A Guide to India’s Legal Research and Legal System
Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Judicial Administration in Ancient India
2. Legal System in India during the British Period
3. Constitution of India
4. Union and State Judiciary
5. Independence of Judiciary
6. Law Commission of India
7. Legal Profession
8. Legal Education
9. Manifestations of Legal Literature
10. Law Reporting in India
11. Legal Research Methodology
11.1. Finding Case Laws
11.2. Legislative Intent
11.3. Legislative Intent of Tax Statutes/Excise and Customs, Tariff, Excise Tariff and Service Tax, etc.
11.4. Research for the Material for Preparing Speeches
11.5. Law Lexicons/Legal Dictionaries
12. Important Legal Sources in India
12.1. Commentaries
12.2. Digests
12.3. Law Lexicon
12.4. Encyclopedic Reference Source
12.5. Manual of Central Acts
12.6. Statutory Rules
12.7. Important Law Reports in India
12.8. Important Academic Law Journals
13. Important Legal Websites in India
Introduction
India’s first major civilization flourished around 2500 BC in the Indus river valley. This civilization, which continued for 1000 years and is known as Harappan culture, appears to have been the culmination of thousands of years of settlement.
For many thousands of years, India’s social and religious structures have withstood invasions, famines, religious persecutions, political upheavals and many other cataclysms. Few other countries have national identities with such a long and vibrant history.
The roots of the present day human institutions lie deeply buried in the past. This is also true about the country’s law and legal system. The legal system of a country at any given time cannot be said to be creation of one man for one day; it represents the cumulative effect of the endeavour, experience, thoughtful planning and patient labour of a large number of people throughout generations.
The modern judicial system in India started to take shape with the control of the British in India during the 17th century. The British Empire continued till 1947, and the present judicial system in India owes much to the judicial system developed during the time of the British.
1. Judicial Administration in Ancient India
Law in ancient India meant “Dharma” in the broader sense. The Vedas, regarded as divine revelation, were the supreme source of authority for all codes which contained what was then understood as law or dharma. The traditional records have governed and molded the life and evolution of the Hindu community from age to age. These are supposed to have their source in the Rigveda.
Justice was administered in ancient India according to the rules of civil and criminal law as provided in the Manusmriti. There was a regular system of local courts from which an appeal lay to the superior court at the capital, and from there to the King in his own court. The King’s Court was composed of himself, a number of judges, and his domestic chaplain who directed his conscience; but they only advised and the decision rested with the King. Arbitrators in three gradations existed below the local courts: first of kinsmen, secondly of men of the same trade, and thirdly, of townsmen. An appeal lay from the first to the second, from the second to the third, and from the third to the local court. Thus under this system there were no less than five appeals. Decision by arbitration, generally of five (Panches), was very common when other means of obtaining justice were not available. The village headman was the judge and magistrate of the village community and also collected and transmitted the Government revenue.
2. Legal System in India during the British Period
India has one of the oldest legal systems in the world. Its law and jurisprudence stretches back centuries, forming a living tradition which has grown and evolved with the lives of its diverse people. The history of the present judicial system may be traced back to the year 1726, when a Charter was issued by King George I for bringing about important changes in the judicial administration of the Presidency Towns of Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. The system of appeals from India to the Privy Council in England was introduced by this Charter in 1726.
In order to bring about better management of the affairs of the East India Company, the East India Company Regulating Act of 1773 was promulgated by the King. This Act subjected the East India Company to the control of the British Government and made a provision for His Majesty by Charters or Letters Patent to establish the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William at Calcutta, superseding the then prevalent judicial system. The Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William was established by a letter patent issued on March 26, 1774. This Court, as a court of record, had full power and authority to hear and determine all complaints against any of His Majesty’s subjects for any crimes and also to entertain, hear and determine any suits or actions against any of His Majesty’s subjects in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa. Two more Supreme Courts, conceived along the same lines as that of the Supreme Court of Calcutta, were established at Madras and Bombay by King George III through Charters issued on 26th December, 1800 and on 8th December, 1823 respectively.
The role of the Privy Council has been a great unifying force and the instrument and embodiment of the rule of law in India. The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council was made a Statutory Permanent Committee of legal experts to hear appeals from the British Colonies in the year 1833 by an Act passed by the British Parliament. Thus, the Act of 1833 transformed the Privy Council into a great imperial court of unimpeachable authority.
