Report On The Administration Of Civil Justice In The Punjab And Its Dependencies During The Year 1893

· 1894 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1». His Honor desires to record his thanks to the Honorary Civil Judges

2who have rendered valuable assistance in the

3Sarmnnes administration of Civil Justice, and more parti

4cularly to Sodhi Khaz4n Singh and the other gentlemen mentioned in paras

5graph 30 of the Report.

68. It is worth noting, having regard to the enormous mass of suits for

7p ‘ debt which are decreed every year, that there

8ee were only 39 cases in which hereditary or Joint

9acquired property in land was sold during the year under review.

109. The number of suits disposed of by Munsifs in exercise of special

11_ ‘ Small Cause Court jurisdiction rose from 17,090

12Be in 1892 to 19,283 in 1893. No information is

13given in the Report as to the manner in which the selected Munsifs exercised

14this special jurisdiction, but the remarks made by the Divisional Judge of Jul-

15lundur (Colonel Wood) in regard to the work of the Munsif of Jullundur, printed

16in Appendix A. to the Report, are favourable. The attention of the learned Judges

17of the Chief Court is invited to paragraph 10 of the Review of the Report

18for 1892: the Lieutenant-Governor trusts that they will continue to watch the

19working of the system carefully.

2010. His Honor notices with much satisfaction the steady improvement

21which has taken place in the average duration of

22appeals in Divisional Courts. The average dura-

23tion during the past six years has been—

24Paragreph 53.

251888. 1889. 1890. 1891. 1892. 1893.

26144 140 117 89 76 70 days.

2711. It is worth noticing that out of a little over 6,000 appeals instituted

28in Divisional Courts the costs in nearly 1,000

29amounted to 86 per cent. of the value at stake and

30the costs in more than 1,500 appeals to 35 per cent. of that value.

31Paragraph 54.

3212, In tne tables given in paragraphs 59 and 60 of the Report

33of the working of the Chief Court the figures

34for appeals from decrees and appeals from orders

35are clubbed together, and so to find the figures for appeals from decrees,

36which form the heavy part of the work in the Chief Court, reference

37must be made to the table in paragraph 58. From this it appears that the

38institutions of first appeals in the Chief Court fell-off as compared with the

39revious year by a trifling amount, that the disposals were all but equal to the

40institutions, and that the arrears at the end of the year remained about the same

41as at the beginning. In “further appeals” the institutions as compared with the

42previous year rose from 1,127 to 1,212, while the disposals fell from 1,270 to

431,182, with the result that the arrear list has been somewhat increased instead of

44being diminished. His Honor would be glad to know whether this is due to any

45temporary cause, as if not it looks somewhat serious.

46Paragraphs 58 to 60.

4713. The Lieutenant-Governor is glad to see that Mr. G. L. Smith,

48Colonels Wood and Lawrence, and Mr. T. H. Homan have directed attention

49to the failure of Subordinate Courts to examine the parties fully in the first

50instance in order to ascertain accurately the exact points in dispute. This is

51a fruitful source of waste of time and miscarriage of justice. It is most difficult

52to get officers to understand that half an hour or less devoted to a case at the

53settlement of issues will usually save many hours later in the case.

5414. His Honor has read with interest the account given by Mr. G. L.

55Smith of the system introduced by Mr. Gladstone into the Umballa District of