Updated on: Monday, April 11, 2011
In a first of its kind, two lawyers have come up with two books containing compilation of data in alphabetical order on Supreme Court judgements on various words, phrases and legal expressions over the last 60 years.
Justice D K Jain said the books "Supreme Court on Words, Phrases and Legal Expressions" were distinctive as they focused only on apex court rulings.
"The compilation is a unique legal encyclopedia comprising words, phrases and legal expressions that would serve as a ready reference for the entire legal fraternity as well as people in vocations other than law," Justice Jain wrote in his forward to books authored by T L Garg and his son Rohan.
Garg, who is an advocate-on-record since 1974 and his lawyer son, in their 1813-page two-volumed work, have compiled over 40,000 entries, cross references to Supreme Court judgements from 1950 to 2010.
A set of two books, priced at Rs 6,300, would lessen the effort of lawyers and law students in searching the apex court rulings on various issues, Garg said and termed them as a "perpetual goldmine of law".
The books were released by Justice Altmas Kabir who said that they were a must for every lawyer.
Another apex court judge, Justice Dalveer Bhandari said, "The compilation would serve as a unique, compact and exhaustive ready reckoner for the entire legal and judicial fraternity."
Justice M K Sharma of the Supreme Court said, "The said compilation contains the exact/precise judicial expressions which is really a great source of help and learning to all the members of judicial fraternity."
The books provide words and expressions like "dowry shatters dreams" and "cheque bounce" to name a few, which have been dealt with, explained or used by the apex court in its judgements, the author said.
Users have to pick a word and would be supplied with the relevant citation of the Supreme Court and the relevant paragraphs.
"The need for such a book arose when I was dealing with a food adulteration case wherein curd made from milk and skimmed milk had different interpretations. To prove my point I had to consult so many books that I got the idea to prepare a handy bible for lawyers and litigants alike who are looking for proper citations linked with a particular word," Garg said.