The Indian High Court’s Act 1861 reorganized the then prevalent judicial system in the country by abolishing the Supreme Courts at Fort William, Madras, and Bombay, and also the then existing Sadar Adalats in the Presidency Towns. The High Courts were established having civil, criminal, admiralty, vice-admiralty, testimony, intestate, and matrimonial jurisdiction, as well as original and appellate jurisdiction.
Provincial autonomy was established in India with the establishment of the Government of India Act, 1935, which introduced responsibility at the provincial level and sought the Union of British Indian Provinces with the rulers of Estate in a federation. As a federal system depends largely upon a just and competent administration of the law between governments themselves, the 1935 Act provided for the establishment of the Federal Court, forerunner of the Supreme Court of India. The Federal Court was the second highest Court in the judicial hierarchy in India.
The Federal Court was the first Constitutional Court and also the first all-India Court of extensive jurisdiction, and it had Original Jurisdiction in matters where there was dispute between the provinces or federal States. It was also the Appellate Court for the judgments, decrees, or final orders of the High Courts. Thus, the Federal Court of India had original, appellate and advisory jurisdiction. The doctrine of precedent in India also had its roots in Federal Court as the law declared by the Federal Court and Privy Council has been given binding affect on all the courts in British India.
3. Constitution of India
The Indian Constitution is basically federal in form and is marked by the traditional characteristics of a federal system, namely Supremacy of the Constitution, division of power between the Union and State, and the existence of an independent judiciary in the Indian Constitution. The three organs of the State – State, Legislature and Judiciary – have to function within their own spheres demarcated under the Constitution. In other words, the doctrine of Separation of Powers has been implicitly recognized by the Indian Constitution. The basic structure of the Constitution is unchangeable and only such amendments to the Constitution are allowed which do not affect its basic structure or rob it of its essential character. The Constitution of India recognizes certain basic fundamental rights for every citizen of India, such as the Right to Equality, the Right to Freedom, the Right against exploitation, the Right to Freedom of Religion, Cultural and Educational rights, and the Right to Constitutional Remedies. Any infringement of fundamental rights can be challenged by any citizen of India in the court of law. The Constitution of India also prescribes some fundamental duties on every citizen in India.
4. Union and State Judiciary
Chapter IV of the Constitution of India deals with the “Union Judiciary,” which provides for the establishment and constitution of the Supreme Court.
The Supreme Court, since its inception, was empowered with jurisdiction far greater than that of any comparable court anywhere in the world.
As a federal court, it has exclusive jurisdiction to determine disputes between the Union of India and any state and the states inter-se. Under Article 32, it issue writs for enforcement of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India.
As an appellate court, it could hear appeals from the state high courts on civil, criminal and constitutional matters.
It has the special appellate power under Article 136 to grant leave to appeal from any tribunal or court. Thus, it is a forum for the redressing of grievance not only in its jurisdiction as conferred by the constitution, but also as a platform and forum for every grievance in the country which requires judicial intervention.
The Supreme Court, with the present strength of 25 judges and the chief justice, is the repository of all judicial powers at the national level. Supreme Court judges holds office until they reach the age of 65 years.
The State Judiciary consists of a high court for each state and subordinate courts in each district. Each high court consists of a chief justice and a number of puisne judges. The high court judges are appointed by the President after consultation with the chief justice of India and the chief justice of that state. The high court judge holds office until he reaches the age of 62 years.
5. Independence of Judiciary
The principle of the independence of justice is a basic feature of the constitution. In a country like India, which is marching along the road to social justice with the banner of democracy and the rule of law, the principle of independence of justice should not only be treated as an abstract conception but also a living faith.
Independence of justice deals with the independence of the individual judges in relation to their appointment, tenure, and payment of salaries, and also non-removal except by process of impeachment. It also means the “Institutional Independence of the Judiciary”. The concept of independence of justice is a noble concept which inspires the constitutional scheme and constitutes the foundation on which rests the edifice of our democratic polity.
It is absolutely essential that the judiciary must be free from executive pressure or influence and this has been secured by the constitution maker by making elaborate provisions in the constitution of India.
