Indian Legal System and Resources

a guide for law students

By

Buddhi Prakash Chauhan

Director, Global Library, O. P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat

And

Sakshi Garg

Deputy Manager, Global Library, O. P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat

Introduction to Indian Legal System

Indian Judicial System is largely based on English Common Law system (where, law is developed by

judges through their decisions, orders, and judgments). It has created a federal system; with a Central

government coupled with State government.

Historically India was a collection of kingdoms and empires and the legal system only based on

customary law. As a consequence of British rule since 1750 to till 1947, great portions of Indian Law are

substantially based on British law, British legal system and the English language.

Indian legal history is divided into four periods i.e. 1) the Ancient Hindu Period; 2) the Muslim Period;

3) the British Period; and 4) the Post- Independence Period.

1) Law and Judicial System in the Ancient Hindu Period: During this period, Indian legal system

took its shade from the Hindu religious and social practice and this Hindu society was

characterized by the caste system i.e. Brahmin; Kshatriya; Vaisyas; & Sudras and the joint family

system. Broadly Indian Legal system based on “Dharmshastra” (Manusmriti), written in Sanskrit,

which is concerning the religious & legal duty of a citizen where king’s role as the fountain head

of justice. The ancient Indian judicial system resided courts hierarchy, where King’s Court being

the highest (King’s advised by his ministers), then Court of Chief Justice or Pradvivaka, then

Council of Justice and then Village Councils of Arbitrators or Kulani similar to modern village

panchayat.

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A suit or trial (Vyavahara) consist four parts of judicial procedure i.e. the plaint (poorva-paksha),

the reply (uttar), the trial & investigation of dispute by the court (kriya) and the verdict or

decision (nirnaya).

Print Books

Kane, Pandurang Vaman. History of Dharmasastra. Pune: Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute.

1990 Muller, Max F (ed.). Laws of manu. Vol. 25. Delhi: Low Price. 2008 Doniger, Wendy. Laws of Manu. New Delhi: Penguin. 1991 Chaturvedi, Ramgopal.Manu ki vidhi sahita. New Delhi: Universal Law. 2009 – in Hindi

eBooks

Olivelle, Patrick. Manu's Code of Law : A Critical Edition and Translation of the Manava-

Dharmasastra. New York: Oxford University Press. 2005

2) Law and Judicial System in the Muslim Period: started in 12th century from 1206-1750 A.D. and

this period divided into two phases i.e. Sultanate Period (1206-1526) and Mughal Period (1526-

1750). Broadly Muslim judicial procedure was regulated by two Muslim codes i.e. Fiqh-e-Firoz

Shahi and Fatwa-i-Alamgiri and the primary sources of Muslim law are Koran, Sunna & Ahadis,

Ijma and Qiyas. The Muslim judicial system hierarchy

a. At capital (Delhi) level

Emperor’s Court

(Highest Court of the Empire)

Chief Court Chief Revenue Court

(original & appellate civil & criminal cases) (revenue cases)

Court of Qazi of Delhi Court of Qazi-e-Askar

(Local civil & criminal cases) (Military cases in the capital)

b. At state level

Governor’s own court & the bench

(Adalat-e-Nazim)

Chief Appellate Court Chief Revenue Court

(Civil & criminal cases) (Revenue cases)

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c. At district level

Chief civil & criminal court of the District

Faujdari Adalat Kotwali Amalguzari Kachehri

(State security) (like modern police act) (Revenue cases)

d. At parganas level

Adalat-e-Pargana

(for civil & criminal cases)

Kotwali Kachehri

(like modern police act) (Revenue cases)

e. At village level - Panchayat

3) Legal System in India during the British Period: During over 200 years of British period in India,

they applied English Law as extended to India but in personal matters, they applied customary

law. Even different personal laws, govern family law especially Hindu & Muslim laws in Modern

Indian Legal System. Indian legal history can be traced back when King George I issued a charter

in 1726 to change Presidency Town’s i.e. Bombay, Calcutta and Madras judicial administration

by introducing Privy Council in England.

Privy Council (1726-1949) exercise appellate jurisdiction and pronounced over 2500 judgments

& laid down fundamental principles of law for guidance of Indian courts. British Government

established three Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort William at Calcutta; Madras; and Bombay

which are abolished by The Indian High Court’s Act, 1861 to modernize the prevalent judicial

system and also established Sadar Diwani Adalats (a Supreme Court of Revenue) in the

Presidency Towns. British Authorities inaugurated 1st constitutional court Federal Court of India

at Delhi on October 1’ 1937 for all original, appellate and advisory jurisdictions and was replaced

by Supreme Court of India in Jan. 26’1950.

