sources of law

1. LAW FOR ENGINEERS
INTRODUCTION TO LAW
AND LAW MAKING
SOURCES OF LAW
MS. VAISHALI GUPTA
VISITING FACULTY
AMITY UNIVERSITY, UTTAR PRADESH

3. SOURCES OF LAW
Sources of Law
(Salmond)
Formal Material
Legal
Historical

4. FORMAL SOURCES- EXAMPLES
STATUTES
JUDICIAL PRECEDENTS
MATERIAL SOURCES- EXAMPLES
LEGAL –
legislations, precedents, customary laws, conventional law
HISTORICAL –
decisions given by foreign courts,

5. Sources of Indian Law
Custom
Legal
Local
General
Conventional
Precedent
Binding
Persuasive
Legislation
Primary
Legislation
Secondary
Legislation

6. Requisites
of Valid
Custom
Antiquity
Continuity
Reasonable
Certainty
Consistency
Peaceful
Enjoyment
Conformity
with statute
Not
opposed to
public
morality

7. REQUISITES OF VALID CUSTOM
1. Antiquity: Custom must be in existence from
time immemorial
2. Continuity: Should have been continuously
in existence from the time immemorial
🞑 Example - Saptapadi

8. REQUISITES OF VALID CUSTOM
3. Reasonable: It must be useful and
convenient to the society.
4. Certainty: If a custom is vague or ambiguous
it cannot be considered as a valid source of
law.
5. Consistency: Difference or inconsistency in
custom will amount to different rule of
conduct for a given situation
6. Peaceful Enjoyment: enjoyed peaceably
without any dispute in a law court or
otherwise

9. REQUISITES OF VALID
CUSTOM…
7. Conformity with statute law: All customs which
are opposed to an existing legislation will be
treated as invalid customs
🞑 For example, jalli-kattu,
a customary sport of tamil nadu
banned by the supreme court
because it is not in conformity
with constitution
8. Not opposed public morality: All those
customs and practices which are opposed to
public morality are illegal

10. PRECEDENTS
DOCTRINE OF RATIO DECIDENDI
Ratio Decidendi is a Latin phrase meaning ‘the reason’ or ‘the
rationale for the decision’.
The Ratio Decidendi is ‘the point in a case that determines the
judgement’ or ‘the principle that the case establishes’. Ratio
Decidendi literally means ‘reason for deciding’.
DOCTRINE OF OBITER DICTA
Obiter dictum is the Latin phrase meaning “other things said”, that
is, a remark in a judgment that is “said in passing”.
Ratio decidendi is binding, whereas obiter dicta are persuasive only.
However, obiter dicta of the Supreme Court are binding on all courts and
Tribunals within the territory of India

11. Res Judicata
A phrase which has been evolved from a Latin maxim, which
stand for ‘the thing has been judged’, meaning there by that the
issue before the court has already been decided by another
court, between the same parties. Therefore, the court will
dismiss the case before it as being useless.
Stare Decisis
The principle by which judges are bound to precedents is
known as Stare Decisis (a Latin phrase with the literal meaning
of “to stand in the-things-that-have-been-decided”). The doctrine
under which courts adhere to precedent on questions of law in order to
insure certainty, consistency, and stability in the administration of justice with
departure from precedent permitted for compelling reasons (as to prevent
the perpetuation of injustice).

12. REASONS FOR CONSIDERING
PRECEDENT AS A SOURCE
Reasons
for
Considering
Precedent
as
a
Source
Final settlement of an Issue
Bring certainty
Bring flexibility to law
Open scope for Judge made law
Bring scientific development to law
Helps in guiding lower courts

13. LEGISLATION
 Word legislation is derived from two Latin
words, ‘legis’ and ‘latum’. The former means
law and the latter means to make

14. CLASSIFICATION OF
LEGISLATION
Supreme
• Adopted by supreme
authority of the state
• Eg. Parliament or
State Legislature
Subordinate
• Dependent for its continued
existence and validity on
some superior or supreme
authority
• Eg. Delegated
Legislation
Classificatio
n of
Legislation

15. THANK YOU