Article 141: Law Declared by Supreme Court to Be Binding on All Courts

Abstract

The law declared by the Supreme Court shall be binding on all courts within the territory of India. The main object of the doctrine of precedent is that the law of the land should be clear, certain and consistent so that the Courts shall follow it without any hesitation. In India, whenever, a judgment is pronounced on a question of law, the judgment has to refer to some provision in the written law and then proceed to interpret or expound that provision in the written law. There is no provision in the written law of India, on the interpretation of which it can be held that judgments of Single Judges are binding on other Single Judges of the same High Court and that judgments of Division Court are also binding on other Division Courts of the same High Court, but they are not binding on Division Courts consisting of more members than the earlier Division Court. As to the binding nature of decisions of Courts Article 141 of the Constitution is the sole provision and the Constitution deliberately did not go beyond Article 141.