4) Law and Judicial System of Modern India: British Colonial period is the foundation of modern

Indian legal system where Privy Council’s (1726-1949) contribution especially 1833 onwards, in

making Indian Law and Judicial System was remarkable. Law declared by Privy Council in pre-

constitution period is still binding on High Courts except in those cases where Supreme Court

has declared law in its judgments. Modern judicial system of India elaborated in next section.

Constitution of India

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Constitution of India is the fountain source of law which was drafted by “Constituent Assembly” in 2

years, 11 months & 18 days by referring constitutional documents of Australia, Canada, Ireland & USA

and enacted in 26th Nov. 1949. This is in 22 parts, 12 schedule and 395 articles.

Official Websites

1. Constitution of India by Ministry of Law & Justice, Govt. of India

2. Constitution of India by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Govt. of India

3. Constituent Assembly Debates <http://164.100.47.132/LssNew/cadebatefiles/cadebates.html>

4. Constitution (Amendment) Acts, including statement of objects & reasons (SOR)

<http://indiacode.nic.in/coiweb/coifiles/amendment.htm>

Subscribed Resources

[Online] Constitutions and Fundamental Laws- World Constitutions Illustrated, HeinOnline

[Print]

Constitution of India : Replica

Basu, Durga Das. Shorter Constitution of India. 14th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: Lexis Nexis, 2009

Basu, Durga Das. Bharat Ka Samidhan. 9th ed. Nagpur: Lexis Nexis, 2006. – in Hindi

M P Singh. V N Shukla`s Constitution of India. 11th ed. Lucknow: Eastern Book Company,

2008

Bakshi, P M. Constitution of India. 9th ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2009

Austin, Granville. Working a Democratic Constitution. New York: Oxford University Press,

1999

Constituent Assembly Debates. 12 vols. New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secretariat, 2009- Print

Indian Justice System

The source of law largely depends on the type of any country’s legal system. There are five type of

national legal system < http://www.juriglobe.ca/eng/index.php> i.e. civil law; common law; customary

law; religious law and mixed law.

India has a federal judicial system which legal system based on mixed law i.e. based on parliamentary

legislature, court laws, customary & religious laws as well.

Supreme Court of India

(The Apex Court in India)

Tribunals & Appellate Board

(created by specific statue

for specific purpose)

High Courts

(24 courts at State &

Union Territory level)

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Powers & Jurisdiction of Indian Courts

Power & jurisdiction of Indian courts & their official website can be found under “Civil Procedure and

Alternative Dispute Resolution” resource guide in “Judicial System in India” section.

Sources of Indian Legal Information

Global library holding a numbers of proprietary sources for Indian Legal research including

statutes, case laws, commentaries, bare acts, books in print format as well as online legal

databases.

Here we listed some renowned Global library collection and also most authenticated official

(government) websites for Indian legal research, where you can found appropriate information

beside Global library resource.

We also listed some relevant web links* of other organizations and free resources.

A. Primary Sources including the Constitution of India; Statutes like legislation by Parliament of

India; State & Union Territory Legislature; Case Law or court decisions and Treaties &

International Agreements and Customary Law

B. Secondary Sources including Books & Serials: Commentaries; Periodicals/Yearbooks: Law

Reviews; Dictionaries, Lexicons & Encyclopedias; Electronic Databases

Court of the Civil Judge

(Junior Division)

Court of the Civil Judge

(Senior Division)

Village

Panchayat

Executive Magistrate

(in metropolitan area)

Judicial Magistrate of the

First Class

(of first instance)

Lok Adalat District Courts

(in every district and

metropolitan area)

Session Courts

(in every district and

metropolitan area)

Judicial Magistrate of the

Second Class

(of first instance)

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C. Territory Sources and Resource Discovery tools including Legislative Digest ; Case Law Digest &

indexes, Case citators, Equivalence tables and Web based resources

D. Electronic Sources: Proprietary sources, Official web portals

E. People, organizations and other open web sources

A. Primary Sources of Law are in the Indian constitution, enactments passed by Parliament of

India, statute, case laws, treaties and customary law.

1. Constitutions/ Charters

Constitution/ Charters are the fundamental principles of law by which a government is

created and a country is administered. Charters are as a constitution, the document issued

by government establishing a corporate entity e.g. Government of India Act, 1848 (Queen

Victoria Charter Act) during British Period, Charter of the United Nations, Magna Carta- one

of the oldest Charter of United Kingdom and like.