6. Law Commission of India
The Law Commission of India was started in 1955 by an executive order. In order to confront new situations and problems which arise from time to time and to amend law which calls for amendment, a body like the Law Commission is absolutely essential. This is because it is a body which is not committed to any political party and which consists of judges and lawyers, who are expert in the field and who would bring to bear upon the problems purely judicial and impartial minds. As the parliament is very busy in day-to-day debates and discussions, its members do not have the necessary time to consider legal changes required to meet the new situations and problems in a constructive manner. For that the Law Commission may be able to serve its purpose effectively.
The function of the law commission is to study the existing laws, suggest amendments to the same if necessary, and to make recommendations for enacting new laws. The recommendations for amendment of the existing laws are made by the commission either suo motu or on the request of the government.
Presently, the eighteenth Law Commission is in existence. The Law Commission in India has brought out 207 scholarly reports to date on various legal aspects. The full text for each report is available on the commission’s website.
7. Legal Profession
The profession of law is called a noble profession, and lawyers are a force for the perseverance and strengthening of constitutional government because they are guardians of the modern legal system. The first step in the direction of organizing a legal profession in India was taken in 1774 with the establishment of the Supreme Court at Calcutta. The Supreme Court was empowered “to approve, admit and enroll such and so many advocates, Vakils and Attorneys-at-law” as to the court “shall seem meet”. The Bengal Regulation VII of 1793 for the first time created a regular legal profession for the companies’ courts. Other, similar regulations were passed to regulate the legal profession in the Companies courts in Bengal, Bihar, Orissa, Madras, and Bombay.
The Legal Practitioner Act of 1879 was enacted to consolidate and amend the law relating to legal practitioners. This empowered an advocate/Vakil to enroll on the roll in any high court and to practice in all the Courts subordinate to the high court concerned, and also to practice in any court in British India other than the high court on whose roll he was not enrolled.
After independence of India, it was felt that the judicial administration in India should be changed according to the needs of the time. Presently, the legal profession in India is governed by the Advocates Act of 1961, which was enacted on the recommendation of the Law Commission of India to consolidate the law relating to legal practitioners and to provide for the constitution of the Bar Council and the All India Bar. Under the Advocates Act, the Bar Council of India has been created as a statutory body to admit persons as advocates on its roll, to prepare and maintain such roll, to entertain and determine instances of misconduct against advocates on its roll and to safeguard the rights, privileges, and interests of advocates on its roll. The Bar Council of India is also an apex statutory body which lays down standards of professional conduct and etiquette for advocates, while promoting and supporting law reform.
8. Legal Education
Legal education in India is regulated by the Bar Council of India, which is a statutory body constituted under the Advocates’ Act of 1961. There are two types of graduate level law courses in India:
(i) A 3 year course after graduation; and,
(ii) A 5 year integrated course after the 10 + 2 leading to a graduate degree with honors and a degree in law.
The Bar Council of India rules prescribe norms for recognition of the universities/colleges imparting legal education. A graduate from a recognized law college, under the Advocates Act of 1961, is only entitled to be registered as an advocate with the Bar Council, and any law graduate registered with Bar Council is eligible to practice in any court of law in India.
9. Manifestations of Legal Literature
Legal fraternity may need different types of information, such as case laws, statutory provisions, rules framed under any act, object and reasons of any act, amendment of any act, notifications issued under any particular statute, debates in parliament at the time of enactment of any particular act, or academic articles on a given topic in different situations.
Legal literature manifests itself in many forms such as:
(i) Bare Acts
(ii) Commentaries on specific laws
(iii) Manuals/local acts
(iv) Reports
a) Law Commission Reports
b) Committee/Commission Reports
c) Annual Reports
d) Parliamentary Committee Reports
Ø Joint Committee
Ø Select Committee
Ø Standing Committee
(v) Gazettes
a) Central Government
b) State Government
(vi) Parliamentary Debates
Ø Constituent Assembly Debates
Ø Lok Sabha Debates
Ø Rajya Sabha Debates
(vii) Parliamentary Bills
Ø Lok Sabha Bills
Ø Rajya Sabha Bills
Ø State Legislature Bills
(viii) Law Journals
Ø Academic Journals (containing articles only)
Ø Law Reports (containing only the full text of case laws)
Ø Hybrid, i.e. a combination of both articles and case laws. Some of the journals also publish statutory materials such as acts, amendments, rules, etc.
