Goforthelaw - LKMc

Moot Court Guide - Dr G B Reddy, Osmania University, Hyderabad - Follow him at http://www.drgbr.goforthelaw.com/

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 05:23:00 +0000

Advantage of Arguments

Varying Methods of Teaching

Moot Courts

Difference between Moot Courts and Mock Trials

Why Moot ?

Key skills every mooter needs

What should a mooter do?

Court Etiquette

How to Discredit Arguments of opposite side?

What a mooter should not do?

Written Memorials-Description

Written Memorials-Other Rules

Criteria for Assessment of Mooters

Useful Info.. on Moot Courts

Conclusion

Advantage of Arguments

“In my Youth”, said his father,’I took to the Law’

And argued each case with my wife;

And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw

Has lasted the rest of my life.”

- Lewis Carroll in a poem called You Are Old, Father William in his book Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865).

Varying Methods of Teaching

The Socratic method
Straight lecture
High-tech method
The hybrid model
The problem method

Follow Dr G B Reddy, Osmania University, Hyderabad at http://www.drgbr.goforthelaw.com/

Moot Court Guide

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 05:05:00 +0000

LLB is a professional course, as most universities give practical legal training while teaching the legal theory. Undergraduate courses of law are basically designed to give students the knowledge of the subject. The course includes seminars, tutorial work, moot courts and practical training programmes.

To become a good advocate you need yourself equipped with the good presentation skills. To improve your skills, to become a good advocate, practice is required in presenting your case and arguing which is a big challenge for a developing student at the college level. These skills can be improved by taking part in the Moot Courts at the college level so that your presentation skills and talents in argument shall be screened and you will be in notice of your level in the competition around you. You will then seek an improvement of your position in the competition. The student of law cannot just stick only to the theoretical teaching and hence law institutions host Moot Court Competitions.

The Moot Court is basically an activity that is followed for the betterment of the presentation and argument skills of the students. It helps students equip themselves to the standards of the society. To participate you should have the confidence in you and you should be a generalist i.e. you should analyze the facts of the case in the general point of view in regard to the subject of the case and learn to apply the law to the facts of the case. You should be a specialist in Law dealing that particular subject, and be thorough with the latest case law and interpretation by the Supreme Court and the High Courts to get a better grip over the case or the position of the case.

The Moot court Hall or Room is like a practical room for a student to get accustomed to the atmosphere of the Courts as well as improve his skills in law and advocacy of law. In a Moot court a hypothetical case is given to the students and are allowed to argue the given case. Moot Court helps the students of law in many ways since it is a sort of practical legal training, which helps to build analytical reasoning, legal aptitude, team building skills and above all make them responsive.

How to go about a Moot Court?

1. The facts of the case need to be jotted (made a note of) down in points.

2. The words used should be simple and easy understandable. Take the best care of the language used.

3. Need to have good communication skills to present the case with confidence.

4. You should give the introduction of the parties with their description and details.

5. Reasons of the problems and why?

6. Give a brief of the agreed party.

7. You should accept your mistakes made at the argument and show your acceptance of the mistakes by pleading the Judge to pardon. You should apologize and correct your mistakes.

8. Drafting skills are also an important aspect of the Moot Court. You need to present the case with the best language possible and the submissions made by you must be good enough to impress the Moot Court Judge.

9. Spontaneity should be the first objective while presenting or arguing.

10. The case mostly will be well balanced and is prepared in such a manner that no side (Applicant/Respondent) is strong. Therefore, a lot of research work is to be done to get better case laws and material that supports your case.

Abuse of process is a cause of action in Torts by Anushtha Saxena

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Sat, 20 Oct 2012 08:55:00 +0000

Abuse of process is a common law intentional tort. It is a cause of action and arises when one of the parties makes a misuse of legal proceedings civil or criminal which are not justified by the nature of process. The courts have named four torts involving the misuse of litigation. These are: malicious abuse of process, malicious use of process, malicious prosecution, and abuse of process. Malicious abuse of process and abuse of process are same torts they are different in name only. An abuse of process occurs when a person misuses a legal process after the litigation has commenced. On the other hand, a cause of action for malicious prosecution is based upon the malicious initiation of litigation. The pivotal issue in determining abuse is whether a plaintiff has an ulterior motive for filing a civil suit against the defendant. For example, if a creditor files suit for a debt owed when the real reason is to force the debtor to pay off another unrelated debt, that's an abuse of process. Other examples would include filing a civil action when the ulterior purpose is to extort money or other property or using the legal process solely to harass, intimidate or inconvenience someone else.

1. For example, malicious prosecution might occur where A sues B for breach of contract, knowing that there was no breach. On the other hand, abuse of process might occur where, during the course of the breach of contract proceedings, A has arrested B and put in jail, intending to coerce a larger settlement from B.

2. Another example is if A caused B to be arrested and jailed for a debt, knowing that B owed no such debt, B would have an action for malicious prosecution. Further, if as a condition for B's release, A extorted certain property from B, B would also have an action for abuse of process.

The elements for abuse of process are:-
1.An ulterior purpose - The first element, ulterior purpose, usually consists of coercion to obtain a collateral advantage, not properly involved in the proceeding itself, such as the surrender of property or the payment of money with use of the process as a threat or a club.

The ulterior motive was established directly in COPLEA V. BYBEE. Here the plaintiff proved that the defendant levied on and sold property which was not properly subject to levy and sale. The plaintiff further proved that the defendant's purpose in obtaining the illegal levy and sale was to affect the sale of the property rather than to fulfil the claim that he had against the plaintiff. This illicit purpose constituted the defendant's ulterior motive.

2. A wilful act in the use of process not proper in the regular conduct of the proceeding. -The second element involves an overt act, but actions taken in the regular course of litigation, such as threatening suit or requesting discovery, are not a proper basis for an abuse of process claim even if done with an ulterior motive.
3. The plaintiff must also prove that such civil proceedings have interfered with his liberty or property or that such proceedings have affected or are likely to affect his reputation. The plaintiff must establish that he suffered damage.

Read more at http://www.goforthelaw.com/index.php/browsearticles/loadarticleview/215.html

Domestic Violence a Curse in the Society - A Global Epidemic by Anushtha Saxena

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 04:10:00 +0000

Women is a unique creation of God understanding, hardworking, full of compassion holding high level of initiative and a trend setter for progeny inspite of these qualities the women have never been treated at par with the men . She has faced and is facing discrimination, exploitation and violence from time immemorial. Violence against women and girls continues to be a global epidemic that kills, tortures, and maims – physically, psychologically, sexually and economically. It is one of the most pervasive of human rights violations, denying women and girls’ equality, security, dignity, self-worth, and their right to enjoy fundamental freedoms.