Constitution of India is the fountain source of law which was drafted by “Constituent

Assembly” in 2 years, 11 months & 18 days by referring constitutional documents of

Australia, Canada, Ireland & USA and enacted in 26th Nov. 1949. This is in 22 parts, 12

schedule and 395 articles.

Subscribed Resources

Constitutions and Fundamental Laws- World Constitutions Illustrated,

HeinOnline - Online

Replica of original handwritten Constitution of India- Print

Basu, Durga Das. Shorter Constitution of India. 14th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: Lexis

Nexis, 2009- Print

Basu, Durga Das. Bharat Ka Samidhan. 9th ed. Nagpur: Lexis Nexis, 2006. – in

Hindi- Print

M P Singh. V N Shukla`s Constitution of India. 11th ed. Lucknow: Eastern Book

Company, 2008- Print

Bakshi, P M. Constitution of India. 9th ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2009- Print

Austin, Granville. Working a Democratic Constitution. New York: Oxford

University Press, 1999- Print

Constituent Assembly Debates. 12 vols. New Delhi: Lok Sabha Secretariat, 2009-

Print

Official Websites

Constitution of India by Ministry of Law & Justice, Govt. of India

Constitution of India by the National Informatics Centre (NIC), Govt. of India

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2. Statutes

Statutes are act of legislature, adopted under its constitutional authority. Statutes are

enacted to prescribe conduct, define crimes, create inferior government bodies, appropriate public

monies, and in general to promote the public welfare.

Session Laws: are the laws bound in volumes in the order of their enactment by a state

legislature, before possible codification. Source of session laws are by Legislative bodies:

Chronological Order by sessions, Acts of Parliament.

Legislation by Parliament of India

Subscribed Resources

Act of Parliament, 1915; Government of India Act, 1935; Act of the British

Parliament et al.- World Constitutions Illustrated, HeinOnline

Chitaley,V V, ed. All India Reporter. Nagpur: All India Reporter, 1921-2009-

Print

Manohar, W W, and V R Chitaley, ed. AIR Manual Unrepealed Central Acts. 6th

ed. 19 vols. Nagpur: All India Reporter, 2004- Print

Civil Court Manual (Central Acts). 12th ed. 42 vols. Madras: Madras Law

Journal, 1987 - for civil procedure legislation- Print

Official Websites

India Code Information System (INCODIS) <http://indiacode.nic.in> by National

Informatics Centre, Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, contains all Central Acts of Parliament right from 1836 onwards where each act

includes: Short Title, Enactment Date, Sections, Schedule and also Foot notes. LII: India <http://www.liiofindia.org/databases.html>includes acts, bills,

parliamentary summaries, and much more. National legislation dates back to

1836.

Parliament of India <http://www.parliamentofindia.nic.in/>source for

parliamentary debates, bills and legislations. Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha full-text

bills, constituently assembly debates also linked here.

State & Union Territory Legislation

LII: India <http://www.liiofindia.org/databases.html> includes acts, schemes,

regulations and much more of Indian states and union territories.

Official gazettes: are the government publications after enactment of a legislature like

Federal Register (US), GOI Gazette Part II section 1: Acts, Ordinances and Regulations

Gazette of India <http://egazette.nic.in>, To search & download Indian Gazette

<http://egazette.nic.in/Searchmenu2.aspx>

<http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/libweb/gazette/gazetteofindia.html>

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Official Publications: Individual Central and State Bare Acts. Search by Subject title, Act

or Year

Subscribed Sources: SCC Online; Manupatra; Westlaw India

India Code <http://indiacode.nic.in>

Compilations of codified laws: compilation of codified laws is a collection of statutes

existing as well as in force that are publish as Annual Volumes or loose-leaf form usually

by subject e.g. Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) , Halsbury’s Statutes of England,

Halsbury`s annotated statutes of India

Sandhu, Harish Kumar, ed. Halsbury`s Annotated Statutes of India. 10 vols.

Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2009.- Print

Bare Acts on specific subject area like Civil code, Criminal Code, Indian Penal

Code and like - Print

Online Sources: SCC Online; Manupatra; Westlaw India

Compilations of specific laws by private publishers: like AIR MANUAL, Halsbury’s

Laws, Civil Court manual, Criminal Court Manual

Manohar, W W, and V R Chitaley, ed. AIR Manual Unrepealed Central Acts (Civil

and Criminal). 6th ed. 19 vols. Nagpur: All India Reporter, 2004- Print

Civil Court Manual (Central Acts). 12th ed. 42 vols. Madras: Madras Law

Journal, 1987 - for civil procedure legislation- Print

Halsbury`s laws of India. 45 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2008 - Print

Administrative rules/regulations: Published in Gazette of India (GOI) Part II Section 3