Ø Only legislative materials such as acts, rules, notifications, etc.
(ix) Digests
(x) Legal Dictionaries/Law Lexicons
(xi) Legal encyclopedic works: such as American jurisprudence, corpus juris secundum, Halsbury law of England, and Halsbury laws of India.
10. Law Reporting in India
The theory of binding force of precedent is firmly established in England. A judge is bound to follow the decision of any court recognized as competent to bind him, and it becomes his duty to administer the law as declared by such a court. The system of precedent has been a powerful factor in the development of the common law in England.
Because of common law heritage, the binding force of precedents has also been firmly established in India, meaning thereby that the judgments delivered by the superior courts are as much the law of the country as legislative enactments.
The theory of precedent brings in its wake the system of law reporting as its necessary concomitant. Publication of decisions is a condition necessary for the theory of precedent to operate; there must be reliable reports of cases. If the cases are to be binding, then there must be precise records of what they lay down, and it is only then that the doctrine of stare decisis can function meaningfully.
The Indian Law Reports Act of 1875 authorizes the publication of the reports of the cases decided by the high courts in the official report and provides that, “No Court shall be bound to hear cited, or shall receive or treat as an authority binding on it the report of any case decided by any of the said High Courts on or after the said day other than a report published under the authority of the Governor-General-in-Council.”
Though the Law Reports Act gave authenticity to the official reports, it did not take away the authority of unpublished precedents or give a published decision a higher authority than that possessed by it as a precedent. A Supreme Court or high court decision is authoritative by itself, not because it is reported.
The practice of citing unreported decisions thus led to the publication of a large number of private reports. The unusual delay in publication of official reports and incompleteness of the official reports made the private reports thrive, resulting in a number of law reports in India being published by non-official agencies on a commercial basis.
In India, there are more than 300 law reports published in the country. They cover a very wide range and are published from various points of view. A “union catalogue” compiled by the Supreme Court Judges’ Library of the current law journals subscribed by the libraries of various high court and Supreme Court judges (appended at the end of this paper) gives details of various law reports published from India. It also gives details of various foreign law reports submitted by law libraries in India, which gives an idea of the “foreign journals” being used by the legal fraternity in the country.
11. Legal Research Methodology
Legal fraternity may require different types of information for different purposes. One’s search strategy for retrieving the desired information has to be formulated on the basis of the “information requirement” at hand. The most common types of information sought by the legal fraternity are:
Ø Any particular case law
Ø Case laws on a specific topic
Ø Legislative intent of any act
Ø Material for speeches to be delivered
Ø Legislative history of any particular enactment
Ø Corresponding foreign law to any statutory provision in India
Ø Meaning of any particular “word” or “phrase”
11.1 Finding Case Laws
The most common methods for finding the case laws on a subject are “digests” and “commentaries” on particular subjects. Subject indexes given at the end of the commentaries are a very useful aid to find out the desired case law on specific aspect. If there is no commentary on any particular enactment, “AIR Manual” published by M/s All India Reporter, Nagpur can be treated as a very useful source for finding out the case law on any Central Statute.
In the electronic era, legal databases both online and on CD-ROM, are also very useful for finding any particular case law or case laws on specific topics.
11.2. Legislative Intent
In case of any ambiguity while interpreting the provision of any statute, judges have to examine the “legislative intent” of the legislature for enacting a particular legislation. The legislative intent of any provision can be ascertained with the help of the following tools:
Ø Objects and Reasons of the Act (published in the bill)
Ø Parliamentary debates
Ø Law Commission Reports (if the bill has been introduced on the recommendation of the Law Commission)
Ø Standing Committee/ Joint/Select Committee Reports
Ø Reports of the Committee appointed by the ministries for enacting/reviewing any existing enactments.
“Objects and reasons” are published in the bill introduced in the Parliament for ascertaining the legislative intent of any particular provision; they are considered very important and, for that reason, the corresponding bill of any particular act has to be examined.
Law Commission Reports, while proposing any new enactment or proposing any amendment in the existing statute, review the legal position on that particular aspect in India as well as in other countries. Hence Law Commission reports are treated as useful tools for ascertaining the legislative intent.