After independence have seen tremendous changes in the status and the position of the women in the Indian society. The constitution of India has laid down as a fundamental right- the equality of the sexes. But the change from a position of utter degradation of women in the nineteenth century to a position of equality in the middle of the twentieth century is not a simple case of the progress of men in the modern era. The position of women in the Indian society has been a very complicated one. In fact, it could not be an exaggeration to say that the recent changes in the status of women in India is not a sign of progress but it is really a recapturing of the position that they held in the early Vedic period. The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993, defines Violence Against women as “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm, or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty; whether occurring in public or private life”. It could be seen that despite the total literacy and global model of development, Kerala tops the list in Domestic Violence, according to the survey conducted by ICRW. Domestic violence is to be perceived not as a law and order problem alone. Primarily it is a socio cultural problem. Its impact has far reaching effects on the family life, health of woman, life of children etc. Studies such as these which examine the causes, its nature and manifestations and consequences would assist the general society to understand the magnitude as well as its implications on the lives as well as the institution of family. According to the National Victims Centre, one woman is raped every minute, and 30% of all women murdered in this country are murdered by their boyfriends or husbands.

WHAT IS DOMESTIC VOILENCE?

Article 2 of the UN draft Declaration of Violence against women identifies three areas in which violence commonly takes place. They are a) violence occurring within the family b) violence occurring in the general community and c) violence perpetrated or condoned by the state. Earlier victims of domestic violence did not lodge complaints, as they feared that such complaints might create a hostile home environment. Very often, women used to endure the violence towards them in silence for fear of repercussions. In spite of the extreme physical and psychological violence meted out on many women, they do not seek divorce, as they feel their trauma and that of their children is too great a price to be paid instead. Thus to a great extent she accepts domestic violence as part of her family life. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-2) findings released at the end of the year 2000 points out this fact. Although no direct link has been established, the survey reveals the extent to which women lack autonomy, even as more than 50percent justify, or accept violence within the home.

How Gandhiji would have viewed Anna Hazare Anti-Corruption Movement? by Habib Zafar, NALSAR

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 04:06:00 +0000

“Corruption and hypocrisy ought not to be inevitable products of democracy, as they undoubtedly are today”

-Mahatma Gandhi.

Corruption affects the entire society at all levels and in all sectors. It is also of the most obvious concern of society and a theme of everyday discussion and debate. Apart from the moral and ethical mission to tone up the moral level of the entire society, the administrative reform is also an integral part of the overall strategy against corruption for simplification of procedure accountability and openness. In Huntington words, “Corruption is behavior of public officials which deviates from accepted norms in order to serve private ends. The character of corruption in India has not changed over time, though its magnitude certainly has. Conventional wisdom might suggest that the corruption that plagues India today is a vestige of the widespread corruption of the state-centered economy, which preceded the liberalizing reforms of 1991. Yet many of the worst cases of corruption in recent years were borne out of deregulation, privatization, and the fostering of public-private partnerships—the very processes that were meant to reduce the discretionary powers of public officials. An example is the notorious “2G spectrum scam,” in which cellphone licenses were sold for a fraction of their value, resulting in the loss of a staggering $39 billion to the national exchequer. Corruption in politics has become a plague across our country, it is draining our resources and demoralizing our nation.

Anna Hazare, is the man of initial protester- an anti-corruption crusader who is determined to establish the Jan Lokpal Bill that can bring in a strong anti-corruption law in India. In today’s generation, most of us have not seen Mahatma Gandhi and his way of fighting against the English. However, Anna Hazare has provided us a glimpse of the ‘Freedom Struggle’ His actions was reminding the shadow of Mahatma Gandhi. The question arises here: does nonviolence serve as mighty tool in the 21^st century as well? & how Mahatma Gandhi would have viewed this movement?

Anna Hazare struggle against corruption was a gentle reminder of Mahatma Gandhi’s Satyagraha. His fast-unto death, has shown the world what Gandhism means in today’s world. The power of Gandhiji’s nonviolence will never cease to exist in the ages to come. While in Libya and Yemen there is bloodshed for freedom, where people are waging war against one another during the crisis, here in India, a respected social activist Anna Hazare is waging a peaceful, nonviolent war against corruption. His urge to free India of the greatest evil, corruption, commends appreciation. This fight against corruption staged at Jantar Mantar was not a one- man show. People from different parts of the country gave their support to Anna Hazare. The greatest merit of this nonviolent struggle was that no political party was involved in it. Anna Hazare and his supporters were not influenced by any political party. There was only one flag waving high in the sky and in our minds, the Indian National Flag. IT IS evident from his interviews and speeches that Hazare views corruption as the result of unchecked human greed. There is no further analysis. Gandhi too stressed the importance of personal ethics: “Be the change you want to see in the world” is one of his best-remembered axioms. But Gandhi’s understanding of why humans err was more profound, his diagnosis more structural. For Gandhi, personal greed had a wider social context, and was also rooted in the unethical choices and practices of the state. . Gandhi would surely condemn India’s bitter scourge of corruption were he alive today. Unlike Hazare, however, he would demand a more systemic answer to a more preliminary question: How did this come to pass?

Hazare and his supporters have been silent on a range of recent developments—such as illegal mining and the land acquisition process for SEZs (special economic zones)—in which corruption hurts poor farmers, fisher folk, and indigenous communities rather than well-heeled city-dwellers. Reckless and rapacious economic transformations have proceeded unchecked, even as Hazare has prayed, fasted, and stressed the importance of vegetarianism and tee totaling. Gandhi would surely have been critical of such unwillingness to connect personal ideals of moral living with a broader vision of social and environmental justice. While Gandhi curried favor with wealthy business elites—a strategy that earned him enduring opprobrium from India’s Communist Left—his primary base of support was always the rural poor, in whose service he advocated a smaller-scale and more ecologically conscious road to “development” than the one India ultimately adopted. Hazare, in contrast, has yet to formulate a position that challenges the neoliberal objectives and ill-founded nationalism of his financiers and followers. An anti-corruption route more in keeping with Gandhian principles is that of the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information (NCPRI).

This lime Unlike Gandhi, Hazare is not a deep thinker. Nor is he an educated man. More worrying, he seems to lack the Mahatma’s sense of compassion and good judgment. Hazare’s critics say that he has a soldier’s view of corruption rather than that of the spiritual leader he claims to be but these lines of Gandhi is enough to guide anyone:

"A small body of determined spirit, fired by an unquenchable faith

in their mission can alter the course of History."