Gazette of India <http://egazette.nic.in>,

<http://egazette.nic.in/Searchmenu2.aspx>

Subscribed legal databases for primary sources

SCC Online; Manupatra; Westlaw India; LexisNexis Academic; HeinOnline

3. Case Law or court decisions

Consist case laws and judgments of India’s Supreme Court, High Court, District Courts,

Tribunals and Commissions. Coverage of JGU subscribed source of case law & decisions are

mentioned below:

Official Law Reports

Supreme Court Reports & Databases

• Supreme Court Reports <http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/scr.htm>,

• Supreme Court Reports [V68-77, V87-88] – Print

Government Official Database:

SUPLIS--Database of Supreme Court Caselaws

<http://supnet.nic.in/suplis/main.html> [1950 onwards]

JUDIS <http://judis.nic.in/supremecourt/chejudis.asp> consists of the

Judgments of the Supreme Court of India and several High Courts since

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1950 to till date. JUDIS Institutional repository <

http://dspace.judis.nic.in/ > for Indian Courts judgments and case law.

International Law Reports: like Appeal Cases, Chancery Division (CH), Queen’s

Bench, Family Division (Fam.), Weekly Law Reports etc.

Law Reports compiled by private publishers: like AllER, AIR, SCC

Supreme Court Cases [1969-2013] – Print

Supreme Court Journal [2014 onwards] –available online in Manupatra

Supreme Court Almanac [2007-2012] includes both reported & non-reported

judgments and orders & proceedings – Print

All India Reporter [1921-2013] – Print

All England Law Reports [1936-2013] - Print

AIR Supreme Court Weekly [1991-2013] in AIR CD-ROM Database

• Subject Law Reports: Criminal Law Reports, Labour Law Reports etc

Criminal Law Journal [1950-2013] in AIR CD-ROM Database

AIR Accident Claims & Compensation Cases

AIR Cheque Dishonor Reports

AIR Civil Cases

Butterworths Company Law Cases

Butterworths Human Right Cases

Divorce and Matrimonial Cases

Labour and Industrial Cases

Labour Law Journal

Madras Law Journal (Civil)

Madras Law Journal (Criminal)

• Court sites: Official websites of Supreme Court of India and all Indian high courts with

their brief description and respective official publications can be found under ‘Primary

Sources (Statutes, Court Rules & Procedures) – Indian’ tab of Resource Guide on Civil

Procedure and Alternative Dispute Resolution. Tribunals and Commissions can also

found under ‘Indian Tribunals and Commissions’ tab.

Court Judgments SCC Online Manupatra Westlaw India AIR CD-ROM

Database

Supreme Court of India 1951 onwards 1950 onwards 1950 onwards 1950 - 2013

Privy Council judgments 1807-1950 1810-1950 - 1914-1950

High Courts

Allahabad High Court 1900 onwards 1874 onwards 1911 onwards 1950 - 2013

Hyderabad High Court 1933 onwards 1932 onwards 1947 onwards 1954 - 2013

Goa High Court 1966 – 1982

Bombay High Court 1925 onwards 1868 onwards 1895 onwards 1950 - 2013

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Dacca High Court (Now in Bangladesh as Dhaka) 1950