When a bill is introduced in the Upper House or Lower House, sometimes it is referred to a Parliamentary Committee which examines the bill and submits a report to the Parliament. Hence, these reports also contain the background material of any act and can be treated as a useful source for determining legislative intent.
“Parliamentary debates” on any bill are always helpful in assessing the legislative intent of the enactment of any particular statute because they contain the speech given by the law minister at the time of introducing the bill and the specific discussions in the House thereafter.
11.3. Legislative Intent of Tax Statutes/Excise and Customs, Tariff, Excise Tariff and Service Tax etc.
Tax Statutes are amended on a year-to-year basis by the “Finance Act” passed by the Parliament/State Legislatures after the budget session. Whenever the constitutionality of any provision is challenged or there is any dispute in the interpretation of any provision in any taxing statute, courts have to ascertain the legislative intent of that provision. Legislative intent of any taxing statutes may be ascertained with the help of the following documents:
Ø “Notes on Clauses” given in the Finance Bill/Finance Act.
Ø “Budget Speech” of the Finance Minister.
Ø “Parliamentary Debates” related to specific clauses.
In every finance bill there is a note for each clause under the heading “Notes on Clauses,” which gives an indication of the purpose for which the corresponding provision is introduced.
Speeches delivered by the Finance Minister of the Union government while presenting the budget in the Parliament or by the State Finance Ministers, while presenting the budget in the state legislatures, are important instruments for ascertaining the purpose of levying a particular tax and serve as an important source of information for the honorable judges for interpreting the provisions of a taxing statute while rendering a decision in any case.
11.4. Research for the Material for Preparing Speeches
Articles published in the law journals on any specific topic are necessary informational resources for writing speeches and can be searched by browsing through the journals, browsing through the legal databases, and browsing through the indexes of the legal articles.
Besides articles, legislative histories of the enactment relating to the topic, objects and reasons, law commission or committee reports, if any, on the topic concerned, and statistics, are important. The internet is a useful tool for retrieving the statistical information on the relevant topic through various governmental websites.
The legislative history of any particular enactment can be traced with the help of the latest Bare Act. After identifying the amendments in a particular act, original amendments are to be retrieved from the government gazettes or journals containing statutory information. Objects and reasons of the particular amendment also give useful insight for the purpose of amendment in any particular act. The legislation database, developed by the Supreme Court judges’ library, is also a very useful tool for ascertaining the legislative history of any central act in India. This database is going to be made available very soon on the website of the Supreme Court.
Corresponding foreign law to any statutory provision in India can be traced with the help of any international legal database containing statutory information, such as Westlaw or LexisNexis. Commentaries on the foreign case laws on the subject may also be examined for identifying the corresponding statutory provisions.
11.5. Law Lexicons/Legal Dictionaries
When the meaning of a particular word or phrase used in any statute is to be interpreted, in case of any dispute between the parties on the interpretation of a particular word, law lexicons/ legal dictionaries are to be consulted in order to find out whether that particular word has been interpreted by any court. And if that word has been interpreted in any decision by any court, the court has to give its decision on the basis of the appropriate meaning of that particular word defined in any decision of any court.
12. Important Legal Sources in India
12.1. Commentaries
CONSTITUTIONAL LAW
1
Seervai H.M.
Constitutional Law of India : A Critical Commentary, Edn. 4, Vols. 3, 1996.
Bombay: N.M. Tripathi Pvt. Ltd., 1991-1996.
2
Basu D.D.
Shorter Constitution of India, Edn. 13.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2001
3
Jain M.P.
Indian Constitutional Law, Edn. 5, Vols. 2.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2003
4
Datar Arvind P.
Commentary on the Constitution of India, Edn. 2, Vols. 3.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2007
ADMINISTRATIVE LAW
1
Jain M.P.
Principles of Administrative Law, Edn. 6, Vols. 2.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2007
2
Wade H.W.R.
Administrative Law, Edn. 9.
New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2005 (Indian Edn. 2004)
INDIAN PENAL CODE
1
Batuk Lal & Nakvi S.K.A.
Commentary on the Indian Penal Code, Vols. 2.
New Delhi: Orient Pub. Co., 1860
2
Ratan Lal & Dhiraj Lal
Law of Crime: A Commentary on Indian Penal Code 1860, Edn. 26, Vols. 2.
