Kerala Munsiff-Magistrate flashcards

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

Res judicata

A matter directly and substantially in issue in a former suit decided on merits by a competent court between the same parties cannot be re-litigated; it bars a fresh suit on the same cause of action.

Order II Rule 2 CPC

A plaintiff must include the whole of the claim in one suit; a later suit for a portion omitted is barred, while a portion relinquished may be claimed later with the court's leave.

Article 136 Limitation Act

It prescribes 12 years for execution of a decree or order of a civil court, with time running from the date of the decree or order.

Culpable homicide

Culpable homicide under IPC Section 299 is causing death by an act with intention to cause death, intention to cause bodily injury likely to cause death, or knowledge that the act is likely to cause death.

Criminal breach of trust

IPC Section 405 covers dishonest misappropriation or conversion of property entrusted to a person, or disposal of it in violation of a direction of law or contract.

Theft under IPC

Section 378 defines theft as dishonestly taking movable property out of another's possession without consent; the taking must be with intent to deprive the owner permanently.

Section 167 CrPC detention

A magistrate may authorise detention during investigation for 15 days at a time, with total pre-charge-sheet detention limited to 90 days for serious offences and 60 days otherwise.

Dying declaration

A statement by a person as to the cause of his death or the circumstances of the transaction resulting in death is relevant under Section 32(1) of the Evidence Act, whether or not the death is in issue.

Section 125 CrPC

It empowers a magistrate to order a person with sufficient means to maintain his wife, children or parents unable to maintain themselves; the remedy is summary and independent of personal law.

Consideration

Under Section 2(d) of the Contract Act, consideration is an act, abstinence or promise done at the promisor's desire; it may move from a third party, not only the promisee.

Section 74 damages

Where a contract names a sum payable on breach, the court may award reasonable compensation not exceeding that sum; a penal stipulation is not enforced as a penalty.

Specific performance

Under Section 10 of the Specific Relief Act, specific performance is the rule in contracts; the plaintiff must be ready and willing to perform under Section 16.

Section 53A TPA

The doctrine of part performance protects a transferee put in possession under a written contract who has performed his part, even if the transfer is not registered.

Right of redemption

Under Section 60 of the Transfer of Property Act, the mortgagor may redeem the mortgage at any time after the mortgage money becomes due; the right cannot be clogged.

Easement by prescription

Under Section 15 of the Easements Act, an easement may be acquired by peaceable, open and continuous enjoyment for 20 years without interruption.

Daughter as coparcener

After the 2005 amendment to Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, a daughter is a coparcener by birth with the same rights and liabilities as a son.

Mahr

In Muslim law, mahr is the sum the husband agrees to pay the wife as part of the marriage contract; it may be prompt or deferred.

Class I heirs

Under Section 8 of the Hindu Succession Act, Class I heirs include the widow, sons, daughters and mother, and they take simultaneously to the exclusion of Class II heirs.

Article 21

It protects life and personal liberty and has been expanded to include privacy, dignity, livelihood, health and a clean environment, enforceable through writ petitions.

Basic structure doctrine

Held in Kesavananda Bharati (1973) that Parliament's amending power under Article 368 cannot destroy the Constitution's basic features such as judicial review and secularism.

Res ipsa loquitur

The thing speaks for itself: where an accident is of a kind that ordinarily does not happen without negligence, and the thing causing it was under the defendant's control, negligence is presumed.

Consumer under 2019 Act

A consumer is a person who buys goods or hires services for consideration, excluding commercial purpose; e-commerce transactions are expressly covered by the Act.

Attestation of a will

Section 63 of the Indian Succession Act requires a will to be signed by the testator and attested by at least two witnesses who saw the testator sign.

Probate

A copy of a will certified under the seal of a court of competent jurisdiction, granted to an executor, establishing the will's validity and the executor's authority.

Letters of administration

A grant made by a court to an heir or other person where the deceased left no executor or died intestate, conferring authority to administer the estate.

Kudikidappukaran

Under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, a hutment dweller with a right to purchase the land and dwelling; the value is fixed under Section 80A.

Section 11(3) Kerala Rent Act

It permits eviction where the landlord bona fide needs the building for his own occupation, subject to the tenant's defence of hardship under the proviso.

Ratio decidendi

The legal principle or rule on which a court's decision rests; it binds lower courts in later cases with materially similar facts, unlike obiter dicta.

Ejusdem generis

A rule of interpretation whereby general words following specific words are read as limited to things of the same class as the specific words.

Order XX Rule 1 CPC

A judgment must contain a concise statement of the case, the points for determination, the decision on each point, and the reasons for the decision.

Section 354 CrPC judgment

A criminal judgment must state the points for determination, the decision and the reasons, and specify the offence and the sentence imposed.

Simple interest formula

Simple interest equals principal multiplied by rate multiplied by time, divided by 100; it is computed on the original principal for the whole period.