Calcutta High Court 1874 onwards 1863 onwards 1896 onwards 1950 - 2013

Bilaspur High Court 1952 - 1954

Chattisgarh High Court 2004 onwards 2001 onwards 2000 onwards 2002 - 2013

Delhi High Court 1982 onwards 1967 onwards 1967 onwards 1967 - 2013

Kutch High Court 1950 – 1956

Saurashtra High Court 1950 - 1956

Gujarat High Court 1922 onwards 1947 onwards 1949 onwards 1960 - 2013

Assam High Court 1950 -1964

Assam-Nagaland High Court 1965 - 1972

Gauhati High Court 1971 onwards 1932 onwards 1948 onwards 1972 - 2013

Simla High Court 1951

Himachal Pradesh High Court 1948 onwards 1948 onwards 1948 onwards 1950 - 2013

Jammu & Kashmir High Court 1949 onwards 1950 onwards 1950 onwards 1951 - 2013

Jharkhand High Court 2000 onwards 1997 onwards 2000 onwards 2001 - 2013

Mysore High Court 1950 - 1974

Karnataka High Court 1885 onwards 1949 onwards 1949 onwards 1974 - 2013

Travancore-Cochin High Court 1950 - 1957

Kerala High Court 1956 onwards 1939 onwards 1920 onwards 1957 - 2013

Madras High Court 1886 onwards 1842 onwards 1879 onwards 1950 - 2013

Bhopal High Court 1951 – 1956

Madhya-Bharat High Court 1950 – 1957

Nagpur High Court 1950 – 1957

Vindhya-Pradesh High Court 1951 - 1956

Madhya Pradesh High Court 1933 onwards 1906 onwards 1905 onwards 1957 - 2013

Manipur High Court 2013 onwards 2013 onwards - 1952 – 1972

Meghalaya High Court 2013 onwards 2013 onwards - -

Orissa High Court 1933 onwards 1906 onwards 1946 onwards 1950 – 2013

Patna High Court 1889 onwards 1910 onwards 1916 onwards 1950 - 2013

High Court of East Punjab 1950

Lahore High Court (Now in Pakistan) 1950

Pepsu High Court 1950 – 1957

Punjab High Court 1951 - 1966

Punjab & Haryana High Court 1885 onwards 1885 onwards 1947 onwards 1967 - 2013

Ajmer Court 1950 - 1956

Rajasthan High Court 1938 onwards 1948 onwards 1948 onwards 1950 - 2013

Sikkim High Court 1995 onwards 1975 onwards - 1980 - 2013

Tripura High Court 2013 onwards 2013 onwards - 1952 – 1972

Uttaranchal High Court 2002 - 2007

Uttrakhand High Court 2001 onwards 2000 onwards 2000 onwards 2008 – 2013

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Peshawar High Court (Now in Pakistan) 1950

Sindh High Court (Now in Pakistan) 1950

4. Treaties & International Agreements

A treaty is the official document which expresses as agreement in words or as legislation to

regulate a particular aspect of international relations, or form the constitutions of

international organizations. In simple words, treaty is the most formal type of agreement

between nations. For more treaties details, visit to Resource Guide of Treaties, Conventions

and Agreements.

• Subscribed Legal Databases

SCC Online -Bilateral Treaties of the India and Other nations covers Bilateral

Investments Treaties (BITs) and Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements

(DTAAs), WIPO, ILO treaties between India and other countries.

Westlaw India Combined Treaties (CMB-TREATIES) combined Treaties is a

multibase which contains all treaties, conventions, agreements and other

international materials from a number of separate and disparate databases.

Lexis Nexis Academic - Treaties & International Agreements includes

International Treaties, Treaties and Agreements from International Legal

Materials (ILM) a publication of the American Society of International Law, U.S.

Treaties in Force, and U.S. treaties on LEXIS.

HeinOnline- U.S. Treaties and Agreements Library

• Official sources of treaties

Indian Treaties Database <http://www.mea.gov.in/TreatyList.htm?1> by

Ministry of External Affairs prepared and managed by the Legal and Treaties

Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, India. Treaties can be searched by

specific subject, agreement type or country; or simple keywords.

LII of India- Indian Treaty Series (INTSer) contains full-text treaties of Indian

bilateral treaties from 1947-2009

5. Customary Law/ Opinio juris

Custom is the uniformity of conduct of all persons under like circumstances and when a

particular course of conduct is followed again and again, it becomes a custom. Every custom

does not become law. Customs are social norms and treat as force of law e.g. Schedule

areas or tribal region’s customs are treated as force of law. Most of the customs brought

before the courts are tribal, communal, sectarian or family custom. Court of India

recognized customs as law, only if the custom is:

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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Ancient or immemorial in origin

Reasonable in nature & continuous in use

Certain in its extent and invariable in its practice & operation

e.g. protection of tribal indigenous communities and their customs through

Articles 244, 244-A, 371-A and the Fifth & Sixth Schedule.

Private International Law: Customary Private International Law also referred as

“Conflict of laws” is not an Act of Legislature, a statute or a code. It is simply a

branch of each jurisdiction's domestic law and comes into play when a court hears a

claim with a foreign element e.g. uncodified and not ratified treaties, agreements

between two nations, correspondence between two nations. It is a set of rules and

regulations that are established or agreed upon by citizens of different nations who

privately enter into a transaction and that will govern in the event of a dispute.

Source: Public & official documents like press releases, newspapers, diplomatic

papers, decrees, legislation dealing with international matters, legislative acts of

intergovernmental organizations, Audio or video discussions.