New Delhi: Bharat Law House, 2007.
3
Gour Hari Singh
Commentaries on the Indian Penal Code, Edn. 13 (Abridged) 2006
Allahabad : Law Publishers, 2006
CODE OF CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
1
Mitra B.B.
Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, Edn. 20, Vols. 2.
Calcutta: Kamal Law House, 2003.
2
Ratan Lal & Dhiraj Lal
Code of Criminal Procedure, Edn. 18, Vols. 2.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2006.
3
Sarkar S.C. & Ors.
Law of Criminal Procedure, Edn. 9, Vols. 2.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2007
4
Princep
Code of Criminal Procedure, Edn. 19, Vols. 2.
Delhi: Delhi Law House, 2008.
COMPANY LAW
1
Ramaiya A.
Guide to Companies Act, Edn. 16, Vols. 3 + 3 Appendix Volumes.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2004.
INCOME TAX
1
Kanga J.B. & Palkhivala N.A.
Law and Practice of Income Tax, Edn. 9, Vols. 2.
New Delhi: Lexis Nexis, 2004.
EVIDENCE
1
Monir M.
Law of Evidence, Edn. 14, Vols. 2.
Delhi: Universal Law Pub. Co. 2006.
2
M.C. Sarkar & Ors.
Law of Evidence in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Burma & Ceylon, Edn. 16, Vols. 2.
Nagpur; Wadhwa & Co., 2007.
CODE OF CIVIL PROCEDURE
1
Mulla D.F.
Code of Civil Procedure, Edn. 17, Vols. 4.
New Delhi: Lexis Nexis, 2007
2
Sarkar P.C. & Sarkar S.C.
Law of Civil Procedure, Edn. 11, Vols. 2.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2006.
3
Thakker C.K.
Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, Edn. 5, Vols. 1-3-
Lucknow: Eastern Book Co., 2000-
CONTRACT LAW
1
Pullock F. & Mulla D.F.
Indian Contract and Specific Relief Acts, Edn. 13, Vols. 2.
New Delhi: Lexis Nexis, 2006.
ARBITRATION
1
Kwatra G.K.
Arbitration and Conciliation Law of India, Edn. 7.
New Delhi: ICA/Universal Law Pub., 2008
2
Markanda P.C.
Law relating to Arbitration & Conciliation, Edn. 6.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2006.
3
Bachawat R.S.
Law of Arbitration & Conciliation, Edn. 4, Vols. 2.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2005.
4
Malhotra O.P. & Malhotra Indu
Law & Practice of Arbitration and Conciliation
New Delhi: Lexis Nexis, 2006.
INTERPRETATION OF STATUTES
1
Singh, Guru Prasanna
Principles of Statutory Interpretation, Edn. 10.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2006.
12.2. Digests
1
Surendra Malik
Supreme Court Yearly Digest
Lucknow: E.B. Co., 2007.
2
Complete Digest of Supreme Court Cases, Vol. 1-10- (Since 1950-
Lucknow: E.B. Co., 2007
3
Supreme Court Millennium Digest 1950-2000, Vol. 1-18.
Nagpur: AIR Publications.
12.3. Law Lexicon
1
Aiyar Ramanatha P.
Advanced Law Lexicon: Encyclopedia Law Dictionary with Legal Maxims, Latin Terms and Words & Phrases, Edn. 3, (Revised & Enlarged), Vols. 4.
Nagpur: Wadhwa & Co., 2005
2
Aiyar K.J.
Judicial Dictionary, Edn. 13
New Delhi: Butterworths India 2001
3
Prem, Daulat Ram
Judicial Dictionary, Vols. 2
Jaipur: Bharat Law Publications, 1992.
4
Legal Glossary published by Ministry of Law, Justice & Co. Affairs, 2001
12.4. Encyclopedic Reference Source
1
Halsbury’s Laws of India, Approx 30 Vols.
New Delhi: Butterworths 1999-
12.5. Manual of Central Acts
1
Manohar & Chitley
AIR Manual: Civil and Criminal, Edn. 6, Vol. 1-10, 13-14-
Nagpur: AIR Pvt. Ltd., 2004
2
Encyclopedia of Important Central Acts & Rules, Vols. 20,
Delhi: Universal Law Publishers, 2004, Reprint 2005
12.6. Statutory Rules
1
Malik & Manchanda
Encyclopedia of Statutory Rules Under Central Acts, Edn. 2
Allahabad: Law Publishers (India Pvt.) Ltd., 1989.
