Justice UU Lalit Stresses Importance Of Knowledge About Comparable Laws From Other Countries As Well
4th May, 2022:Justice U. U Lalit of the Supreme Court inaugurated a Certificate Course on Comparative Constitutional and Public Law at the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi in association with the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) and technical support from Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy & Training (MILAT). Mr R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate and former member of the...
4th May, 2022:
Justice U. U Lalit of the Supreme Court inaugurated a Certificate Course on Comparative Constitutional and Public Law at the Indian Law Institute, New Delhi in association with the Commonwealth Legal Education Association (CLEA) and technical support from Menon Institute of Legal Advocacy & Training (MILAT). Mr R Venkataramani, Senior Advocate and former member of the Law Commission ,also delivered his views on the subject.
In his inaugural address to the students, Justice Lalit noted that the"Geographical barriers or the national frontiers in today's world are shrinking", referring to how international declarations such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UNCITRAL are adopted in municipal laws by various countries in the format which is most suitable for them.
The give and take by courts across jurisdictions:
J. Lalit recalled multiple instances where references were made to judgments of other jurisdictions in landmark cases to establish the practice of 'give and take' employed by the courts.
- In S R Bommai (1994 AIR 1918) the dissolution of assembly was considered and in case the notification dissolving the assembly is found to be incorrect, what shall be the sequitur of that? The court relied on a Pakistan judgment that was delivered in the Nawaz Sharif Case. In the Nawaz Sharif case, in turn, Pakistan Supreme Court relied on a host of Indian decisions.
- In Nilabati Behera, (1993 AIR 1960) J. Anand's judgment was cited with approval in the New Zealand Supreme Court and then that very judgment was quoted extensively in one of the orders passed in DK Basu (AIR 1997 SC 610) by J. Anand himself.
- In the Triple Talaq judgment (2017 9 SCC 1) Chief Justice Khehar, in his minority dissent copiously extracted the statutory provisions from various Islamic republic countries to see whether such an oral declaration is followed in other countries.
The challenges in the comparative study of legislations:
Cross Border kidnaping of children has become a problem that is now faced by almost every jurisdiction, where one of the parents take away the child from the jurisdiction where both the parties were residing. This has thrown up challenges on deciding the court that has primary jurisdiction to ensure the welfare of the child. There are diverse views that have been expressed on such challenges. In bringing forth the importance of comparative Constitutional and Public Law, J. Lalit stated that
"We must have insight and peep into various jurisdictions and comparable laws from other countries as well"
Justice Lalit stated how such a course will "nurture the students with the mental frame, capacity and equipment to take up such challenges."
In concluding his speech, J. Lalit recounted Justice Krishna Iyer's judgment in Shamser Singh (1974 AIR 2192) which beautifully paved the way forward in an instance of conflict of laws among jurisdictions, where the question was whether to follow English Precedent or the American?
"Not the Potomac, but the Thames, fertilizes the flow of the Yamuna"
He ended his speech wishing the best to the students who were taking part in the course.