Elettronica Sicula S.p.A (ELSI):U.S.A v. Italy- A Case Study by Habib Zafar, NALSAR

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 04:01:00 +0000

ABSTRACT:

In 1967, Raytheon held 99.16% of the shares in ELSI, the remaining 0.84% being held by Machlett, which was a wholly owned subsidiary of Raytheon. ELSI was established in Palermo, Sicily, where it had a plant for the production of electronic components; in 1967 it had a workforce of slightly under 900 employees. In February 1967, according to the United States, Raytheon began taking steps to endeavor to make ELSI self-sufficient. At the same time numerous meetings were held between February 1967 and March 1968 with Italian officials and companies, the purpose of which was stated to be to find for ELSI an Italian partner with economic power and influence and to explore the possibilities of other governmental support. When it became apparent that these discussions were unlikely to lead to a mutually satisfactory arrangement, Raytheon and Machlett, as shareholders in ELSI, began seriously to plan to close and liquidate ELSI to minimize their losses. On 28 March 1968, it was decided that the Company cease operations. Meetings with Italian officials however continued, at which the Italian authority rigorously pressed ELSI not to close the plant and not to dismiss the workforce. On 29 March 1968 letters of dismissal were mailed to the employees of ELSI. On 1 April 1968 the Mayor of Palermo issued an order, effective immediately, requisitioning ELSI's plant and related assets for a period of six months. On 19 April 1968 ELSI brought an administrative appeal against the requisition to the Prefect of Palermo. A bankruptcy petition was filed by ELSI on 26 April 1968, referring to the requisition as the reason why the company had lost control of the plant and could not avail itself of an immediate source of liquid funds, and mentioning payments which had become due and could not be met. A decree of bankruptcy was issued by the Tribunal di Palermo on 16 May 1968. The administrative appeal filed by ELSI against the requisition order was determined by the Prefect of Palermo by a decision given on 22 August 1969, by which he annulled the requisition order. The Parties are at issue on the question whether this period of time was or was not normal for an appeal of this character. In the meantime, on 16 June 1970 the trustee in bankruptcy had brought proceedings in the Court of Palermo against the Minister of the Interior of Italy and the Mayor of Palermo for damages resulting from the requisition. The Court of Appeal of Palermo awarded damages for loss of use of the plant during the period of the requisition. The bankruptcy proceedings closed in November 1985. Of the amount realized, no surplus remained for distribution to the shareholders, Raytheon and Machlett.

The United States claimed that the requisition had caused the bankruptcy of the company, thereby violating several substantive and procedural rights guaranteed by the FCN Treaty. Italy, raised preliminary objection to the admissibility of the claim on the ground that local remedies had not been exhausted and any event, flatly denied any violation of the treaty. In the oral hearing Italy further submitted “in a subsidiary and alternative basis only” that even supposing a violation of its obligation, no injury had been caused for which payment of indemnity would be justified.

The Chamber rejected the objection of non-exhaustion of the local remedies and after examining found that the Respondent, Italy, had not violated the FCN Treaty in the manner asserted by the Applicant, it follows that the chamber rejected the claim for reparation made by the Applicant.

Background:

This case is in respect of a dispute arising out of the requisitioning of the plant and assets of Elettronica Sicula S.p.A (ELSI)[1], An Italian company established in Palermo, Italy; which was 100 percent owned by the two United States Corporations: Raytheon company [Raytheon] which held 99.16% of the shares and its subsidiary Machlett laboratories [Machlett] which held the remaining 0.84% of shares. The issue at the heart of the dispute was the bankruptcy of ELSI in March/April 1968[2] and its subsequent sale at a reduced price (due to requisition) than fair market value to the state owned Telecommunicazioni S.p.A (ELTEL).

Credit Rating in India:An Overview by Mirza Juned Beg, NALSAR

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 03:58:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION

In providing independent opinions to investors as to the credit quality of debt issuer, credit ratings have become important parameters in market acceptance and pricing of debt[1]. Ratings are now viewed as easily usable tools for differentiating credit quality by both individual investors ill-equipped to assess credit risk, and institutional investors often required to hold instruments of given credit categories in their portfolio[2]. This introductory note reviews the key definitions and features of credit ratings and the bases on which ratings are assigned. It briefly addresses the correlation between credit quality and default rates, and outlines some of the criteria underpinning sub-sovereign credit assessments in emerging and developing economies[3].

With the increasing market orientation of the Indian economy, investors value a systematic assessment of two types of risks, namely “business risk” arising out of the “open economy” and linkages between money, capital and foreign exchange markets and “payments risk”[4]. With a view to protect small investors, who are the main target for unlisted corporate debt in the form of fixed deposits with companies, credit rating has been made mandatory. India was perhaps the first amongst developing countries to set up a credit rating agency in 1988[5].

The function of credit rating was institutionalized when RBI made it mandatory for the issue of Commercial Paper (CP) and subsequently by SEBI. When it made credit rating compulsory for certain categories of debentures and debt instruments. In June 1994, RBI made it mandatory for Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs) to be rated. Credit rating is optional for Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) bonds and privately placed non-conve11ible debentures upto Rs. 50 million. Fixed deposits of manufacturing companies also come under the purview of optional credit rating[6].

The Ratings industry in India has been built up to its present position over a period of 15 years. Over the years, credit ratings have evolved into a 90-crore market, with four agencies providing rating services, and significant pull from investors for the product[7]. The ratings business in India has seen three phases:

· First phase, as described above, there was no experience of credit ratings, and virtually no awareness, on the part of investors and issuers.

· Second phase saw the advent of regulatory support for credit ratings, with the introduction and increasing rigor of regulations covering primarily the markets for public issue of debt and for fixed deposits. Aimed at protecting smaller investors, these measures also amounted to regulatory recognition of the role of credit ratings and the quality of the effort put in till then, in estimating credit quality. With these measures, credit ratings rapidly passed out of the arcane realm of high finance, and into the lexicon of the individual market participant.

· Third phase recent years have seen a third phase of the market’s development with public issues of debt reducing in volume; the focus has shifted to the market for private placements. Almost all the privately placed debt issued in the Indian market is rated, even though this is not a regulatory requirement. This shift is entirely driven by investors in these securities, who typically tend to be highly sophisticated financial sector entities.

Credit rating is also known as Security Rating in India. It is mandatory for the issuance of debt instruments, debentures; commercial paper issued by corporate and public deposits of all NBFCs (Non Banking Financial Companies).

Theories of Punishment by Diwakar Sharma, Law Student

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:57:00 +0000

Penology : Theories Of Punishment

Introduction :

Each society has its own way of social control for which it frames certain laws and also mentions the sanctions with them. These sanctions are nothing but the punishments. ‘The first thing to mention in relation to the definition of punishment is the ineffectiveness of definitional barriers aimed to show that one or other of the proposed justifications of punishments either logically include or logically excluded by definition.’ Punishment has the following features:

# It involves the deprivation of certain normally recognized rights, or other measures considered unpleasant

# It is consequence of an offence

# It is applied against the author of the offence

# It s applied by an organ of the system that made the act an offence

The kinds of punishment given are surely influenced by the kind of society one lives in. Though during ancient period of history punishment was more severe as fear was taken as the prime instrument in preventing crime. But with change in time and development of human mind the punishment theories have become more tolerant to these criminals. Debunking the stringent theories of punishment the modern society is seen in loosening its hold on the criminals. The present scenario also witnesses the opposition of capital punishment as inhumane, though it was a major form of punishing the criminals earlier. But it may also be observed till recently the TALIBANS used quite a harsh method for suppression. The law says that it does not really punish the individual but punishes the guilty mind.

