alimony – A husband’s (or wife’s) provision for a spouse after separation or divorce; maintenance

Palimony – Money which a man pays to a woman with whom he has been living and from whom he is separated. Palimony has slightly different meanings in different jurisdictions.

Per curiam – By a court.

Per incuriam – Because of lack of care.

Prima facie – On the face of it.

Quid pro quo – Something for something.

Qui sentit commodum, sentire debet et onus – It means he who receives advantage must also bear burden.

Quo warranto – By what authority. A writ calling upon one to show under what authority he holds or claims a public office.

Ratio decidendi – Principle or reason underlying a court judgement. or The rule of law on which a judicial decision is based.

Respondeat superior – Let the master answer.

For example, There are circumstances when an employer is liable for acts of employees performed within the course of their employment. This rule is also called the master-servant rule.

Res ipsa loquitor – The thing speaks for itself.

Res Judicata – A matter already judged.

Res Judicata Pro Veritate Accipitur – It means that a judicial decision must be accepted as correct.

Rex non protest peccare – The king can do no wrong.

Status quo – State of things as they are now.

Sine die – With no day (indefinitely).

Sine qua non – “without which nothing”. An essential condition. A thing that is absolutely necessary. Basically a component of an argument that, if debunked, causes the entire argument to crumble.

Suo Motu – On its own motion.

Uberrima fides (sometimes uberrimae fidei) – Utmost good faith.

Ubi jus ibi remedium – Where there is a right, there is a remedy.

Veto – Ban or order not to allow something to become law, even if it has been passed by a parliament.

Vice versa – Reverse position.

Vis major – Act of God.

Volenti non fit injuria – Damage suffered by consent gives no cause of action.

In other words, If someone willingly places himself in a position where he knows that harm might result, then he is not able (allowed) to bring a claim against the other party in tort or delict (a violation of the law).

Vox populi – Voice of the people. or The opinion of the majority of the people.

Voluntarily giving up or removing the conditions.

CRPC and TRIAL frequent terms

parties have since purchased peace
parties have settled their disputes
extended exhortation
to be the result of an enmity culminating into hatching of conspiracy
Upon completion of investigation
the gun recovered was tallied with the empty cartridges recovered from the place of occurrence
satisfactorily explained
incriminating circumstances
not sufficient to hold the accused guilty
strong incriminating circumstance was brushed aside by the High Court
There is no justification for blowing such trivial discrepancies to doubt the evidence of PW-1 
The Supreme Court has issued directions to the State Governments for laying down appropriate rules for the police officers to follow when arresting a person for resorting to handcuffing only in circumstances indicated in the above. 

Merely because the relation between the accused persons and the complainant were strained leading to

groupism in the village, the testimony of eye-witnesses who were fellows of complainant is not to be discarded, though it needs to be scrutinized with caution so as to eliminate the possibility of any false implication.

It is a misconceived notion that merely because a witness is declared hostile his entire evidence should be

excluded or rendered unworthy of consideration. In appropriate cases, the Court can rely upon the part of testimony of such witness, if that part of the deposition is found to be creditworthy.

Brevity of orders on application of mind and not the length of the order is the criterion for adjudication the rights of the parties which are otherwise subject to the decision of a Civil Court. It would be appreciated that the Designated Courts which are otherwise over burdened shall refrain themselves from writing unnecessary lengthy judgments and pass appropriate brief orders, surely dealing with all points, while adjudicating claims of all the parties.

incorporated in the Act or the Rules by the Parliament

Hyper-technical approach, as projected by the defence counsel would defect the ends of justice and have disastrous effect.

Power of perception and memorizing differs from man to man and also depends upon situation. It also

depends upon capacity to recapitulate what has been seen earlier. But that would depend upon the strength or trustworthiness of the witnesses who have identified the accused in the Court earlier.

In dying declaration story of kerosene in stove got finished and while filling kerosene in stove, clothes of

deceased caught fire is not believable, because absence of kerosene would put off the ignition of stove and therefore, flow of fire would not be available.

The test of discerning whether a statement recorded by Judicial Magistrate u/s 164 of Cri.Pro.Code,  from an accused is confessional or non-confessional is not by dissecting the statement into different sentences and then to pick out some not inculpative. The statement must be read as a whole and then only, the Court should decide whether it contains admissions of his incriminatory involvement in the

offence. If the result of that test is positive then the statement is confessional, otherwise not.

Unless the life imprisonment is commuted or remitted by appropriate authority under the relevant provisions of law applicable in the case, a prisoner sentenced to life imprisonment is bound in law or serve the life term in prison.

The doctor has opined that the death may take place at once and within ten minutes by reason of the extensive nature of the burn and the deceased cannot have survived beyond ten minutes. Therefore, uncorroborated testimony of mother about declaration cannot be accepted.

If already overwhelming evidence is available and examination of other witnesses would only be a  repetition or duplication of the evidence already adduced, non-examination of such witnesses may not be material.

