Court - Indian Laws - General

Meaning of Court In Halsbury s Laws of England (4th Edn., Vol. 10, paras 701 and 702), this is observed: 701. Meaning of Court . Originally the term court meant, among other things, the Sovereign s palace. It has acquired the meaning of the place where justice is administered and, further, has come to mean the persons who exercise judicial functions under authority derived either directly or indirectly from the Sovereign. All tribunals, however, are not courts, in the sense in which the term is here employed. Courts are tribunals which exercise jurisdiction over persons by reason of the sanction of the law, and not merely by reason of voluntary submission to their jurisdiction. Thus, arbitrators, committees of clubs and the like, although they may be tribunals exercising judicial functions, are not courts in this sense of that term. On the other hand, a tribunal may be a court in the strict sense of the term even though the chief part of its duties is not judicial. Parliament is a court. Its duties are mainly deliberative and legislative; the judicial duties are only part of its functions. A coroner s court is a true court although its essential function is investigation. 702. What is a court in law. The question is whether the tribunal is a court, not whether it is a court of justice, for there are courts which are not courts of justice. In determining whether a tribunal is a judicial body the facts that it has been appointed by a nonjudicial authority, that it has no power to administer an oath, that the chairman has a casting vote, and that third parties have power to intervene are immaterial, especially if the statute setting it up prescribes a penalty for making false statements; elements to be considered are (1) the requirement for a public hearing, subject to a power to exclude the public in a proper case, and (2) a provision that a member of the tribunal shall not take part in any decision in which he is personally interested, or unless he has been present throughout the proceedings. A tribunal is not necessarily a court in the strict sense of exercising judicial power merely because (1) it gives a final decision; (2) it hears witnesses on oath; (3) two or more contending parties appear before it between whom it has to decide; (4) it gives decisions which affect the rights of subjects; (5) there is an appeal to a court; and (6) it is a body to which a matter is referred by another body. Many bodies are not courts even though they have to decide questions, and in so doing have to act judicially, in the sense that the proceedings must be conducted with fairness and impartiality. Examples are the benchers of the Inns of Court when considering the conduct of one of their members, the disciplinary committee of the General Medical Council when considering questions affecting the conduct of a medical man, a trade union when exercising disciplinary jurisdiction over its members. The Oxford Advanced Learner s Dictionary [8th Edition] defines court as- the place where legal trials take place and where crimes, etc. are judged. The Oxford Thesaurus of English [3 rd Ed] gives the following synonyms: Court of law, law court, bench, bar, court of justice, judicature, tribunal, forum, chancery, assizes, courtroom . The Chamber s Dictionary [10th Ed.] has described a court as- a body of person assembled to decide causes . In Stroud s Judicial Dictionary [5th Ed], the word court has been described as- a place where justice is judicially ministered, and is derived , and is further observed, but such a matter involves a judicial act which may be brought up on certiorari . TRANS MEDITERRANEAM AIRWAYS VERSUS UNIVERSAL EXPORTS ANR.- 2011 (9) TMI 853 - SUPREME COURT