Ministry of External Affairs <http://www.mea.gov.in/index.htm>

Domestic Customary Law: Domestic customary law are the uncodified laws, rules

and regulations that are agreed upon by people of a nation e.g. muslim customs,

tribal customs. It includes customs, beliefs of indigenous people

Source: Public & official documents like press releases, newspapers, legislation

dealing with the kind of matters, Audio or video discussions, Dharmshastra

(Manusmriti): source of Hindu law, Hadiths: source of Muslim personal law

Halsbury`s laws of India: Competition law and trade practices, Conflict of

laws, and Courts. Vol 10. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2008. pp. 205-329 –

Encyclopedia- Print

B. Secondary Sources

1. Books & Serials: Commentaries - Print

Commentary is a series of explanations or annotations and a record of popular facts and

case laws. Commentaries provide comprehensive coverage of a broad area of law, such as

criminal law, administrative law, contract, etc.

a. Constitutional Law

Seervai, H M. Constitution Law of India: a Critical Commentary. 4th ed. 3 vols. New Delhi: Universal Law, 1991.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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Datar, Arvind P. Datar Commentay on the Constitution of India. 2nd ed. 3 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2007.

b. Administrative Law

Wade, William, and Christopher Forsyth. Administrative Law. 10th ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009.

c. Indian Penal Code

Ratanlal and Dhirajlal. Law of Crimes. 26th ed. 2 vols. New Delhi: Bharat Law House, 2009.

Gour, Hari Singh. Penal Law of India. 11th ed. 4 vols. Allahabad: Asia Law House, 2009.

d. Code of Criminal Procedure

Sarkar, S C. Sarkar on the Law Code of Criminal Procedure. 9th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2007.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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Ratanlal and Dhirajlal. Code of Criminal Procedure. 21st ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2013.

e. Company Law

Ramaiya, A. Guide to the Companies Act. 17th ed. 3 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010

f. Income Tax Law

Kangra and Palkhivala's Law and Practice of Income Tax. 9th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2009

g. Law of Evidence

Monir, M. Textbook on the Law of Evidence. 7th ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2006.

h. Code of Civil Procedure

Mulla, D F. Code of Civil Procedure. 18th ed. 3 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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Sarkar, S C, and P C Sarkar. Sarkar`s the Law of Civil Procedure. 11th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2006.

Thakker, C K. Code of Civil Procedure. 4 vols. Lucknow: Eastern Book Company, 2009.

i. Contract Law

Pollock, Frederick. Pollock and Mulla’s Indian Contract and Specific Relief Acts. 14th ed. 2 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2013.

j. Arbitration Law

Kwatra, G K. Arbitration and Conciliation Law of India. 7th ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2008.

Markanda, P C. Law relating to Arbitration & Conciliation. 8th ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2009.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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Malhotra, O P, and Indu Malhotra. Law and Practice of Arbitration and Conciliation. 2nd ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2006.

k. Hindu Law

Mulla, D F, and S A Desai. Hindu Law. 21st ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010.

l. Mohammedan / Muslim Law

Ahmad, Aqil. Textbook of Mohammedan Law. 23rd ed. Allahabad: Central Law, 2009.

m. Law of Property

Bharuka, G C. Mulla the Transfer of Property Act 1882. 10th ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010.

n. Law of torts

Ratanlal & Dhirajlal`s Law of Torts. 26th ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2010

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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o. International Law

Noronha, F E. Private International Law in India. 2nd ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2013.

Diwan, Paras and Peeyushi Diwan. Private International Law: Indian and English. 4th Rev. ed. New Delhi: Deep & Deep, 1998.

2. Periodicals/Yearbooks: Law Reviews

[Law reviews/ periodicals- statutes, cases & articles]

AIR accidental claims and compensation [2013 onwards]- Print+ Online

AIR Cheque Dishonor Reports [2013 onwards] – Print+ Online

AIR Civil Cases – formerly All India High Court Cases (Unreported Judgements) [2013

onwards] - Print+ Online

AIR Law Lines : monthly update of legal precedents [2013 onwards] - Print+ Online

Corporate Law Advisor [1989 onwards] – Print + Online

Criminal Law Journal [1915 onwards] – Print + Online

Delhi Law Times [1967 onwards] – Print + Online

Divorce & Matrimonial Cases [1982 onwards] – Print + Online

Labour And Industrial Cases [2013 onwards] – Print + Online

Labour Law Journal [1949 onwards] – Print + Online

Madras Law Journal- Civil [1892 onwards] – Print + Online

Madras Law Journal – Criminal [V69-V72] – Print

[Journals]

Indian Journal of International Law- print [V48 onwards]– Print

Journal of Indian Law Institute- print [2009 onwards] – Print

National Law School of Indian Review- databases [2008 onwards] – Print + Online

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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3. Dictionaries, Lexicons & Encyclopedias - Print

Aiyar, P Ramanatha. P Ramanatha Aiyar`s Advanced Law Lexicon. 3rd ed. 4 vols.

Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2009.

