It is a special procedure for hearing a civil suit wherein all the proceedings are to be carried out in a time bound manner and is referred to as a "summary suit trial." The process of summary suit may be used only in those civil cases where the relief claimed by the plaintiff is a fixed amount of money. The procedure for summary suit has been provided under Order XXXVII of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Benefits of a Summary Procedure in a Suit The advantages of the summary suit procedure are readily apparent from the provisions of Order ... Read More

If a party files a suit in a court of law; subsequently, the court investigates and trials the case and gives a final decision on its merits. In such a condition, the respective party has no right to file the same case in some other court or again in the same court (with the same issue). This is what the principle of res judicata explains. What is the Meaning of Res Judicata? Res Judicata is a Latin term, which means “a thing decided.” So, the doctrine of res judicata explains a rule of finality of judgment given against a dispute, ... Read More

The people are free to choose, a method for resolving their conflict. If one party to a dispute chooses to file a civil suit in court to resolve his dispute and seek legal remedies, the other party has to plead his defence and tell the court why he is not entitled to such a remedy. Now suppose the plaintiff is not aware of the party against whom he is entitled to get remedy. So in that situation, it would be difficult to do justice and give the remedy to the plaintiff. So in every suit, there must be at least ... Read More

Sometimes, because of some personal animosity or sometimes, even by mistake an innocent person is fabricated in a lawsuit. Such kind of malicious prosecution of a person, is a penal offence. What is the Meaning of Malicious Prosecution? Malicious prosecution may be defined as the institution of false criminal proceedings brought maliciously and without reasonable cause against an innocent person. However, in civil court, if a civil suit is filed by the plaintiff against a defendant with an ulterior motive and without a valid cause of action, only to gain an unfair advantage over the defendant by engaging him in ... Read More

The hearing of the case by the court having jurisdiction over the dispute means the entire proceedings of the trial before the court, which include the following: pleadings of both parties; issues framed by the court based on pleadings; evidence given before the court by both parties; cross-examination of the witnesses of the opposite parties; and arguments submitted by both parties in their favor. Then, after hearing the arguments of both parties, the presiding judge of the court reserves his order or judgement. This reservation of order is called the conclusion of the hearing. Then expeditiously, within 30 days of ... Read More

Every member of a modern civilized society has rights and duties under the law. In cases of violations of those rights and obligations by the other party, a remedy is also provided in the law itself as a matter of right. To avail themselves of that remedy, certain procedures must be followed by the aggrieved. In India, that procedure to file a suit is provided in the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. Section 26(1) of Code, provides that every suit shall be instituted by the presentation of a plaint. So for the institution of a suit, one must have a ... Read More

The legislature makes law, which defines the rights and obligations of the citizens. There are special laws that deal with a special type of right. The legislature takes comprehensive measures to consider the majority of the situations and circumstances that existed at the time the law was made. However, as time passed, those situations and circumstances changed significantly, necessitating the adoption of new laws or the modification of existing ones. No doubt, the legislature has sufficient power to amend any law so as to make it compatible with the present requirement. However, there are numerous situations faced by the courts ... Read More

The plaint is a written document that contains all the information about the facts given in chronological order, in separate paragraphs duly numbered, along with all the documents relied upon by the party (the plaintiff) filing the suit. A standard format for plaints for various types of civil suits is provided in Appendix A of the Code of Civil Procedure (1908). Particulars of the Plaint The particulars to be contained in a plaint are given in Rule 1 of Order 7 of the Code of Civil Procedure. So according to Rule 1 of Order 7, a plaint shall have ... Read More

In India, we have a three-tiered hierarchy of civil courts. The Supreme Court of India is at the top of the judicial hierarchy. In the middle of the hierarchy, we have the high court in every state, and then we have district courts (in every district). The Supreme Court exercises its power over the entire county, the high court in the entire state to which it belongs, and the district court in the district in which it is located. Legal Provisions for the Hierarchy and Jurisdiction of Court To understand the hierarchy of civil courts working in India, we have ... Read More

When someone files a lawsuit against someone in the court of law and that person (defendant) does not appear in court despite the fact that notice is served on time; in such a condition, court proceeds with the case in his absence (ex-parte) and gives a decision in the plaintiff’s favor. What is the Meaning of Ex-parte? The parties to the suit are given equal opportunity to prove their case. The plaintiff shall prove the case by placing evidence in the favor of his claim. The defendant shall prove his case to disprove the claim of the plaintiff. Both parties ... Read More