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The Common Law in India - College of Social Sciences and ...

The Common Law in India - College of Social Sciences and ...

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Civil <strong>Law</strong> 117textbooks was codified <strong>in</strong> <strong>India</strong> <strong>in</strong> the year 1872.Mr. Stephen (later Sir James Stephen) <strong>in</strong> present<strong>in</strong>gthe report <strong>of</strong> the Select Committee on the Bill claimedthat it would be found to embrace arranged <strong>in</strong> theirnatural order the subjects treated by English textwriters <strong>and</strong> judges under the general head <strong>of</strong> the" <strong>Law</strong> <strong>of</strong> Evidence." 25 <strong>The</strong> law <strong>of</strong> evidence wascodified <strong>in</strong> <strong>India</strong> on the basis <strong>of</strong> the English lawkeep<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> view as <strong>in</strong> the case <strong>of</strong> the other Codesthe differences between the English practice mouldedby English social conditions <strong>and</strong> procedures <strong>and</strong> theconditions then obta<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> <strong>India</strong>.<strong>The</strong> codification <strong>of</strong> the procedure <strong>of</strong> the civil courts<strong>of</strong> the whole country was first made by the CivilProcedure Code <strong>of</strong> 1859. This was followed by successiveCodes <strong>and</strong> eventually came the Civil ProcedureCode <strong>of</strong> 1908 which now regulates proceed<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>in</strong> civilcourts. <strong>The</strong> chief feature <strong>of</strong> the Code <strong>of</strong> 1908 is itsdivision <strong>in</strong>to two parts on the l<strong>in</strong>es <strong>of</strong> the JudicatureActs <strong>and</strong> the rules <strong>of</strong> the Supreme Court framed underthese Acts. Here aga<strong>in</strong> we have a procedural systemwhich broadly follows the base <strong>of</strong> English proceduremodify<strong>in</strong>g it to suit <strong>India</strong>n conditions.To sum up, the base <strong>and</strong> the foundation <strong>of</strong> thecivil law <strong>of</strong> <strong>India</strong> is English common <strong>and</strong> statutelaw. But the structure reared on that foundation hasbeen so adapted to <strong>India</strong>n needs <strong>and</strong> conditions thatit may, notwithst<strong>and</strong><strong>in</strong>g its exotic orig<strong>in</strong>, be regardedas peculiarly <strong>India</strong>n <strong>in</strong> its form as well as <strong>in</strong> itswork<strong>in</strong>g.25 Sir J. Woodr<strong>of</strong>fe, <strong>Law</strong> <strong>of</strong> Evidence, 9th ed., p. 1109.

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