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History of the code
• Before 1859, there was no uniform Code of Civil Procedure, there
were different systems of civil procedure in different parts of the country. • Under the British rule, there were Crown Courts in Presidency towns (Madras, Bombay and Calcutta) and Provincial Courts in Mofussils. • The first uniform Code of Civil Procedure was enacted in 1859 , but this Code was also not made applicable to the Supreme Courts in the Presidency Towns and to the Presidency Small Cause Courts. • Some amendments were made therein and the Code was applied to the whole of British India, but there were many defects in it, and therefore, a new Code was enacted in 1877. Again, another Code was enacted in 1882, which was also amended from time to time. In 1908, the present Code of Civil Procedure was enacted.
The Law Commission in its various reports made many recommendations,
and after carefully considering them, the Government decided to bring forward the Bill for the amendment of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908, keeping in view, inter alia, the following considerations:
a litigant should get a fair trial in accordance with the accepted
principles of natural justice; every effort should be made to expedite the disposal of civil suits and proceedings, so that justice may not be delayed; the procedure should not be complicated, and should, to the utmost extent possible, ensure a fair deal to the poorer sections of the community who do not have the means to engage a pleader to defend their cases. It was amended by two important Amendment Acts of 1951 and 1956.
Meaning and Object of the Code:
• The Law relating to the practices and procedure to be
followed in the Civil Courts is regulated by the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908. • The Aim of the Procedural law is to implement the principles of Substantive law. This Code ensures fair justice by enforcing the rights and liabilities. • Civil Procedure Code provides the mechanism for enforcement of rights and liabilities. • The Civil Procedure Code in India embodies a mixture of strictness of procedure and of discretionary powers vested in the courts. The aim is to do justice. • The Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 is concerned almost wholly with institution of a suit in a civil court, the progress of its trial ending with orders or a decree and its further stages such as appeals, reference, reviews and revision and the execution of decrees and orders.
Supreme Court of India in Sangram Singh v. Election Tribunal, AIR
1955 SC 425, Bose J. said: …..It is a "procedure" something designated to facilitate justice and further its ends, not a penal enactment for punishment and penalties, not a thing design to trip people up. The Civil Procedure Code is a general law and will not affect local or special laws (applicable to a particular subject) which are already in force. In case of any conflict with local or special laws, the local or special law will prevail over the Civil Procedure Code. In case, if the local or special law is silent about any particular issue, then the Civil Procedure Code will apply.
Object of the Code: The object of the Code is to consolidate and
amend the laws relating to the procedure of Courts of Civil Judicature. It is a consolidated Code collecting all the laws relating to the procedure to be adopted by civil courts.
The provisions of the Code have evolved as a matter of long years of
experience emanating out of the common law of England. (Subrata Roy Sahara v. Union of India, (2014) 8 SCC 470) As observed in Prem Lala Nahata v. Chandi Prasad Sikaria, 2007 2 SCC 551, the Code consolidates and amends the laws relating to the procedure of the Courts of Civil Judicature. No doubt it also deals with certain substantive rights, but its essential object is to consolidate the law relating to civil procedure.
In Saiyad Mohd. Bakar v. Abdulhabib Hasan, 1998, 4 SCC 343,
Supreme Court stated, “A procedural law is always in aid of justice, not in contradiction or to defeat the very object which is sought to be achieved. A procedural law is always subservient (subordinate) to the substantive law. Nothing can be given by a procedural law what is not sought to be given by a substantive law and nothing can be taken away by the procedural law what is given by the substantive law.”