When
the trial in Court is over, the Judge should proceed at once, or as soon as
possible to the consideration of his judgment. If the judgment is not pronounced
at once, every endeavour shall be made by the Court to pronounce the
judgment within fifteen days, from the date on which the hearing of the case
was concluded, but where it is not practicable, the Court shall
fix a future day for the pronouncement of the judgment, and such date
shall not ordinarily be a day beyond thirty days from the date on which
the hearing of the case100 was
concluded. If the judgment is not pronounced within thirty days from the
date on which the hearing of the120
case was concluded, the Court shall record the reasons for such delay and shall
fix a future day on which the judgment will be pronounced and, in every case,
the due notice of the day so fixed shall be given to the parties or their
pleaders. It is necessary that the judge should proceed to the
consideration of the judgement while the demeanour of the witnesses and
their individual characteristics are fresh in his memory. He should bear
in mind200 that his first duty
is to arrive at a conscientious conclusion as to the true state of those
facts of the case about which the parties are not agreed. The oral and documentary
evidence adduced upon each issue should be240 carefully reviewed and considered in the
directions.
Some
Judicial Officers make a practice of prefacing judgments with a memorandum
of the substance of the evidence, given by each witness examined which
has to be referred to. This practice is irregular, when the
memorandum is in addition to that made under Rule 8 of the Code of Civil
Procedure. All that300 the
law requires is a concise statement of the case and not a reproduction
of the evidence. The judgment should, however, be complete in itself as
regards the requirements of Rule 4, of the Code and should set forth the
grounds of decision as concisely as is consistent with the introduction of all
important matters. It may be necessary, in360 the particular cases, to refer to, and
give a summary of the statements of a witness or witnesses; but, if so, such
summary should be incorporated in the reasons given for the decision of
the Court on the issue to400
which it relates. When it is necessary to refer the evidence of a
witness in the course of a judgment, the reference should be by name as
well as the number of the witness. Instances have occurred of
judgments not being written until a considerable time after final arguments in
a case have been heard. This practice is open to grave objection, and in any
case in which judgment is written and pronounced within 301 days
from the480 date on which
arguments were heard, a written explanation of the delay must be furnished
by the subordinate Court concerned500
to the District Judge. This is not meant to encourage a practice of
reserving judgments; on the contrary, judgments should ordinarily be
written as soon as arguments have been heard. It is only in the exceptional
case where the Court has to consider many rulings and cannot conveniently
give judgment at once, that there is any justification for
judgment being reserved.
In
the preparation and delivery of judgement, Civil Courts have to follow
certain directions. The judgment should be written either in the language of
the Court, or in English. When a judgment is not written by the Presiding
Officer600 with his hand,
every page of such judgment shall be signed by him. It should be
pronounced in open Court after it has been written and signed. It
should be dated and signed in open Court at the time of640 being pronounced and when once signed
shall not afterwards be altered or added to, save as provided by Section
152 or on review. If it is judgment of any Court other than a Court of
Small Causes, it should contain a concise statement of the case including the
points for determination, the decision thereon, and the reasons for700 such decision. If it is the judgment of
a Court of Small Causes, it should contain the points for determination720 and the decision thereupon. It
should contain the direction of the Court as to costs. All the paragraphs of
the judgment should be serially numbered to facilitate references. The judgment
should be pronounced as soon as possible after the case has been heard.
Where it is desired to pronounce at some future date, the Court shall fix a day
for that purpose and inform the parties accordingly. Every endeavour shall
be made by the Court to pronounce the judgment within800 fifteen days from the date on which the
hearing of the case was concluded, but where it is not practicable
to do so, the Court should make all efforts to pronounce it within thirty days,
otherwise the Court shall record840
the reasons for such delay and shall fix a future day on which this judgment
will be pronounced and due notice of the day so fixed shall be given to the
parties or their pleaders. The Judge need not read out the full
judgment. He can pronounce only the final orders. However, the copy of the
whole judgment is to900 be
made available for the perusal of the parties or their pleaders immediately
after judgment is pronounced. The judgment may be pronounced by dictation in
open Court to a shorthand writer if the Judge is specially empowered by
the High Court in this behalf and is to be dated and signed by the Judge. In
appealable cases, where the parties960
are not represented by their pleaders, the Court should inform the parties
present in Court as to the Court to which an appeal lies and the period of
limitation for the filing of such appeal, and place on record the1000 information so given to the
parties.
