CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF LAW AND GOVERNANCE
Jawaharlal Nehru University
SEMINAR SERIES
Justice Suhrid D Dave
Retired Judge, Gujarat High Court
On
Ratio decidendi, Obiter dicta, and Precedents
Abstract : This talk would be on the subjects—Ratio decidendi, Obiter dicta, and Precedents—with a special reference to my dissent in the F B decision of the High Court of Gujarat in Mohd. Ayub v. Commissioner of Police, Ahmedabad [(1993) SCC OnLine Guj 94].
Article 141 of the Constitution makes the verdict of the S.C. binding on all the other Courts in the territory of India. Ratio in contradistinction to Obiter therefore requires to be appreciated with the assistance of the works of known jurists and the judgments of the S.C. The known tests of Wambaugh, Dr. Goodhart and Lord Halsbury also help in deciding whether something said by the Court is a ratio or not. These tests require appreciation and thus would form a part of this talk. It has also been noticed that sometimes the Judgments of the Supreme Court, having binding nature, are not being followed by the High Courts, by working out wicket gate or escape route. The talk will examine the working of this method as well.
3.00 PM, Thursday, 11 October 2018
Conference Room, CSLG, JNU
About the Speaker: Justice S. D. Dave, after retiring as a Judge of the High Court of Gujarat, has worked as the Chairman of the State Law Commission and the Chairman of the Gujarat State Electricity Regulatory Commission. He has also worked as Commission under The Commission of Inquiry Act, 1952. He is the author of two works: The Privy Council, the British Courts and the Personal Laws of India, and The Nuclear India.
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