“MORALITY CANNOT

BE LEGISLATED, BUT
BEHAVOIUR CAN BE
REGULATED.
JUDICIAL DECREES
MAY NOT CHANGE
THE HEART BUT
THEY MAY RESTRAIN
THE HEARTLESS”

Martin Luther King ,Jr.

 MEANING OF LAW

 SET OF RULES AND REGULATIONS IMPOSED BY AUTHORITY

 IGNORANCE OF LAW IS NO EXCUSE

 LAW IS NECESSARY FOR ORDER, PEACE ,DISCIPLINE IN SOCIETY

 PENAL PROVISIONS FORM AN INTEGRAL PART OF ANY STATUTE

INTRODUCTION

WHY LAW?
• We are all members of civilised society and want to have justice, peace, order
and discipline in the society. This can be ensured only when there are laws.
• Ignorance of law is no excuse i.e. every person is presumed to know the law.
MEANING OF LAW
• Rules and regulations imposed and enforced by an authority to regulate people’s
behavior, protect their rights and prevent the conflicts within the society.
• Non-compliance of laws can be disastrous and inorder to check such tendencies,
penal provisions form an integral part of any statute.
MAJOR BRANCHES OF LAW
• Criminal Law
• Civil Law
 CIVIL LAW VS CRIMINAL LAW
CIVIL LAW CRIMINAL LAW

MEANING Civil law regulates disputes between private parties Criminal law regulates crimes or wrongs committed against
government or society

PURPOSE Safeguard the rights\duties of individuals to each To protect the society

other

WHO TAKES ACTION A private party - individual, company or group of State takes action against offenders.
AGAINST WRONGDOERS people can bring action against offenders

VIOLATIONS Torts Crimes

PENALTIES Monetary damages \compensation\ specific Fines, imprisonment, death ,restitution

performance\ injunctions

PARTIES Plaintiff and defendant Prosecutor and defendant

OUTCOME Liable or not liable Guilty or not guilty

COMPOSITION Made up of Substantive law and Procedural law Made up of Substantive law and Procedural law
 COGNISABLE VS NON COGNISABLE OFFENCE
BASIS COGNISABLE OFFENCE NON-COGNISABLE OFFENCE

Arrest A police officer may arrest without warrant A police officer cannot arrest without warrant and
and can start investigation without the cannot start an investigation without the permission of
permission of court court
Nature Serious Not much serious

Example Murder, rape, dowrydeath , theft, kidnapping Assault, cheating, forgery etc.
etc.

FIR Police officer is bound to register the FIR even Police officer is not bound to register the FIR.He cannot
without magistrate's permission register the FIR without magistrate's permission

Bail It is a non- bailable offence It is a bailable offence

Prosecution Considered as public wrongs and so Considered as a private wrongs and so prosecution of
prosecution of offender is left to the initiative offender is left to the initiative of private persons
of the State
 JUDGEMENT VS DECREE

JUDGMENT DECREE
1. Judgement is passed 1. Decree is executed and enforced.

2. Judgement contains all facts of the case, issues 2. Decree is the operating part of judgement and is prepared
of dispute, charges framed, details of evidences, on the basis of judgement.
findings of court etc.
3. A judgement is reasoning given by the judge as 3. A decree is what the court orders a party to do. eg.
to why the decree was given ordering a party to pay money or perform a contract.
4. Judgement contains detailed case history and 4. Decree is the synopsis of the relief granted to the plaintiff
findings of court or defendant on the basis of judgement

5. Judgement contains the grounds of decree. 5. Decree follows the judgment.

6. Judgment may be passed in civil suits as well 6. Decree is passed in a civil suit.
as in criminal cases.
 TRIBUNAL VS COURT

BASIS FOR
TRIBUNAL COURT
COMPARISON
Meaning Tribunals can be described as minor Court refers to a part of legal system, which is
courts, established under a statute, that established by the State , to give decisions on civil
adjudicates disputes arising in special and criminal cases.
cases

Decision Awards Judgement, decree, conviction or acquittal

Deals with Specific matters Variety of cases

Structure Less formal, less expensive and faster Formal , expensive, time-consuming process
way to resolve disputes

Headed/manned Chairperson / president and other Judge, jury (panel of judges) or magistrate
by judicial and technical members

Code of Procedure No such code of procedure. They have It has to follow the code of procedure strictly.
their own procedure
INTRODUCTION

BUSINESS LAW/ MERCHANTILE LAW

• It is the branch of law concerning trade, industry and commerce.
• The scope of Business Law has become very wide and includes the laws relating to
Contracts, Sale of Goods, Partnerships, Companies, Negotiable Instruments, Insurance,
etc.
• In the earlier times there was no uniformity in the way business transactions were
regulated. For example, where both parties to a transaction were Hindus, they were
regulated by the Hindu Law; where both were Muslims, the Mohammadan Law was
applied; where one party was Hindu and another Muslim, then personal law of the
defendant was applied. And in other cases where parties were other than Hindu or
Muslim or where their respective personal laws were silent on any point, the courts
generally applied the principles of English Law. Hence there was a need for coming out
with uniform law to regulate business and this gave birth to the Indian Contract
Act,1872.Since then a number of statutes have been enacted to cover different aspects of
business such as The Negotiable Instruments Act,1881; The Sale of Goods Act, 1930 etc.
INTRODUCTION OF BUSINESS LAW
Main sources of Indian Business Law are-
• English Merchantile Law-It is the foundation on which the super-structure of Indian
Busines law has been built. Even today our courts take recourse to the English Law
when there is some ambiguity or our Act is silent on some point
• The Statute Law -The bulk of Indian Merchantile Law is Statute Law which comprises
of various Acts, Rules, Regulations etc. When a bill is passed by the Parliament and
signed by the President, it becomes an ‘Act’ or a ‘Statute’
• Case Law / Past Judicial Decisions-They are referred to as precedents and are of great
help while deciding similar cases. When an Act is silent on any point , or there is
ambiguity or there are no precedents, the judge has to decide the case according to
the principles of Justice, equity and good conscience
• Customs and Usages-practices and traditions which have been used for a long period
of time in the past and continuing to the present day have the same effect as that of
law.eg. the widespread use of Hundis; in an auction goods are always sold to the
 INTRODUCTION- Important terms
TERM MEANING
mutatis- mutandis As it is, Ditto
prima facie at first sight, at the very first reading
mens-rea Criminal intent, guilty mind
quid-pro-quo Consideration, anything in return
sine-qua-non Pre-requisite
suo-motto On your own
caveat emptor Let the buyer beware
ab-initio From the very beginning
quantum meruit Propotionate, as much as is earned
delegatus nonpotest delegare A delegate cannot further delegate
bonafide Genuine. With a good intention
malafide With bad intention. With intent to deceive

jus in rem Right against a particular thing; right to enjoy goods as against the whole world
jus in personam Right against a particular person; right to sue the other person incase of any default by him