Contract Law - Agency – Duty to Insure – Negligence of Agent – Section 211 & 212 Contract Act – Agent Liable as Insurer – The appellants, acting as commission agents, undertook to insure 92 bales of piecegoods for the respondents but failed to do so – Goods were destroyed in the Bombay dock explosion of 14 April 1944 – Held: Where an agent agrees to in...
Will — Construction — Intention of testator paramount — Entire will to be read as a whole — Court may consider surrounding circumstances only to aid construction and not to add to dispositions — Held: Intention gathered from language of the will read holistically — Court must loyally carry out the will as properly construed and not supply omissions [Paras 9-12]....
Civil Law - Agency – Scope of Authority – Commission Note – Authority to Conclude Sale – Construed broadly – The commission note authorised the broker to “negotiate the sale” and “secure a buyer” with stipulations of title being free of encumbrances and good title – Held: Such language implied authority to conclude a binding contract of s...
Civil Law - Transfer of Property – Part Performance – Section 53-A TPA – Unregistered lease agreement – Defence upheld – A permanent lease was negotiated between the Talukdari Settlement Officer (with Government sanction) and the predecessor of the defendant; though no formal registered lease was executed, the offer and acceptance were in writings signed by the partie...
Company Law – Section 105-C – Further issue within authorised capital – Bona fides – Appeal dismissed – Directors resolved on 21.02.1945 to issue 4,596 shares at premium and offered them pro rata to members on the register in the ratio 4:5 – Challenge that the issue was mala fide to retain control and that Section 105-C was contravened – Held: Section 105-...
Civil Law - Equitable Mortgage – Deposit of Title Deeds – Section 58(f), Transfer of Property Act – Creation of Mortgage – Mortgage by deposit of title deeds is complete when deeds are deposited with intent to create security – No registered instrument necessary unless parties intend to reduce bargain into writing – Law implies contract from deposit itself [Para...
Civil Writ – Habeas Corpus - Preventive Detention – Constitutionality – Article 13(2) & Preventive Detention Act, 1950 – Validity upheld – Petitioner contended that the Preventive Detention Act abridges fundamental rights under Part III and is void under Article 13(2) – Held: The issue already decided in A.K. Gopalan v. State where Act was upheld except Sect...
Civil Writ - Fundamental Rights – Right to Carry on Trade – Article 19(1)(g) – Monopoly in favour of a single contractor – Bye-laws of Municipal Board struck down – The petitioner, a wholesale commission agent in vegetables and fruits, was prohibited from carrying on his trade as monopoly rights were auctioned to another person by the Municipal Board – Bye-laws ...
Labour Law - Industrial Tribunal – Nature of functions – Judicial or quasi-judicial – Tribunal has trappings of a Court and exercises powers analogous to civil courts such as summoning witnesses, administering oaths, and enforcing evidence – However, its awards require Government declaration to become binding – Held: Tribunal discharges quasi-judicial functions but no...
Constitutional Law – Civil Writ - Freedom of Speech and Press – Ban on entry and circulation of newspaper – Article 19(1)(a) & 19(2) – Section 9(1-A), Madras Maintenance of Public Order Act, 1949 – Majority per Patanjali Sastri, J. – Order prohibiting entry/circulation of “Cross Roads” directly restricts freedom of speech and expression as circul...