The power conferred on the Court for perusal of the case diary u/s 172 of Cri. Pro. Code, is not intended

for explaining a contradiction which the defense has winched to the fore through the channel permitted by law.

Statement of prosecution witness recorded by the Court can be prima facie material to enable the Court to decide whether person not arraigned before it, is involved in crime or not.

It would be injudicious to jettison a judicial confession on the mere premise that its maker has retracted from it.

The twin test of a confession is to ascertain whether it was voluntary and true. Once those tests are found to be positive, the next endeavour is to see whether there is any other reason which stands in the way of acting on it. Even for that, retraction of the confession is not the ground to throw the confession

overboard.

When the size of the unlawful assembly is quite large and many persons would have witnessed the incident, it would be a prudent exercise to insist on at least two reliable witnesses to vouchsafe the identification of an accused as a participant in the rioting.

which renders the statement of the accused inadmissible

It is a fallacious notion that when recovery of any incriminating article was made from a place which is open or accessible to others, it would vitiate the evidence under Section-27 of the Evidence Act.

if the article is buried in the main roadside or if it is concealed beneath dry leaves lying on public places or kept hidden in a public office, the article would remain out of the visibility of others in normal circumstances until such article is disinterred, its hidden state would remain unhampered. The person who hid it alone knows where it is, until discloses that fact to any other person. Hence, the crucial question is not whether the place was accessible to others or not, but whether it was ordinarily visible to others. If it is not, then it is immaterial that the concealed place is accessible to others.

There is no bar in basing conviction on the testimony of solitary witness so long as the said witness is reliable and trustworthy.

the credit of the witness can be impeached by proof of former statement inconsistent with any part of his evidence which is liable to be contradicted.

Lapses: Defective investigation by itself cannot be made a ground for acquitting the accused.

Two views: In criminal case, the golden thread running through the web of administration of justice is that if two views are possible on evidence adduced in the case, one pointing to the guilt of the accused and the other to his innocence, the view which is favourable to accused should be adopted.

Miscarriage: A miscarriage of justice which may arise from the acquittal of guilty is no less than from the conviction of an innocent.

F.I.R: There is no requirement of law for mentioning the names of all the witnesses in the FIR, the object of which is only to set the Criminal Law in motion.

Common object: Generally no direct evidence is available regarding the existence of common object which in each case, has to be ascertained from the attending facts and circumstances. When a concerted attack is made on the victim by a large number of persons armed with deadly weapons, it is often difficult to determine actual part played by each offender and easy to hold that such persons attacking the victim had the common object for an offence which was known to be likely to be committed in prosecution of such an object.

The scheme of Sec. 173(8) makes it abundantly clear that even after the chargee-sheet is submitted, further investigation, if called for, is not precluded. If further investigation is not precluded then, there is no question of not permitting the prosecution to produce additional documents which were gathered prior to or subsequent to investigation. In such cases, there cannot any prejudice to the accused.

A free and voluntary confession is deserving of highest credit, because it is presumed to flow from the

highest sense of guilt.

Presumption: Mere statement that requisite procedures and safeguards were not observed or that  statement was recorded under duress or coercion is of no consequence. Presumption that a person acts honestly applies as much in favour of police officer as of other persons.

with an oblique motive

Discrepancies: Normal discrepancies in evidence are those which are due to normal errors to  observation, normal errors of memory due to lapse of time, due to mental disposition, such as shock and horror at the time of occurrence and those are always there, however, honest and truthful a witness may be. Material discrepancies are those which are not normal and not expected of a normal person. Courts have to label the category to which discrepancies do not corrode, the credibility of a party's case,  material discrepancies do so.

Where participation of accused in incident is proved by unimpeachable evidence, recovery of no

incriminating material from the said accused, cannot alone be a ground for acquittal.

the desirability to have at least two witnesses has been stated to be a matter of prudence.

Presence of mens rea, therefore, is the necessary concomitant of instigation. It is common knowledge that the words uttered in a quarrel or in a spur of the moment cannot be taken to be uttered with mens rea. It is in a fit of anger and emotional.

The genesis of the incident commenced with the first accused entering the field of the deceased and uprooting stealthily some of the standing crops and only when he was caught and a tussle ensued and ' hullas' were raised they brought other accused suddenly into the scene. There is absolutely no evidence whatsoever to attribute any common object or such a thing having activated all of them to join in furtherance of the object either before arrival or during the course of occurrence as such.

Section 96 CPC

Defendant refused to execute the sale deed due to escalation in price
Trial Court has compensated the defendant by payment of additional price
Time was not the essence of the court
No delay in seeking remedy
Signature on agreement found spurious(not being what it purports to be; false or fake.)

Hon'ble Courts below while dispassionately gauging(assessing) at the factual matrix of the case failed to appreciate the crucial facts germane(relevant to a subject under consideration) to the issue filed at hand that neither the eyewitnesses nor the witnesses of the fact have assigned any specific role to the petitioner in the alleged commission of crime/scuffle.