As punishment generally is provided in Criminal Law it becomes imperative on our part to know what crime or an offence really is. Here the researcher would like to quote Salmond’s definition of crime: Crime is an act deemed by law to be harmful for the society as a whole though its immediate victim may be an individual. He further substantiates his point of view through the following illustration a murderer injures primarily a particular victim, but its blatant disregard of human life puts it beyond a mater of mere compensation between the murderer and the victim’s family.

Thus it becomes very important on behalf of the society to punish the offenders. Punishment can be used as a method of educing the incidence of criminal behavior either by deterring the potential offenders or by incapacitating and preventing them from repeating the offence or by reforming them into law-abiding citizens. Theories of punishment, contain generally policies regarding theories of punishment namely: Deterrent, Retributive, Preventive and Reformative.

Punishment, whether legal or divine, needs justification. Because the justification of legal punishment has been given greater consideration by philosophers than has the justification of divine punishment by theologians, the philosophical concepts and 'theories of punishment’ (i.e. the justifications) will be used as a basis for considering divine punishment.

Many a time this punishment has been termed as a mode of social protection. The affinity of punishment with many other measures involving deprivation by the state morally recognized rights is generally evident. The justifiability of these measures in particular cases may well be controversial, but it is hardly under fire. The attempt to give punishment the same justification for punishment as for other compulsory measures imposed by the state does not necessarily involve a particular standpoint on the issues of deterrence, reform or physical incapacitation. Obviously the justification in terms of protection commits us to holding that punishment may be effective in preventing social harms through one of these methods.

As punishments generally punish the guilty mind it becomes very important on the part of the researcher to what crime really is. But it is quite difficult on the part of the researcher to say whether or not there must be any place for the traditional forms of punishment. In today’s world the major question that is raised by most of the penologist is that how far are present ‘humane’ methods of punishment like the reformative successful in their objective. It is observed that prisons have become a place for breeding criminals not as a place of reformation as it was meant to be.

It may be clearly said that the enactment of any law brings about two units in the society- the law-abiders and the law-breakers. It is purpose of these theories of punishment to by any means transform or change these law-breakers to the group of abiders. To understand the topic the researcher would like to bring about a valid relation between crime, punishment and the theories. For that purpose the project is divided into three parts:

# Crime and Punishment

# Theories of punishment

# Conclusion

The researcher due to certain constraints of limited time and knowledge is unable to cove the area of the evolution of these theories separately but would include them in the second chapter. The researcher would now like to move on to his first chapter in which he would be vividly discussing ‘crime and punishment.’

The researcher in his first draft had included the chapter on the evolution of the theories from the early ages to the modern era, but due to certain limitations included them and discussed them during the due course of the project.

Protection of Traditional Knowledge: International and national Initiatives and Possible ways ahead by Nithin Kumar, Law Student

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 18:54:00 +0000

Abstract

Traditional Knowledge (TK) is a cumulative body of knowledge which is handed down through generations through cultural transmission. Modern manufacturing industries are now commercially exploiting TK, without even sharing the benefit accrued from it with the indigenous communities.. This paper shall analyse the need for protection of TK and how commercial exploitation of TK is affecting indigenous communities and aims to find out why current IP systems cannot be invoked for the prevention of indigenous knowledge, the measures taken in the international and Indian scenario for protection of traditional knowledge. Another focus point of this paper is regarding the future of TK protection where author attempts to look into the proposals laid by developing countries and various Jurists like concept of defensive publication with special reference to Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL), Disclosure of Origin, Benefit sharing with indigenous communities for use of TK, etc.

Introduction

Around the world, various local communities possess knowledge and practices gained by them through experience of centuries and transferred from generation to generation. This culturally transmitted knowledge is referred to as traditional knowledge. Traditional knowledge is the result of intellectual activities in diverse traditional contexts. The term “traditional knowledge” is a very broad concept, which encompasses within itself indigenous knowledge related to various categories like agriculture, medicine, bio diversity as well as expressions of folklore in the form of music, dance, songs, handicraft, designs etc.

Deepening of Democracy in India - by Ankit Awasthi LLM, Hidayatullah National Law University

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 16:25:00 +0000

Deepening of Democracy in India - Mahaveer Singh Dewal and Ankit Awasthi Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur

India … has embarked on an experiment in democratic planning which is perhaps larger and more complex than any in the modern world. Some have called it a fateful experiment … what is on trial … is, in the last analysis, whether democracy can solve the problems of mass poverty. It is a trial perhaps never before made in such an atmosphere of urgency1. —Government of India, 1958 India has witnessed great social, political and cultural change. As the world’s largest democracy, its most diverse nation and one of its fastest growing economies, India is now, sixty years after Independence, universally regarded as an emerging superpower.

India started its life as an independent nation with a democracy that many people saw as shaky and thin on the ground – in Ambedkar’s words, democracy was ―topsoil‖ beneath which, India remained dominated by loyalties to caste, religion and region. India survived this early uncertainty, and has evolved into an increasingly mature democracy. The new maturity has come with a large-scale mobilization of people and a surging awareness of economic and political rights at the grassroots. Since the 1980s, this deepening has been accompanied with the rise of a new, powerful civil society, which is influencing and shaping our public debates

2. Achievement of Indian Democratic Government - Achievements are the measure of one's performance. India is largest democratic country in the world. After independence India continued with democracy system without any obstacle. If the Government of India, 1958 Sharma Shalendra’s Book democracy and development present Government's performance is to be measured then one has to look into their achievements. If this Government is seeking a return mandate, then in all fairness, they should be explaining us or detail us the achievements they have done in these five years. With nothing to boast, they went on adding the achievements of winning Gold in Olympics, Winning Oscar, Mission Chandrayaan as the achievements of their Government. This makes it obvious that they lack facts. If Pokhran was declared as achievement by the NDA Govt, it is because it involved the decisions of the Govt that required guts in the international arena. How Chandryaan could be the achievement of the government is known only to those media managers. Similarly if the UPA is taking credit for an Oscar for Slumdog, in all fairness, they deserve to get it because they are the reasons for the numerous slums in India and the people in BPL. Here goes my another list of achievements to help them

3. In few countries of the developing world has the impact of the state on agricultural modernization been as pervasive as in India. Since independence, India's democratic state has intervened extensively in the country- side with a plethora of policy packages aimed at promoting rural development, advancing social justice, and improving the living standards of the vast majority of the its inhabitants—known in official parlance as the ―weaker sections of society

