Res Judicata
Res Judicata
Res Judicata
Introduction
RES JUDICATA means "a thing decided" in Latin. It is a common law doctrine meant to bar
re-litigation of cases between the same parties in Court. Once a final judgment has been
handed down in a lawsuit subsequent judges who are confronted with a suit that is
identical to or substantially the same as the earlier one will apply res judicata to preserve
the effect of the first judgment. This is to prevent injustice to the parties of a case
supposedly finished, but perhaps mostly to avoid unnecessary waste of resources in the
court system. Res judicata does not merely prevent future judgments from contradicting
earlier ones, but also prevents them from multiplying judgments, so a prevailing plaintiff
could not recover damages from the defendant twice for the same injury.
Res judicata includes two related concepts: claim preclusion, and issue preclusion (also
called collateral estoppel), though sometimes res judicata is used more narrowly to mean
only claim preclusion. Claim preclusion focuses on barring a suit from being brought
again on a legal cause of action that has already been finally decided between the
parties. Issue preclusion bars the re-litigation of factual issues that have already been
necessarily determined by a judge or jury as part of an earlier claim. It is often difficult to
determine which, if either, of these apply to later lawsuits that are seemingly related,
because
many causes of action can apply to the same factual situation and vice versa. The scope
of an earlier judgment is probably the most difficult question that judges must resolve in
applying res judicata. Sometimes merely part of a subsequent lawsuit will be affected,
such as a single claim being struck from a complaint, or a single factual issue being
removed from reconsideration in the new trial.
Res judicata does not restrict the appeals process, which is considered a linear extension
of the same lawsuit as it travels up (and back down) the appellate court ladder. Appeals
are considered the appropriate manner by which to challenge a judgment rather than
trying to start a new trial, and once the appeals process is exhausted or waived, res
judicata will apply even to a judgment that is contrary to law.
However, there are limited exceptions to res judicata that allow a party to attack the
validity of the original judgment, even outside of appeals. These exceptions--usually
called collateral attacks--are typically based on procedural or jurisdictional issues, based
not on the wisdom of the earlier court's decision but its authority or competence to issue
it. A collateral attack is more likely to be available (and to succeed) in judicial systems
with multiple jurisdictions, such as under federal governments, or when a domestic court
is asked to enforce or recognize the judgment of a foreign court.
When a subsequent court fails to apply res judicata and renders a contradictory verdict
on the same claim or issue, if a third court is faced with the same case, it will likely apply
a "last in time" rule, giving effect only to the later judgment, even though the result
came out differently the second time. This situation is not unheard of, as it is typically
the responsibility of the parties to the suit to bring the earlier case to the judge's
attention, and the judge must decide how broadly to apply it, or whether to recognize it
in the first place. Public Interest Litigation, in simple words, means, litigation filed in a
court of law, for the protection of "Public Interest", such as pollution, Terrorism, Road
safety, constructional hazards etc.Public Interest Litigation is not defined in any statute
or in any act. It has been interpreted by judges to consider the intent of public at large.
Although, the main and only focus of such litigation is only "Public Interest" there are
various areas where a Public Interest Litigation can be filed. For e.g.
# Violation of basic human rights of the poor
# Content or conduct of government policy
# Compel municipal authorities to perform a public duty.
# Violation of religious rights or other basic fundamental rights.
Res Judicata As Defined Under Code Of Civil Procedure, 1908
Section 11 of the Code of Civil Procedure embodies the doctrine of res judicata or the
rule of conclusiveness of a judgement,
court would not entertain a dispute for the adjudication of which a special provision has
been made by law but that rule is not attracted in the present in the present situation in
these cases.