The Doctrine of “Binding Precedent”

 Constitution of India

As per Article 141 of The Constitution of India, the law laid down by the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India is binding on all courts in India. 

# Article 141. The law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India.

 

In the normal course all decisions of a High Court would be binding on a District Court or a Tribunal which is subject to supervisory jurisdiction of a particular High Court and the decisions of the Supreme Court are considered the law of the land.

 

When a High Court or Supreme Court is faced with a judgement cited before it, there are certain rules for maintaining uniformity in law and of precedents commonly known as the principle of stare decisis.

 

The following is the practice usually adopted:

i). The law laid down by a Bench of larger strength is binding on any subsequent Bench of lesser or co-equal strength.

ii). A Bench of lesser quorum cannot disagree or dissent from the view of the law taken by a Bench of larger quorum. In case of doubt all that the Bench of lesser quorum can do is to invite the attention of the Chief Justice and request for the matter being placed for hearing before a Bench of larger quorum than the Bench whose decision has come up for consideration. It will be open only for a Bench of co-equal strength to express an opinion doubting the correctness of the view taken by the earlier Bench of co-equal strength, whereupon the matter may be placed for hearing before a Bench consisting of a quorum larger than the one which pronounced the decision laying down the law the correctness of which is doubted.

The Doctrine of “Binding Precedent”.

Constitution Bench of Hon’ble SCI (1989.05.16) in Union of India v. Raghubir Singh [(1989) 2 SCC 754], held that:

• The position is substantially different under a written Constitution such as the one which governs us. The Constitution of India, which represents the Supreme Law of the land, envisages three distinct organs of the State, each with its own distinctive functions, each a pillar of the State. Broadly, while Parliament and the State Legislature in India enact the law and the Executive government implements it, the judiciary sits in judgment not only on the implementation of the law by the Executive but also on the validity of the Legislation sought to be implemented. One of the functions of the superior judiciary in India is to examine the competence and validity of legislation, both in point of legislative competence as well as its consistency with the Fundamental Rights. In this regard, the courts in India possess a power not known to the English Courts. Where a statute is declared invalid in India it cannot be reinstated unless constitutional sanction is obtained therefore by a constitutional amendment or an appropriately modified version of the statute is enacted which accords with constitutional prescription. The range of judicial review recognised in the superior judiciary of India is perhaps the widest and the most extensive known to the world of law. The power extends to examining the validity of even an amendment to the Constitution, for now it has been repeatedly held that no constitutional amendment can be sustained which violates the basic structure of the Constitution. (See His Holiness Kesavananda Bharati Sripadagalavaru v. State of Kerala, [1973] Suppl. SCR 1; Smt. Indira Nehru Gandhi v. Shri Raj Narain, [1976] 2 SCR 347; Minerva Mills Ltd. and others v. Union of India and others, [1980] 2 SCC 591 and recently in S.P. Sampath Kumar etc. v. Union of India and Ors., [1987] 1 SCR 435. With this impressive expanse of judicial power, it is only right that the superior courts in India should be conscious of the enormous responsibility which rests on them. This is specially true of the Supreme Court, for as the highest Court in the entire judicial system the law declared it is, by Article 141 of the Constitution, binding on all courts within the territory of India.

• Taking note of the hierarchical character of the judicial system in India, it is of paramount importance that the law declared by this Court should be certain, clear and consistent. It is commonly known that most decisions of the courts are of significance not merely because they constitute an adjudication on the rights of the parties and re- solve the dispute between them, but also because in doing so they embody a declaration of law operating as a binding principle in future cases. In this latter aspect lies their particular value in developing the jurisprudence of the law. The doctrine of binding precedent has the merit of promoting a certainty and consistency in judicial decisions, and enables an organic development of the law, besides providing assurance to the individual as to the consequence of transaction forming part of his daily affairs. And, therefore, the need for a clear and consistent enunciation of legal principle in the decisions of a Court. But like all principles evolved by man for the regulation of the social order, the doctrine of binding precedent is circumscribed in its governance by perceptible limitations, limitations arising by reference to the need for re- adjustment in a changing society, a re-adjustment of legal norms demanded by a changed social context.

• ------------------------------