4. We have made decent progress in several areas during the last 60 years. We have produced world-class scientists, engineers, journalists, soldiers, bureaucrats, politicians and doctors. We have built complex bridges and dams. We have sent satellites and rockets into space. We have increased the number of doctors tenfold. We have increased life expectancy from 32 years to 65 years. We have built about 1.25 million miles of new roads; we have multiplied our steel production by over 50 times and cement production by almost 20 times. We have increased our exports from a few million dollars at the time of independence to more than $125 billion now, with about $150 billion of imports

5. B.B. Misra: The bureaucracy in India: A historical Analysis of Development upto 1947 4 C.P. Bhambhri: Bureaucracy and Politics in India (Delhi: Vikas, 1971) 5 newshopper.sulekha.com/india-general-elections-2009/blogs/2009/04/achievements.htm

Green Revolution Perhaps, no other Indian initiative has enhanced the national confidence as the Green Revolution initiated by Dr. M.S. Swaminathan. This revolution, which started in 1965, not only transformed India into a food-surplus economy from a food-deficit economy but also triggered the expansion of the rural, non-farm economy. The lives of at least 400 million to 500 million Indians have been uplifted due to this initiative. From being a perennial importer of grains, India became a net exporter of food grains 10 years ago.

White Revolution - Coming from a generation that experienced an acute shortage of milk, it is unimaginable that, today, we have become the largest producer of milk in the world. The credit goes to the extraordinary vision of one person, Dr. Verghese Kurien. In a nation where children are malnourished, such abundance of milk has offered us the opportunity to fight malnutrition with the means produced in India

6. The economic reforms of 1991--initiated by the late Narasimha Rao, Dr. Manmohan Singh, Shri P. Chidambaram and Dr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia--opened up the minds of Indian corporate leaders to the power of global markets, helped them accept competition at home and abroad, and raised the confidence of consumers. Our hard currency reserves have gone up from a mere $1.5 billion in 1991 to over $220 billion today. The reforms encouraged entrepreneurship and gave confidence to businessmen and entrepreneurs to dream big, create jobs, enhance exports, acquire companies abroad and follow the finest principles of corporate governance

7. Economic scenario: Inflation is an index that is given on the basis of average calculations of the present situation vis-à-vis preceding weeks. The inflation has shot so high that the average is now showing almost zero inflation. They boast of near-zero inflation as an achievement whereas all of us are aware how far the prices of essential commodities soared high. The way they played around the petroleum prices as the elections approached near showed their ability or the lack of it to control the prices

8. S.R. Maheshwari : ―Bureaucracy and political development in India‖ in Indian journal of political science, vol. 39 7 Carl J. Friedrich: Constitutional Government and Democracy (Calcutta: Oxford and IBH, 1966). 8. J.W. Garner: Political Science and Government (Calcutta: World Press, 1952), II Edn.7

As per my opinion, because of glorious achievement of Democratic form of Government in India, which gained in last sixty year, India still persist with Democratic form of governance.

COMPANY ACT 1956- "BUY BACK OF SHARES" by Shiva Patel, 3rd year, National Law Institute University, Bhopal

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 07:17:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION

Be it a listed or unlisted company, share capital will bear an integral part in company setup . Share capital can be of two types i.e. equity share capital or preferential share capital. The share capital of a company has to be subscribed by one or more persons. After the share of a company has been allotted to the subscribing members, the subscribers have no right over the money gone as proceeds of the shares subscribed. All that the shareholder has is the right to vote at the general meetings of the company or the right to receive dividends or right to such other benefits which may have been prescribed. The only option left with the shareholder in order to realize the price of the share is to transfer the share to some other person.

But there are certain provisions in the companies act which allow the shareholders to sell their shares directly to the company and such provisions are termed as buy back of shares. Buy back of shares can be understood as the process by which a company buys its share back from its shareholder or a resort a shareholder can take in order to sell the share back to the company.

The provisions regulating buy back of shares are contained in Section 77A, 77AA and 77B of the Companies Act, 1956. These were inserted by the Companies (Amendment) Act, 1999. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) framed the SEBI(Buy Back of Securities) Regulations,1999 and the Department of Company Affairs framed the Private Limited Company and Unlisted Public company (Buy Back of Securities) rules,1999 pursuant to Section 77A(2)(f) and (g) respectively.

Bentham Analysis of Death Penalty and its Relevancy in Contemporary India by Rituraj Sinha, NALSAR University, Hyderabad

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 17:47:00 +0000

INTRODUCTION

Ever since the enactment of the Indian Constitution in 1950, public awareness of problems with death penalty and prevailing legal standards has evolved significantly. In dozens of countries, democratic governments in the course of conducting a major review of their national constitutions have decided to curtail or abolish the death penalty. Nearly all European and several Pacific Area states (counting Australia, New Zealand and Timor Leste), and Canada have abolished death penalty. The majority of states in Latin America have also absolutely abolished capital punishment, however, a few countries, like Brazil, use death penalty only in special situations, for example, treachery committed during wartime.

In India also, it should be noted that right from the days of the British rule, there has been a strict opposition to the enforcement of capital punishment. For example, in 1931, Gaya Prasad Singh, a member of the Legislative Assembly introduced a Bill in the Assembly which proposed to abolish the death penalty in the country. However, it was overturned. Other significant events were the Supreme Court judgements inJagmohan Singh V State of U.P[1]. and in Bachan Singh V State of Punjab[2]. In these cases the Supreme Court held that death penalty is an exception not a rule and also came up with the doctrine of ‘rarest of rare case’. Thus, these developments in these cases can be regarded as the steps towards an attempt to abolish the death penalty. In retrospect, these cases are neither a small nor the insignificant achievement for the abolitionist.

It is now recognised in both national and international systems that the death penalty has no place in a democratic and civilised society. India is sovereign, secular, and democratic but yet, it is astonishing that India is one of the few countries in the world which still embraces the concept of capital punishment or the death penalty. Through this paper, the Author is going to study what Bentham has said about death penalty and will try to find out its relevancy in India.

Now coming to the theory, since Socrates, philosophers have examined the morality and policy of the death penalty, but Bentham devoted more space to the topic than any of his predecessors. Jeremy Bentham twice undertook to apply his general utilitarian principles of punishment to a critique of death penalty. First was in 1775[3] and the second was in 1831[4]. In his 1775 essay, firstly he explained the distinction between ‘simple’ and ‘afflictive’ death penalties and then also criticised the latter. Then he argued his case against the death penalty on the utilitarian grounds. His second effort in 1831 was entitled as ‘On death penalty’. This effort was mainly devoted against the death penalty on utilitarian grounds as it was made in his earlier effort of 1775, but the style was distinctly inferior then his essay of 1775. Thus taken together Bentham’s 1775 and 1831 essays constitute of the death penalty unique among leading philosophers.

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Which direction the Indian economic and political ...

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:33:00 +0000

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Which direction the Indian economic and political ...: Indian subcontinent with multicultural,multi lingual, multi religious and ethnic diversified castes,communities and faiths was prosperous w...

