7 September 2021

Session on Legal research of Case Law by Sankalp Shandilya.

Noted and Translated by Pratiti Hazarika.
1. Precedent is law itself. If we can find old case laws with same fact it provides us upper edge since
it’s based on old courts, so the court is bound to follow it in the new case law. It gives us certainty
that since the court gave the judgement on the similar case it may happen in your case as well. Also
finding Precedent is important. FOR EX: - If we have 10 case laws and opposition have 5 case laws so
its beneficial for us keeping in mind the fact that the 10 case laws are relevant to the case.

2.What is moot court?

It’s a duplicate form of court for students and all the circumstances are artificial but we must defend
it like a real situation. Just like the Indian Court is lawful the moot courts are lawful as well and
precedent are required. Like if we can provide that for example the HC gave such a statement to the
state based on so or so fact and it matches with our case it provides an upstream. How can the court
give a statement against you when the court itself gave a different judgement on the same
circumstances at a particular time? Remember it’s not like the precedent never changes it can be
replaced by new precedents but its only in rare situations and when such kind of judgements
happen; we call it as LANDMARK JUDGEMENT. It is different from other judgement and it creates a
new precedent. Legal Research plays an important role in both moot and real court.

In civil court mostly raw cases are presented but in HC and SC for maximum judgements a large no.
of precedents are used. The SC decides which precedent is relevant in the case. In old case laws
there are 2 things

1. Ratio Decidendi 2. Stare Decisis

According to the principle of Stare Decisis is the main philosophy of the case, the main thing which
the court said. The Ratio Decidendi is not binding but the Stare Decisis is binding is accepting
precedent. The ratio is courts observation and Stare is on what basis the court gave the judgement.

If our new case is coming in HC or SC and if we are able to find some Stare Decisis from the past
which matches our case exquisitely and in same circumstances the court has given its judgement it’s
a plus point for our case.

If in previous case a bench of 2 judges gave a judgement, then Stare Decisis can only be changed by a
bench of 3 judges and to change that a bench of 4 Judge is required and gradually increases if the
case is same. For Kesavananda Bharati case highest no. of bench was used because of old cases like
Golaknath etc. They had small bench and gradually its size increased. Kesavananda Bharati the basic
doctrine evolved, and a large bench was required to change the precedent.

Try to find as many precedents as you can for moot court that the facts are same and even if the
facts are not same the judgements must be relevant to our case and the situation matches.

Void Ab initio meaning Contract done with someone below 18 is invalid. The Void Ab initio came
from a principle. The principle evolved through the Mohori bibee vs Dharmodas Ghose Case.
Whenever in moot court case related to child are proposed where one party is the child and the
another is a big company or other then if we put forward the Mohori bibee Case and say that my
case is Void Ab Initio so why does the child needs to pay compensation? In such situation the court
can’t give a different judgement. Indian Judiciary rely very much on Precedent. There maybe only a
few cases in HC and SC where precedent is not required but for most it does.
DECEPTION

When many people from a political party shifts.

(watch it in Live LAW)

CONTEMPT OF COURT
HC judgements/ precedents are not minding on SC but judgments/ precedents from the SC is binding
for all HC.

If Bihar HC gave a judgement while Assam HC gave another judgement, then the judgement from
Bihar HC can be a guiding principle for Assam HC and vice versa but it’s not binding on each other.
But the judgment from Bihar HC is binding for all the other district courts in Bihar similarly
judgements from Guwahati HC will be binding for all the other small courts in northeast. The one
who is at a higher post can create its precedent in its geographical area.