Test: Legal General Knowledge - 1

The Law Code of Manu, also called "Manusmrti" ("manusmrti") or "Manu Dharma Shastra" ("manu-dharma-sastra"), is the oldest Law Code from India.

• In order to take a new look as to when it was composed, it is useful to examine the clues given to us from the Law Code of Manu itself, from the Rig Veda, from the Indus/Harappan Civilization archaeological remains in northwest India and Pakistan and from the "Time-Dates" of the beginning and end of the Indus/Harappan Civilization.
• The Code of Manu is a compilation of laws reflecting Hindu thought in the Buddhist period, preserved in a metrical recension, or survey.
• It contains 2685 verses, and is evidently not the work of one man, but the production of many minds. 

• Conflict of laws is a set of rules of procedural law that determine the legal system and the law of jurisdiction applying to a given legal dispute.
• In civil law, lawyers and legal scholars refer to conflict of laws as private international law. They typically apply when a legal dispute has a “foreign” element.

Joint heirs to a property are called Coparceners. They share equal rights and liabilities over the property.

• In law, locus standi means the right to bring an action, to be heard in court, or to address the Court on a matter before it.
• Locus standi is the ability of a party to demonstrate to the court sufficient connection to and harm from the law or action challenged to support that party’s participation in the case.

Example: in the United States, a person cannot bring a suit challenging the constitutionality of a law unless the plaintiff can demonstrate that the plaintiff is (or will be) harmed by the law. Otherwise, the court will rule that the plaintiff “lacks standing” to bring the suit, and will dismiss the case without considering the merits of the claim of unconstitutionality. In order to sue to have a court declare a law unconstitutional, there must be a valid reason for whoever is suing to be there. The party suing must have something to lose in order to sue unless they have automatic standing by action of law.

• A bicameral legislature divides the legislators into separate assemblies, chambers, or houses.
• Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism, in which all members deliberate and vote as a single group, and from some legislatures that have three or more separate assemblies, chambers, or houses.
• The Parliament is composed of the President of India and the houses. It is a bicameral legislature with two houses: the Rajya Sabha (Council of States) and the Lok Sabha (House of the People).

• In a path-breaking development, the Supreme Court held that a trial judge could record evidence of witnesses staying abroad through video conferencing.
• Interpreting Section 273 of the Criminal Procedure Code in the light of technological advancements, a bench comprising Justice S N Variava and Justice B N Agrawal said recording of evidence through video conferencing would be perfectly legal.
• The judgment relates to a case in which a US-based doctor had opined against the operation of a cancer patient through video conferencing. Ignoring the advice, two Indian doctors operated on the lady, who later passed away.
• The patient's family went to court against the doctors. However, the US-based doctor, Ernest Greenberg, refused to come to India, but expressed willingness to give evidence through video conferencing.
• But the Bombay high court did not allow the trial court to go ahead citing Section 273, which lays down the procedure for recording evidence.
• The husband of the deceased, P C Singhi and the Maharashtra government had appealed against the high court order in the Supreme Court.
• The prosecution has alleged that the two Indian doctors -- Praful B Desai and A K Mukherjee -- did not take good care of the patient after the operation as a result of which she suffered a lot before her death.
• Speaking for the bench, Justice Variava said, "In cases where the attendance of a witness cannot be procured without an amount of delay, expense or inconvenience, the court could consider issuing a commission to record evidence by way of video conferencing."

The act of unlawfully entering into another person's property, for instance their home or vehicle, is simply called "unlawful entry". Another word that covers the situation when a person enters property without permission is "trespassing".

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) refers to a committee in the legislature that must study public audits, invite ministers, permanent secretaries or other ministry officials to the committee for questioning, and issue a report of their findings subsequent to a government budget audit.

• In KESAVANANDA BHARTI case the SC held that Preamble does form the basic structure of the Constitution and is of extreme importance.
• The court further held that since the Preamble is part of the Constitution it can be amended but subject to condition that the 'basic features' in the Preamble cannot be altered.

Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969 was revoked and replaced by Competition Act, 2002.

• MRTP Act was enacted to deal with monopolistic, restrictive and unfair trade practices, but due to certain limitations, Competition Act was introduced, which changed the focus from curbing monopolies to promoting competition.

The holidays are declared under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1981. They are usually applicable to Government departments more particularly to banks.The bank holiday in India is a public holiday which is declared specially for banks and other financial institutions. Bank holidays are declared by Central /state government under Negotiable Instrument Act.

• In criminal offense, the burden of proof lies on the prosecution and they have to prove the accused guilty beyond all reasonable doubts
• In civil wrong, the burden of proof lies upon the plaintiff.

• They are those offenses where the complainant and accused can compromise among themselves and the State withdraws the criminal case.
• This is allowed only for the less serious crimes which entail a punishment of fewer than 2 years.

Conjugal Rights mean Right to stay together.

• Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 (Section 9) says If either the husband or the wife, without reasonable excuses, withdraws from the society of the other, the aggrieved party may approach the Court for restitution of conjugal rights.
• Section 9 is to save marriage.
• The term Conjugal Rights could be placed against any of the spouses guilty of staying away from the other party without a proper reason. If the suit succeeds then the couple would be needed to stay together.
• The decree of restitution of conjugal rights cannot be actioned by forcefully making the party who has gone away from the society from the other party to live with the one who sets petition for restitution.

Perjury is an offense of giving a false statement before the court, which a person knows to be false.

A person born in these circumstances is called a posthumous child or a posthumously born person. Most instances of posthumous birth involve the birth of a child after the death of its father, but the term is also applied to infants delivered after the death of the mother, usually by caesarean section.

Parole is a process by which a prisoner is allowed to be conditionally released during the term of imprisonment.

Absconder is a person who runs away from legal proceedings/process or avoids arrest.

Technically, India was a founding member in October 1945, despite it being a British colony.

A plaintiff is a person who brings a case against another in a court of law.

A litigant is a person who is involved in a civil legal case

accused means the person charged with an infringement of the law for which he is liable and if convicted then to be punished. In other words, a person who is charged with the commission of offence.

complainaunt is a person who makes a formal complaint in a law court that they have been harmed by someone else

Double jeopardy, non bis in idem or ne bis in idem is a procedural defense that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following a valid acquittal or conviction.

A person who knowingly, voluntarily or intentionally gives assistance to another in the commission of crime. An accomplice is criminally liable to the same extent as the principal.

Land is a matter on which only State Governments can govern, thus the Stamp duties on transfer of immovable properties are levied by State Governments.

• The institute was registered on 17 August 1993 under the societies registration act of 1860. 
• N.R Madhava Menon was its founding director.
• Its 63-acre campus is located on the outskirts of Bhopal. It also has a registered office in Delhi.
• The president of India inaugurated the institute building on September 5, 2002.

Attorney General has the right of audience in all Courts in India as well as the right to participate in the proceedings of the Parliament, though not to vote.