CLAT PG flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Basic structure doctrine

Constitutional amendments cannot destroy the essential features of the Constitution, such as supremacy, democracy, secularism, separation of powers and judicial review. Established in Kesavananda Bharati v State of Kerala (1973).

Article 32

The right to move the Supreme Court by appropriate proceedings for enforcement of Part III rights. It is itself a fundamental right and the Court may issue writs of habeas corpus, mandamus, prohibition, quo warranto and certiorari.

Reasonable classification

Article 14 permits different treatment of persons who are differently situated, provided the classification rests on an intelligible differentia and that differentia has a rational nexus with the object of the law.

Audi alteram partem

The rule that no person should be condemned unheard. It requires adequate notice, a fair opportunity to present one's case, disclosure of adverse material, and consideration of the reply before an adverse order.

Wednesbury unreasonableness

A ground of judicial review under which an administrative decision is quashed if it is so outrageous in its defiance of logic that no sensible person who applied his mind could have arrived at it.

Sub-delegation

Transmission of delegated legislative power by the delegate to a further authority. It is invalid unless the parent statute expressly permits it, because the maxim delegatus non potest delegare applies.

Culpable homicide

Causing death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, or of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with knowledge that the act is likely to cause death, under section 299 IPC.

Section 27 Evidence Act

When information given by an accused in custody leads distinctly to the discovery of a fact, so much of the information as relates distinctly to that discovery may be proved, notwithstanding the bar on confessions to police.

Cognizable offence

An offence for which a police officer may arrest without a warrant and investigate without the order of a Magistrate, as defined in section 2(c) of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Dying declaration

A statement of a person as to the cause of his death or the circumstances of the transaction resulting in it, admissible under section 32(1) of the Evidence Act when the maker is unavailable, subject to voluntariness.

Consideration

Under section 2(d) of the Contract Act, an act, abstinence or promise done at the desire of the promisor. It may be past, present or future, and must not be unlawful.

Section 74 damages

Where a contract is broken and a sum is named as payable or a penalty stipulated, the aggrieved party is entitled to reasonable compensation not exceeding the amount named, whether or not actual loss is proved.

Res ipsa loquitur

The thing speaks for itself. Where the accident is of a kind that ordinarily does not occur without negligence and the thing causing it was under the defendant's control, negligence may be inferred.

Absolute liability

Rule in M.C. Mehta v Union of India: an enterprise engaged in a hazardous activity is liable for harm caused by an accident, without exceptions such as act of God or third-party act.

Doctrine of part performance

Section 53A of the Transfer of Property Act protects a transferee who has taken possession under a written contract and performed his obligations, even if the transfer is not registered.

Coparcenary

The joint family body of persons who acquire an interest by birth in ancestral property. Since the 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act, daughters are coparceners by birth.

Section 125 CrPC

A summary remedy allowing a wife, child or parent unable to maintain themselves to claim monthly maintenance from a person with sufficient means who neglects or refuses to maintain them.

Corporate veil

The separation between a company and its members. Courts may lift it to prevent fraud, tax evasion, or where the company is a mere sham or agent of another.

Section 135 CSR

Companies meeting net worth, turnover or net profit thresholds must constitute a CSR committee and spend at least two per cent of average net profits of the preceding three financial years on CSR activities.

Oppression and mismanagement

Sections 241-242 of the Companies Act 2013 allow members to apply to the NCLT for relief where the company's affairs are conducted in a manner prejudicial to members or public interest.

Grundnorm

In Kelsen's pure theory of law, the basic norm presupposed within a legal system that validates the highest norms, which in turn validate all lower norms in the hierarchy.

Rule of recognition

Hart's secondary rule that specifies the criteria by which primary rules are identified as valid law within a legal system, and is the ultimate test of legal validity.

Jus cogens

Peremptory norms of general international law from which no derogation is permitted, such as prohibitions on genocide, slavery, torture and aggression. A treaty conflicting with them is void.

Opinio juris

The belief by States that a practice is followed because it is legally required. Together with consistent State practice, it forms the subjective element of customary international law.

Erga omnes obligations

Obligations owed by a State to the international community as a whole, such that any State may invoke responsibility for their breach, as recognised in the Barcelona Traction case.

Precautionary principle

Where there is a threat of serious or irreversible environmental damage, lack of full scientific certainty is not a reason for postponing cost-effective measures to prevent degradation.

Polluter pays principle

The party responsible for pollution bears the cost of remedying the damage and of preventive measures, as part of the sustainable development framework adopted in Indian environmental law.

Floor wage

Under the Code on Wages 2019, a minimum wage fixed by the Central Government after considering the minimum living standard of workers, below which no State may fix a minimum wage.

Ratio decidendi

The legal rule or principle on which a court's decision is based and which is necessary to the outcome. It binds lower courts as precedent in subsequent cases.

Ejusdem generis

A rule of interpretation under which general words following specific words are construed as limited to things of the same class as those specifically mentioned in the provision.

Doctrinal research

Research that analyses legal doctrine using authoritative sources such as statutes, regulations, judgments and commentaries, rather than collecting empirical data from the field.

Digital Personal Data Protection Act

The 2023 Indian statute regulating processing of digital personal data, based on consent and legitimate uses, establishing a Data Protection Board and imposing penalties for breaches.