E-Legal Education And Awareness: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT : Why There is a Shift From Econ...

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:32:00 +0000

E-Legal Education And Awareness: HUMAN DEVELOPMENT : Why There is a Shift From Econ...: 1. INTRODUCTION Development refers to economic, social, political and cultural processes of change in human societies which seeks to ...

E-Legal Education And Awareness: effectiveness of sanctions in international enviro...

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:32:00 +0000

E-Legal Education And Awareness: effectiveness of sanctions in international enviro...: Introduction Effectiveness of sanction in international environmental law is a topic of debate in recent world of modernization, globaliz...

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Do we have right quality of political leadership i...

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:29:00 +0000

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Do we have right quality of political leadership i...: Do we have right quality of political leadership and political institutions and Do we need any change in them to meet the new global econo...

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Piracy and legal issues in counter-piracy measures...

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:28:00 +0000

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Piracy and legal issues in counter-piracy measures...: DEFINITION- Piracy is a war-like act committed by non-state actors (private parties not affiliated with any government) against other p...

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Legalising Prostitution In India: A Kantian Analys...

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 19:26:00 +0000

E-Legal Education And Awareness: Legalising Prostitution In India: A Kantian Analys...: Introduction Prostitution is the act or practice of providing one’s body for sexual purpose to another person in return of payment. The pe...

Which direction the Indian economic and political reforms should tend to? and whether the food security bill and FDIC in retail is in right direction? by Mr S. Lakshma Reddy, Advocate, High Court of A.P.

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:20:00 +0000

Indian subcontinent with multicultural,multi lingual, multi religious and ethnic diversified castes,communities and faiths was prosperous when it was politically united, allowed non discriminatory free trade within the politically united country as in Ashoka period and Akbar period and poorer when it lost political unity and tattered in to economically fragmented discriminated markets. This should be the first lesson Indian politicians should keep in mind while taking policy decisions.

the second lesson is that in the recent internet led a globalized markets like banking,services, and financial and now commodity markets and even the real estate landed property markets, there is a real movement away from national markets to international and being transformed in to global markets with its ramifications on reassessment of relevance or irrelevance of the old political concepts like 19th century national sovereignty in 21st century integrated global political economy. The events in European zone and north America and middle east,south and south east Asia and more general scale between Ancient east and west, Asia and Europe including America will prove the natural tendency to redefine the 18th century dream concept "national soverignty" realized in 19th and 20th century.Indian politicians should wary of this natural tendency in geo-politics and economics and how to befit it without loosing the growth momentum.

Free Will ,conflicts of free wills and interests, avoidance conflicts and harmonization of broad cross sections of populations of the nation or nations through rule of law and its enforcement is the basis of long lasting economic and political institutions' foundations in any free world.whether the food security bill will pass the test?

food security to an individual is laudable in objective.but it should not be charity and paternalistic,impeding the liberty of contract and dignity of an individual,of impeding the increasing the division of labor and labor productivity and free labor market and wages.It should not hinder the free movement of labor and conversion of labor as capital consumption instead of revenue consumption i.e. increase the capitalistic/corporate relations in agriculture and other backward sectors or increase the wage burden on employers of such labor that will stultify the competitive edge of the said employments.Food security bill without the land reforms in the direction of separation of landownership from possession and management as outlined by me in the "issues for national consensus"(www.aplegalservices.com) will prove to be currupt populist measure pulling back the economy in opposite directions to the economic reforms initiated in 1991 policy frame misfitting the Indian economy to globalization of division of labor and employment which is the need of the hour. Therefore a review of food security bill is necessary before it is hastily enacted in parliament .

A comment on 51% ownership controlled and managed foreign direct investment in multi brand retail sale is necesary.Purely economic and commercial trade in retail outlets perse is beneficial to Indian economy as proved to be with east india company. Experience has also shown that the country's legal system should be best fitted with controlling strong-arm market and political manipulative strategies of such centralized globally- armed supply chain firms with capacity to price discrimination to decimate the local market competition with equal power of enforcing law and criminal penalties against them through an efficient speedy and independent judiciary

Lesson from Experience with east India company, its origin, rise and fall ,its conversion from trading corporation to political sovereign corporation is apt one to prevent the trader/business corporate interests to combine with political power like Clive, Hastings,chides and crony capitalist class developing in many developing nations and notably in India is as much a threat to Indian democracy and rule of law from inside as is foreign trading corporations outside and a legislation barring corporate interests and the politicians having corporate interests from eligibility to any office of legislative, executive or judicial posts.Legislation in that direction is necessary while welcoming the FDIC without cap.

Eternal vigilance of citizens is the price of freedom and democracy from such corrupt people,not mere legislation.

Follow Mr S. Lakshma Reddy, Advocate, A.P. High Court at http://slakshma.goforthelaw.com

NEED FOR REFORMS IN IPR LAWS IN INDIA by Sarvesh Shahi, LL.M.1st year, NALSAR University Of Law

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 04:17:00 +0000

“Until the 19th century, intellectual property rights were protected by common law — contract law. At first it appears to be a good idea to codify common law into statutory law, but if you look at IPR law, it only creates arbitrary definitions and confusion. That’s what you get when you move away from principle, morals and common law, to explicit legislation.”

What Is IPR ?

Intellectual property rights are legal rights, which result from intellectual activity in the industrial, scientific, literary and artistic fields. These rights give statutory expression to the moral and economic rights of creators in their creations. Intellectual property rights safeguard creators and other producers of intellectual goods and services by granting them certain time-limited rights to control the use made of those productions. These rights also promote creativity and the dissemination and application of its results and encourage fair-trading, which contributes to economic and social development.

Background

In the year 1883 Paris Convention for protection of industrial property came into existence. This was the first internationally recognized agreement for cooperation among nations for the protection of intellectual property where 140 states signed to implement its provisions. The Paris Convention bears the concept of union. This meant that a national of any country of union enjoyed the protection of industrial property in all other countries of the union, to the extent of advantages of the laws granted to its own nationals. India was not its member but after signing the Trade Related Aspects Of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), is now obliged to recognize and implement the provision to national treatment to nationals of other members which was the concept of paris convention.

The Paris Convention dealt with Patents, Trademarks, Designs and Utility Models but did not deal with copyright. The first international convention addressing copyright was “The Berne Convention of 1886”, to which India is one of the members, among 120 states.

During 1980s, multi-national corporations and international agencies started emphasizing to include intellectual property as a subject of discussion at General Agreements On Tarrifs And Trade (GATT), as the developed countries were curious to get statutory protection for their patents, trademarks and designs, which were largely being infringed by developing countries.

In the absence of global legal provisions, each country either followed its own statute or had no statute at hand. After the sustained efforts of universal IP law, the developed countries in the year 1986 could get some relief, when the Uruguay round of negotiations concluded with the signing of the ‘Final Act’.