Iyer, V R Krishna. Wharton's Law Lexicon with Exhaustive Reference to Indian Case

Law. 15th ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2009

Aiyar, Krishna Jagadisa. K. J. Aiyer’s Judicial Dictionary. 14th ed. Nagpur: LexisNexis,

2007

Greenberg, Daniel and Alexandra Milbrook. Stroud`s Judicial Dictionary of Words

and Phrases. 7th ed. 3 vols. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 2006

Motion, A W. Pocket Law Lexicon. 8th ed. New Delhi: Universal Law, 2009

Halsbury`s laws of India. 45 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2008 - Encyclopedia

C. Territory Sources and Resource Discovery tools

1. Legislative Digest

Legislative digest is a means to accessing any act or statute of a nation.

o *D.V. Chitaley, and N. Ramaratnam. The fifty Years' digest, 1901-1950 : Civil,

Criminal & Revenue. Nagpur: All India Reporter.

2. Case Law Digest & indexes - Print

Case law digest is a means of accessing case law by topical or subject wise.

o Soonavala, J K. Soonavala`s Supreme Court Criminal Digest (1950-2006). 4th ed. 4

vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2007.

o Malik, Sumeet. Supreme Court Yearly Digests. Lucknow: Eastern Book Company,

2009

o Malik, Surendra. Complete Digest of Supreme Court Cases. Lucknow: Eastern Book

Company, 2000

o Malik, Surendra. Supreme Court Decennial Digest 1981-90. 5 vols. Lucknow: Eastern

Book Company.

o Malik, Surendra. Supreme Court Decennial Digests 1981-90. Lucknow: Eastern Book

Company, 1993

o Malik, Sumeet. Supreme Court Quinquennial Digests 1996-2000. Lucknow: Eastern

Book Company, 2006.

o Soni, Ashok. Supreme Court on Service Laws 1950 to date. 2 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis,

2009

o Labour Law Journal Digest [1976-1999]

3. Case Citators

a tools for case law research which provide information like the correct citation for a case;

whether the case has been reported multiple times; a case has been considered, applied,

distinguished, or overruled.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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Supreme court case citator. 4 vols. Nagpur: LexisNexis, 2007 - Print

Dobia, T S and Laxman Shinde. High court citator (1949-2008). 2 vols. Nagpur:

LexisNexis, 2009 – Print

4. Equivalent Citation Table is a tool to know the parallel citations of cases published in

different journals

Link: http://supremecourtofindia.nic.in/ect.htm

5. Web Based Resources:

CaseBase Case Citator <http://www.lexisnexis.com.au/en-AU/products/CaseBase-

Case-Citator-online.page>, Shepardizing Online<http://www.lexisnexis.com/en-

us/products/shepards.page> (LexisNexis),

FirstPoint <http://www.thomsonreuters.com.au/products/firstpoint/>, KeyCiting

Online (Thomson Reuter)

JustCite (Justis) <www.justcite.com>

LawCite <http://www.austlii.edu.au/lawcite/> free legal case and journal article

citator

Google as resource locator

* Global Library don’t have this in their collection

D. Electronic Sources: Proprietary sources, Official web portals

1. Proprietary sources: Global Library has a collection of legal electronic resources

<http://www.jgu.edu.in/library/content/e-journals-multi-format-resources>, which

includes:

• SCC Online a legal database, covers Indian Case-Law of Supreme Court of India (1969 onwards);

Privy Council (1872-1949); 21 Indian High Courts; tribunanals & commissions; Indian Statutory

Law including central statutes, circulars, notifications, instructions, rules, regulations etc.

• Manupatra includes Indian Supreme court cases & judgements 1950 – onwards, 24 Indian High

courts cases & orders; 27 Tribunals and Commissions orders; more than 1,800 Central Bare Acts/

Statutes incorporating latest amendments; cover 10,000+ frequently used State Bare Acts/ Statutes

etc.

• Taxmann’s Corporate, Direct & Indirect and International Taxation Law provides Statues,

Case Laws & Commentaries on Domestic and International Taxation & Corporate Laws

• AIR Comprehensive Database (Offline Database) consist AIR Supreme Court including AIR

SCW, AIR High Courts and Criminal Law Journal Software from 1950 to March 2013

• AIR Privy Council Database (Offline Database) consist AIR Privy Council from 1914-1950

• Westlaw India majority of this database is UK cases coverage. Beside UK & US legal

material, it also consist Indian Supreme Court judgement 1950 onwards & orders 2010 onwards,

case reports, Federal Court Judgments 1938- 1950, 20 Indian High Courts judgements, 14

Tribunals judgement, Legislations 1800 onwards, 11 State Legislation, Current Awareness of cases

& legislation etc.

