Application Of General Law Research Articles

A Restatement of the Law of Res Judicata in India

The law of res judicata is a universal principle of law which requires that matters judicially determined must not be re-litigated. In India, this law is embodied in section 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. However, the Indian courts have also resorted to what they call a ‘general law’ to effect res judicata when the statutory law is inapplicable. This paper employs two approaches to study the development of the law of res judicata in India: legislative and interpretational. It begins with a brief narration of the historical background to the statutory law. It then picks up three distinctive features of the statutory law to analyze how the content of the general law of res judicata, created and developed through judicial interpretations, compares to that of the textual law. Next, the paper maps the terminologies that Indian courts use for articulating this general law onto those used by the statute for defining the statutory law. Through a comparison of the vocabularies of the two laws, the paper shows the operating requirements of the general law. The paper then discusses the scope of application of general law by looking at the situations in which courts have invoked it. By studying the general law in contrast to the statutory law, the paper argues thus: (a) the general law neither answers to the common law of res judicata nor suffers the limitations of the statutory law. (b) This court-created general law is the law of res judicata reduced to its bare essentials which makes it applicable in almost all situations – even in situation where the statutory law is the controlling law (c) with its unfettered scope; the general law appears to have taken away the exclusivity of the statutory law. The paper then concludes by restating the principle clause of statutory law to bring it in conformity with the law of res judicata, as it stands today in India.

The Administrative Conference of the United States: Recommendations to Advance Cross‐Agency Collaboration under the GPRA Modernization Act

The interplay between law and public administration was perhaps best described by Woodrow Wilson, who once said that “[p]ublic administration is detailed and systematic execution of public law. Every particular application of general law is an act of administration.” Wilson’s words still ring true today at the Administrative Conference of the United States (ACUS), where principles of public administration and management are intertwined with the work of ACUS. Accordingly, readers of Public Administration Review are invited to learn more about the Administrative Conference and assist in fulfi lling its mission. One path to do so may lie in a recent study conducted by Jane E. Fountain for ACUS titled “Th e GPRA Modernization Act of 2010: Examining Constraints to, and Providing Tools for, Cross-Agency Collaboration” (Fountain 2013).

Maintenance Right of Muslim Wife: Perspective, Issues & Need for Reformation

A Muslim divorced woman is placed separately and differently. Even the application of general law (Section 125 of Cr. P.C.) was subjected to the requirement of statuses & religion of a person (Muslim Divorced woman). When a deserted or destitute Muslim (divorced) wife who is unable to get maintenance by virtue of prohibition in Muslim Law, approaches & files application under Section 125 of Cr. P.C., the usual ploy adopted by the husband was to plead that he has already divorced his wife and hence he is not labile to pay maintenance. This argument became stronger after the enactment of Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986. Fortunately, the judiciary has shown awareness towards the pitiable position of Muslim woman and has in real sense empowered Muslim women, especially divorced woman whose miseries are uncountable. The decision given by the Supreme Court in Danial Latifi case settles the law in favour of the divorced Muslim wife and vests her with a “constitutional right” to livelihood through maintenance(the beginning of which was made by a path breaking judgment of Supreme in Shaha Bano Case). The present Act invites more criticism than praise. The content of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 has left an opportunity to the judiciary to not only provide some relief to the deserted Muslim wives but also spur a countrywide debate on the need to look after them and not abandon them to destitution. It has expanded the horizons of the egalitarian motive of the Act. In fact, it becomes a need of the hour to do away with (maintenance) laws which are based on religion and which restrict the application of general laws with respect to the basic “livelihood” of the person as is guaranteed & envisaged under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution. So keeping in mind the guarantee of Livelihood State cannot enact or enforce those laws which takes away egalitarian “right to be maintained” by those who are under legal or/and moral obligation to maintain someone. State must try to enforce the mandate or requirement of a common civil code under Article 44 of the Indian Constitution at the least with respect to the some essential & basic aspects of personal laws.

Management, Decision-Making and Supervision of Belgian State Owned Enterprises: An Inefficient Patchwork?

In April 2005 the OECD published its guidelines on the corporate governance of state-owned enterprises (S0E). Its first guideline reads that . . . SOEs should not be exempt from the application of general laws and regulations . . . the legal and regulatory framework should allow sufficient flexibility for adjustments in the capital structure of SOEs. In 1991, long before the corporate governance discussions hit the European coasts, Belgium developed a proper regulatory governance framework for autonomous state-owned enterprises, including specific checks and balances. The general commercial company code is applicable for the remaining issues. However, due to constitutional developments and divergent views on industrial policy, federal and regional Parliaments modified the applicable rules of a large number of SOE's, pushing the checks and balances to the edge. This paper assesses the 1991 corporate governance framework for Belgian autonomous SOE's, compares governance features of these entities and considers the differences with the commercial corporate governance practices. The paper starts with a brief introduction of the Belgian federal state and concludes with some thoughts for future developments.

Balancing acts: Rational agency and efficacious action

In this paper I try to problematize our conception of rational agency and to suggest that this conception is a matter of some practical and political significance. This is done on the one hand by indicating why more attention should be paid to the role of practical know‐how, or skill, in the application of general laws or principles to particular cases, and on the other by looking to a Chinese model of efficacious action, where much attention is paid to cultivating the skills required to make the transition from general to particular, albeit at the expense of recognizing the significance of what we would think of as scientific understanding.