Types Of IPR

In general there are three types of rights available to the intellectual and creative persons, they are :

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT : Why There is a Shift From Economic Development to Human Development and How That Shift is Measured ? by Akhilesh Patel, NLSIU

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:09:00 +0000

1. INTRODUCTION

Development refers to economic, social, political and cultural processes of change in human societies which seeks to satisfy the spiritual and material needs of man. Historically this development process was state centric with given primacy on physical accumulation of income or materials. Individuals in process of such kind of development were marginalized by powerful and rich community having supports and backup of western governments and institution promoting capitalist oriented development theories. Trickle down approach furthered by structural adjustment programmes of World Bank and IMF lead to the detrimental of human life. John F. Kennedy and his successors following the principles of ‘a rising tide lifts all boats’ led to sunk several smaller boats under high rise of tide. There have been four theories regarding the nexus between economic growth and social development- The first theory holds the view that social development is a product of economic growth. This theory is well known as trickledown theory that makes emphasis on economic programs and assumes that economic growth would tend to produce social development. Okun and Richardson defined economic growth as "a sustained, secular improvement in material well-being as reflected in an increasing flow of goods and services." Thus it encourages throwing resources for economic growth and privatization. The second theory says that economic growth and social development are two unrelated events - Zuvekas as champion of this approach says that economic growth can occur without social welfare development and therefore countries should limit the distribution of the domestic benefits of growth to privileged elite at the expense of widespread social welfare development. He states that without specifically targeting the poorer sections of the population for assistance in meeting basic needs, economic growth could produce an ever widening gap between the wealthy and the poor.The third theory describes that neither social development nor economic growth is a primary cause of the other, but they are inter dependent –As a proponent of this view , Srinivasan is of the opinion that the policies for economic growth and the policies towards basic needs development are interwoven. He suggests that too much emphasis on basic needs would, at least in the short run, hurt economic growth which, in turn, would damage future improvement in the basic needs fulfillment. The fourth theory holds the view that social development precedes economic growth - Streeten as proponent of this approach has expressed that extra income would not always be spent on items basic to the individual's welfare. He notes that some basic needs may be satisfied more effectively through public services including access to clean drinking water, schools and health services, and therefore, are not directly linked to individual income. In fact, Streeten suggests a ‘trickle-up’ effects when he states "basic needs is not primarily a welfare concept; improved education and health can make a major contribution to increased productivity[1]."

effectiveness of sanctions in international environmental law by by Divya Rathor, NALSAR University of Law

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:02:00 +0000

Introduction

Effectiveness of sanction in international environmental law is a topic of debate in recent world of modernization, globalization, liberalization and privatization. With the advent of the technology, the mother nature has been exposed to risk of environment degradation, so it has become necessary to look out for sanctions to control the menace and also to check the effectiveness of the sanctions.

The polluter pays principle or PPP, as one of the basic tenets of the concept of sustainable development provides for effective sanction for environmental law. According to the principle the polluter has to pay compensation for the loss done to persons, loss done to the environment as well as for the restoration cost of the environment. The principle has proved itself to be effective in protecting the environment. The recent application of the principle is found in Gulf of Mexico, oil Spill case.

The Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping of Wastes and Other Matter 1972, or The London Dumping Convention, Marpol 73/78, STCW CONVENTION, 1978, Convention on Liability for Damage Resulting from Activities Dangerous to the Environment also provide for some what effective sanctions of international environmental law.

The case of Nauru and Nuclear testing by USA in Marshall Islands are the examples of case where the sanctions imposed for wrong done to the environment are effective but have been criticized as inadequate.

Do we have right quality of political leadership in the legislative and administrative bodies in charge of government of the country and states? by Mr S. Lakshma Reddy, Advocate, High Court of A.P.

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 03:00:00 +0000

Do we have right quality of political leadership and political institutions and Do we need any change in them to meet the new global economic and political reality ?

Globalization of capitalism has its effects on countries as a continuous process.World has found that the socialism in the form it was experimented in soviet or chineese economy is not economically or politically feasible challenge or substitute to capitalism and is found to be contrary to natural evolution of human social development.Recent events in western capitalistic countries once again are proving that the civil and political rights and freedoms will not grow hand in hand with economic rights and freedoms unless under right leadership and the political conflict or contradictions erupt like volcuno to discharge the heat or absorb the cold in the political economy for realignment of new new political and social equilibriums with in countries and among countries in the global context.

The traditional 19th century individualistic free entreprising capitalism is now tranformed to dominant global corporate capitalism making the capitalist as a mere appendage to the recipient of prorata dividends or profits of entreprise on risk basis as one of the share holder and not as the owner of entreprise and corporate entreprise which is recognised as a distinct entity from shareholder capitalist. with it has arisen new challenges of political control over the new managerial cadre's decision making over these global corporate entities both public and private. Political control involve the sovereign bodies like legislative, executive and judicial powers entrusted to representative institutions and individuals holding and exercising such power delegated to them by sovereign people.

It is now proved that criminal nexus develops between politicians and administrators as a natural selfish person as distinct from the public personality in public office with corporate lobbies and mafias spreading their network across cross-borders to escape or delay domestic legal liabilities. Nations have worked on private international law and public international law through evolving new protocols, international conventions and charters etc but the institutions have come to be totally inadequate to the gravity of challenges of required political control to the challenges posed by the acts of new corporate bodies and private entities as is found in the recent global financial crisis with practical immunity from any criminal liability to the perpetrators of economic malfeasants in governments and corporates. The crisis postponed through tax payers bailouts is re emerging in the form of national sovereign debt crisis situations, with resultant new Wall street occupy and similiar protests across many developed countries demanding accountability of governments, politicians and corporates. This is the new global challenge to political institutional outlook and demands for changes in all countries and among countries thrown open with new globalization of economies and markets.

Is indian leadership is in right quality with necessary vision ready for these challenges to take the country in right pace with changing global ecconomic and political scenario? is the quality of leadership in charge of national and state level sovereign representative institutions and its delegated powers under the constitution in fit and proper mode to respond and what changes to be effected ? Is the existing form of government fits with new global reality to reflect the general will of its people and to execute the general will and if not what changes to be proposed? These two questions are to be ever present with any representative assembly and its delegates as is advised by the Jean joquise Roussoe in his celebrated work "on social contract " book and more relevant now.The two questions he propsed are as follows:

Follow Mr S. Lakshma Reddy, Advocate, A.P. High Court at http://slakshma.goforthelaw.com

Piracy and legal issues in counter-piracy measures by Divya Rathor, NALSAR University of Law

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 11:41:00 +0000

DEFINITION-

Piracy is a war-like act committed by non-state actors (private parties not affiliated with any government) against other parties at sea. The term applies especially to acts of robbery and/or criminal violence at sea. People who engage in these acts are called pirates.