• LexisNexis Academic consist law reviews & articles of more than 800 publications, Federal and

state cases and statutes including U.S. Supreme Court Decisions since 1790, Federal regulations

etc.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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• HeinOnline legal database with full text and page images of thousands of law review

articles, treatises and primary sources of law, focusing on retrospective historical

coverage. It consist around 1757 law related periodicals, 127 U.S. treaties & agreements, 3641

World Constitutions and many more.

2. Official websites of Government Organizations

Law Commission of India is an executive body of Government of India, major

function is to work for reform the Law for maximizing Justice in Society and

Promoting Good Governance under the Rule of Law. You can find all full-text Law

Commission of India reports here.

Ministry of Law and Justice deals with the management of the legal affairs,

legislative activities and administration of justice in India through its three

departments namely the legislative department and the department of legal affairs

and department of justice respectively.

India Code by Ministry of Law and Justice, Legislative Department, contains all Central

Acts of Parliament right from 1836 onwards. Each Act includes: Short Title, Enactment

Date, Sections, Schedule and also Foot notes.

Indian Courts by National Informatics Center, Government of India, provides a single

point access to information related to the Supreme Court and all 21 High Courts and

their Benches in India.

Ministry of Corporate Affairs by Government of India, regulates corporate affairs in

India through the Companies Act, 1956, 2013 and other allied Acts, Bills and Rules.

MCA also protects investors and offers many important services to stakeholders.

This gateway provide all services, guidance, and other corporate affairs related

information.

Ministry of External Affairs by Government of India, also known as Foreign Ministry

which is responsible for the conduct of India's relations with foreign countries. This

gateway provides statements, Interviews, Press Releases, full-text bilateral and

multilateral treaties/ agreements/ MoU etc. related to foreign affairs.

SUPLIS by National Informatics Center, Government of India, is a database of

Supreme Court Case laws since 1950 along with parallel citations or equivalent

citations and retrieval through famous/ popular names.

The Judgment Information system (JUDIS) consists of the Judgments of the Supreme

Court of India and several High Courts since 1950.

JUDIS Institutional repository is the digital archive for Indian Courts judgments and

case law.

E. People, organizations and other open web sources*

Lawnotes.in/Indian Acts is the digital archive, in chronologically order, for Indian Courts

judgments and case law.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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The Public Library of Law (PLoL) powered by Fastcase, assemble law available for free

scattered across many different sites -- all in one place. It includes cases from the U.S.

Supreme Court and Courts of Appeals; cases from all 50 states back to 1997; Federal

statutory law and codes from all 50 states; Regulations, court rules, constitutions, and

more. PLoL also includes free links to paid content on Fastcase.

casetext.com is a public legal research tool where you can search over 6 million judicial

opinions, statutes, and regulations; read cases annotated by growing community of

lawyers and law professors; browse community pages like criminal law, constitutional

law, copyright law, ADR, Medical Law, Military Law, Tax Law and so on.. to find all the

best commentary in practice areas; and start or join conversations about legal topics

you're interested in.

LawCite by AustLII (the Australasian Legal Information Institute), is a free international

legal case and journal article citator. This portal basically is use to locate judgments and

to see how these have been subsequently dealt with and commented upon or to see

where journal articles have been cited.

Constitution Finder by the University of Richmond T.C. Williams School of Law, is a

searchable database that providing links and in some instances copies of Constitutions

from around the world.

* Global Library does not invite reliance upon or accept responsibility for, the information these

web portals provides. Kindly make sure about the authenticity of the sources.

Subject Guides at other Library websites

A Guide to India’s Legal Research and Legal System/ Dr. Rakesh Kumar Srivastava Hauser Global Law

School Program, New York University School of Law

An introduction to legal research in the jurisdiction of India/ Dr. Priya Rai Institute of Advance Legal studies,

School of Advance Study, University of London

Guide to Indian Laws/ V. Ramakrishnan

India Legal Research Guide: Case Law/ Sunil Rao University of Wisconsin-Madison

Indian Law/ Beth Paton Bodleian Law Library, University of Oxford

Research Guide: Customary Law in India/ Tariq Ahmad Library of Congress

Related Resource Pages

Civil Procedure and Alternative Dispute Resolution Treaties, Conventions and Agreements

Acknowledgements

Staff of Global Library gratefully acknowledge contribution of Mr. Buddhi Prakash Chauhan, Chief Librarian & Additional Registrar for his leadership in preparation of this Resource Guide.

Chauhan & Garg: Indian Legal System: A resource guide

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