12.7. Important Law Reports in India
There are approximately 350 law journals, which are being published in India. The most cited law report containing Supreme Court decisions is “Supreme Court Cases (SCC)” followed by “All India Reporter (AIR)” and “Supreme Court Report (SCR)”. Major law journals containing the Supreme Court judgments are as under:
1. Supreme Court Cases
2. AIR (SC)
3. Supreme Court Reports
4. Judgment Today
5. SCALE
An analysis of the citations in the Supreme Court shows that “Supreme Court Cases” is the most used law report cited by about 60% of the advocates in the Supreme Court.
12.8. Important Academic Law Journals
1
Annual Survey of Indian Law
New Delhi: ILI
2
Journal Indian Law Institute
3
Journal of Constitutional & Parliamentary Studies
4
Indian Journal of International Law
5
Indian Bar Review
6
National Law School of Indian Review
7
Journal of Human Rights (NHRC)
13. Important Legal Websites in India
The Supreme Court judges’ library has developed some very useful in-house legal databases, namely “SUPLIS” “SUPLIB” and “LEGISLATION”. These databases are going to be released very soon on the website of the Supreme Court of India.
192.100.2.61/suplis
13.1. SUPLIS (Database of Case Laws)
SUPLIS is an indexing database of case laws decided by the honorable Supreme Court. This database consists of more than 42,000 case laws since 1950. This database is very useful in finding out the desired case laws. As soon as a cyclostyled copy of any judgment is received in the library it is immediately entered in this database after assigning subject headings and a famous case name (if any). This database is unique, as it contains some important features that are not available in other legal databases developed by commercial vendors. Besides retrieval of case laws by subject and case title, it also provides search capability by a “famous case name” (if any) assigned at the time of the entry – for example: “Bhopal Gas Case”, “Rajiv Gandhi assassination case,” “Mandal Commission Case,” etc. SUPLIS also provides “equivalent citations” of case laws so that, in the event that a particular journal is unavailable, that case law could be made available from another journal with the help of this facility. The retrieval menu of the SUPLIS is as under:
192.100.5.56/suplib
13.2. SUPLIB (Database of Legal Articles)
Research articles published in various law reports and academic journals contain valuable information as they are written after comprehensive research on the aspect they deal with. SUPLIB is a database of legal articles published in about 200 foreign and Indian law reports subscribed to by the library. Presently, this database consists of more than 12,000 articles. Immediately after receipt of a journal in the library, important articles are identified, indexed, and entered in this database under all possible subject headings. This database is very useful for the library staff for identifying the articles needed by the honorable judges on a particular aspect and is one of the most used databases in the Supreme Court Judges Library. Retrieval menu of SUPLIB database is as under:
SUPREME COURT JUDGES LIBRARY
LEGAL ARTICLES RETRIVAL SYSTEM
192.100.2.61/legis
SUBJECT WISE
JOURNAL WISE
TITLE WISE
AUTHOR WISE
3. Legislations (Database of Acts, Rules & all Statutory Materials)
Statutory materials such as bills, acts, joint committee reports, select committee reports, law commission reports, parliamentary and assembly debates, rules, by-laws, schemes, etc, are among the most important and sought-after library materials in any law library. The Legislative Database is a database for central government acts including amendments, rules, bills, and all subordinate legislations relating to central as well as state acts. This database is very useful for tracing the complete legislative history of any particular central or state act. All the amendments in acts, rules, schemes and by-laws framed under any particular enactment could be readily identified and retrieved with the help of their citations / source given in this database. If the text of any particular central act is desired, a link for “India Code,” which is a database of the Ministry of Law, is also provided to access the full text of the desired central act. The retrieval menu of this database is as under:
4. Supreme Court of India
This is the official website of the Supreme Court of India. It contains information about the full text of the Constitution of India, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, golden jubilee celebration, Rules, former CJI’s, present CJI and judges, calendar of the Supreme Court, registrars, and former judges. This site also has links to “Indian Courts”, “JUDIS”, “Daily Orders”, “Case Status”, “Cause List”, “Courts Websites”, and India Code.