The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). The term has been used to refer to raids across land borders by non-state agents.

Piracy has been subjected to various definitions. Among various definitions of piracy some has been listed below-

Traditional definition- Navigation in the high seas with the object of committing violent acts against other persons and property for private interests and without being authorized or permitted by any state.
United states Vs. Smith [1]- Robbery or forcible depredation upon the sea animo furandi, is piracy.

The above definitions became obsolete when it came to treating piracy as a crime. The law relating to piracy was codified for the first time in the Geneva Convention on High Seas, 1958. Article 15[2] of the Convention, defines piracy in following words.

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

The above definition of piracy has been retained without any without any change in Article 101 of UN Convention on Law of the Sea, 1982.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) defines piracy as:

“the act of boarding any vessel with an intent to commit theft or any other crime, and with an intent or capacity to use force in furtherance of that act.[3]”

EVOLUTION OF THE CRIME OF PIRACY-

Piracy has existed for as long as the oceans were plied for commerce. The earliest documented instances of piracy are the exploits of the Sea Peoples who threatened the Aegean and Mediterranean in the 13th century BC.
In the 3rd century BC, pirate attacks on Olympos (city in Anatolia) brought impoverishment. Among some of the most famous ancient pirateering peoples were the Illyrians, populating the western Balkan peninsula.
In 286 AD, Carausius a Roman military commander of Gaulish origins, was appointed to command the Classis Britannica and given the responsibility of eliminating Frankish and Saxon pirates who had been raiding the coasts of Armorica and Belgic Gaul.
The most widely known and far reaching pirates in medieval Europe were the Vikings, warriors and looters from Scandinavia who raided mainly between 793 to 1066, during the Viking Age in the Early Middle Ages.
Toward the end of the 9th century, Moor pirate havens were established along the coast of southern France and northern Italy. In 846 Moor raiders sacked Rome and damaged the Vatican
Until about 1440, maritime trade in both the North Sea and the Baltic Sea was seriously in danger of attack by the pirates.
During the Troubles in Northern Ireland, two coaster ships were hijacked and sunk by the IRA in the span of one year, between February 1981 and February 1982.
The cargo ship Chang Song boarded and taken over by pirates posing as customs officials in the South China Sea in 1998. Entire crew of 23 was killed and their bodies thrown overboard. Six bodies were eventually recovered in fishing nets. A crackdown by the Chinese government resulted in the arrest of 38 pirates and the group's leader, a corrupt customs official, and 11 other pirates who were then executed.
The New Zealand environmentalist, yachtsman and public figure Sir Peter Blake was killed by Brazilian pirates in 2001
In April 2008, pirates seized control of the French luxury yacht Le Ponant carrying 30 crew members off the coast of Somalia. The captives were released on payment of a ransom.
In July 2009, Finnish-owned ship MV Arctic Sea sailing under Maltese flag was allegedly hijacked in the territorial waters of Sweden by a group of eight to ten pirates disguised as policemen.
On October 2, 2010, a 911 call transcript was released detailing an incident of an American tourist who was shot dead by Mexican pirates on a U.S.-Mexico border lake that has been plagued with drug cartel violence in recent years.
The crime of piracy, has evolved from a menace of sea to the level of crime against the humanity.

Mental Cruelty- A ground for Divorce : Its Meaning and Scope by Soumyadeb Sinha, Department of Law, Calcutta University(Hazra Campus)

noreply@blogger.com (Goforthelaw) — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:23:00 +0000

‎The Hon’ble Justice of the High Court at Calcutta, H.L. Dattu, J. once while pronouncing a judgement had observed that "Marriages are made in heaven, or so it is said. But we are more often than not made to wonder what happens to them by the time they descend down to earth."

All the statutory matrimonial laws in India have laid down the grounds of divorce to attain a certainty in the matter and to avoid unnecessary troubles for both the parties to a failed marriage. Of all the grounds, the most commonly sought for ground for divorce is cruelty.

Cruelty, no doubt constitutes a strong ground for divorce of marriage as cruelty is the very antithesis of love and affection. – (2000)II DMC 126 (Cal - DB). Interestingly, however, the word “cruelty” has not been defined in these matrimonial laws, instead, have purposefully evaded to render or even to attempt to define the word and thereby limiting or circumscribing its potential. By not defining the word ‘Cruelty’, Legislature has quite rightly given the term ample scope and opportunity to grow and mature rather than being peddled by stereo-typed and straight-jacket interpretation and choke itself to insufficiency.

In A. Jayachandra v. Aneel Kaur reported in (2005) 2 SCC 22, the Apex Court observed, "The expression cruelty has not been defined in the Act. Cruelty can be physical or mental...” Thus the statutes have very deftly touched upon the word to include both the tangible and the intangible aspect of the term ‘Cruelty’ and left the rest upon the Judiciary to decide on the comprehensiveness and scope of the word.

The Shorter Oxford Dictionary defines 'cruelty' as 'the quality of being cruel; disposition of inflicting suffering; delight in or indifference to another's pain; mercilessness; hard-heartedness'.

The Hon’ble High Court at Calcutta in a case reported in (1996)2 Cal HT (HC) 42 had held that it is immensely difficult to provide a comprehensive definition of the word “cruelty”.

Lord Stowell's proposition in Evans v. Evans (1790) 1 Hagg Con 35 was approved by the House of Lords and may be put thus: before the court can find a husband guilty of legal cruelty towards his wife, it is necessary to show that he has either inflicted bodily injury upon her, or has so conducted himself towards her as to render future cohabitation more or less dangerous to life, or limb, or mental or bodily health. He was careful to avoid any definition of cruelty.

The concept of cruelty has been summarized in Halsbury's Laws of England [Vol.13, 4th Edition Para 1269] as "The general rule in all cases of cruelty is that the entire matrimonial relationship must be considered, and that rule is of special value when the cruelty consists not of violent acts but of injurious reproaches, complaints, accusations or taunts. In cases where no violence is averred, it is undesirable to consider judicial pronouncements with a view to creating certain categories of acts or conduct as having or lacking the nature or quality which renders them capable or incapable in all circumstances of amounting to cruelty; for it is the effect of the conduct rather than its nature which is of paramount importance in assessing a complaint of cruelty. Whether one spouse has been guilty of cruelty to the other is essentially a question of fact and previously decided cases have little, if any, value. The court should bear in mind the physical and mental condition of the parties as well as their social status, and should consider the impact of the personality and conduct of one spouse on the mind of the other, weighing all incidents and quarrels between the spouses from that point of view; further, the conduct alleged must be examined in the light of the complainant's capacity for endurance and the extent to which that capacity is known to the other spouse. Malevolent intention is not essential to cruelty but it is an important element where it exits."

Following from the definitions and a host of judicial decisions, it may be safe to say that cruelty, as a ground for divorce, can be classified under two broad headings of Physical cruelty and Mental cruelty.