The “Equivalent Citation Table” developed by the Supreme Court Judges Library, which gives parallel citations of any case in four major law repots in India, namely “Supreme Court Cases”, “AIR(SC)”, “JT” and “SCALE,” can also be accessed through this website.
5. Parliament of India
This consists of three separate home pages: President of India, Rajyasabha & Lok Sabha.
(i) President of India
This consists of information & photographs of Rastrapati Bhawan a photo gallery of former presidents along with other information, parliamentary addresses, speeches, addresses and parliamentary addresses of the president.
(ii) Rajya Sabha
This contains information about business, members, questions, debates, legislation, and committees. It is useful for retrieving information from Rajyasabha debates, information about the Rajyasabha bills, and various committees constituted by Rajyasabha. It also provides links to the other country’s parliamentary sites, as well as legislative sites for all the states of other countries.
(iii) Lok Sabha
This is also a very important site which provides information regarding recent and previous members, committees, procedures of the house, debates, etc. It is useful for retrieving the information regarding any bill pending in the house, debate of the house, procedure of the house and about the collection of the parliament library. It also provides a link to various official sites in the country. A link to all of the sites of various ministries is also provided.
6. TRAI
This is the official site of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which informs about the TRAI Act. The Telecom policy service provides registered agency regulations, which can be retrieved through this site. This site is important for retrieving tariff orders as well as the judgments delivered by the authority.
7. Central Electricity Regulatory Committee
This site is an important site for knowing about the regulations, orders, power data, tariff notifications, and schedules of hearings of the authority. All the orders / decisions of the authority are available on this site in a chronological fashion.
8. SEBI Securities and Exchange Board of India
This site is the official site of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, and provides information on the legal framework of the SEBI, including auto rules. Regulations, orders / rulings of the tribunal as well as of chairman / members, and reports and documents of the boards are also available on this site.
9. Ministry of Company Affairs
This is an important site for knowing any information related to company affairs. Reports of various committees such as company law, notifications and circulars issued by the Ministry of Company Affairs and Information about the vanishing companies, corporate groups and concept paper are available on this site.
10. Ministry of Law & Justice
This is a very important site as it contains a link to “India Code,” which provides online access to the full text of any central act of Parliament. It also provides a link to various important legal websites.
11. Law Commission of India
This is a very useful site as it contains the full text of many law commission reports and a list of all law commission reports in the countries. It also contains consultation papers of the law commission on various legal aspects.
12. India Code Information System (incodis)
This website belongs to legislative department of India. This is an important site for retrieving the full text of any of the central acts which are being regularly updated after amendment, if any. The full text of the Constitution of India is also available on this site. It also contains the text of the parliamentary bills / legislative bills, as well as information regarding the bills which are being introduced or passed in the current session of the Parliament. A CD-Rom version of the Constitution of India and the election laws manual could also be ordered with the help of a requisition form available on this site.
13. India Image
This is another important site developed by NIC, which is being framed as, “[a] gateway to the government of India information over the web”. This is a very comprehensive site which verbally provides something on everything about the government of India. It contains a Government of India directory, India fact file, and information about any district in India with facts and statistics. Results of various examinations and important documents such as the union budget, economic survey, and India vision 2020 are also available. It also contains government policies, provides links to Indian Railways and Indian Airlines and all other important Indian websites. Other related information could also be retrieved with the help of this site.
14. Indian Judiciary
This is the most important website of the Government of India, which provides invaluable information regarding the judiciary, covering all the cases of the Supreme Court and High Courts (reportable / non-reportable), decided or pending. It also provides information about all of the high courts. Its sub-websites are as follows:
· Judis: Contains information regarding the judgments of the Supreme Court (decided cases) from 1950 to date. It also covers judgments of the high courts.
· Daily Orders: It provides the latest daily orders of the Supreme Court and high courts.
· Courtnic: The current status of any case, i.e. information of all pending and disposed cases including next date of listing, date of disposal, etc, is easily available on this site. It also provides the text of latest orders.
· Causelists: Contains information regarding causelists, including weekly lists, advance lists, daily lists and supplementary lists of the Supreme Court and high courts.
· Court Web Sites: This provides links to the websites of the high court and some district courts.
· India Code: Can be accessed from the provided link on this site.
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