Student Name G.

Sandhya Rani
Student Registratio Number ABU23LWTYL016 Class &Section:LLB 3 YEARS
Study Level : UG/PG UG Year &Term:1ST YEAR,SEM-III
Subject Name LEGAL METHODS

Name of the Assessment ASSIGNMENT -2

Date of Submission 28/09/2024

[Link] of Statutes?

What are Statutes?

Statutes or laws, come in different types, each with its unique

purpose and impact. This article explores the Classification of
Statutes, which involves organising laws into categories based on
what they do. Some statutes are designed to correct problems in
existing laws, while others impose penalties for wrongdoing.

The term “Statutes” has a specific legal meaning. As per Black’s Law
Dictionary, a “Statute” refers to a formal written rule created by a
legislative authority, such as a country, state, city or county.
Statutes often dictate what is allowed or not allowed or they lay out
official policies. This term is typically used to distinguish laws
created by legislative bodies from the judgments made by common
law courts and the rules established by government agencies.

In the Indian Constitution, the term “Statute” is not used; instead,

the term “law” is employed. According to Article 13(3)(a) of the
Indian Constitution, the definition of “law” includes ordinances,
orders, by-laws, rules, regulations, notifications, customs or
practices that have the power of law within the territory of India.

A Statute, essentially, represents the intent of the legislative body. It

may include various components, such as a short title, long title,
preamble, marginal notes, section headings, interpretation clauses,
provisions, examples, exceptions, saving clauses, explanations,
schedules and punctuation. These elements collectively make up the
content and structure of a statute.

What is the Classification of Statutes?

Classification of Statutes can be done based on their duration,

nature of operation, purpose and scope.

Classification of Statutes by Duration:

 Temporary Statute: A temporary statute is one that

specifies a fixed period of operation and validity within the
statute itself. It remains in effect until the specified time
elapses unless repealed earlier. If the legislature wishes to
extend its effect, a new enactment is required. For example,
the Finance Act is a temporary statute, requiring annual
reauthorisation.

 Permanent Statute: A permanent statute doesn’t have a

predefined expiration date. However, this doesn’t make the
statute unchangeable. It can be amended or repealed by
another act.

Classification of Statutes by Method:

Mandatory, Imperative or Obligatory Statute: A mandatory

statute compels the performance of certain actions or dictates that
specific things must be carried out in a particular manner or form.
Non-compliance typically leads to legal consequences.

Directory or Permissive Statute: A directory statute merely

provides guidance or permission for actions without compelling their
performance. In some cases, statutes prescribe conditions or forms
that are considered essential for the regulated action and their
omission can render the action invalid. In other cases, these
prescriptions are seen as non-binding and failure to follow them
might result in penalties if any are stipulated by the statute.
In the case of H.V. Kamath vs. Ahmad Ishaque, it was determined
that mandatory provisions must be strictly adhered to, while
substantial compliance with directory provisions is generally
sufficient to meet legal requirements.

Classification of Statues with Reference to Object:

 Codifying Statute:
A codifying statute is one that aims to comprehensively outline the
entire body of law on a specific subject. It seeks to provide a
thorough and authoritative statement of the key legal rules
pertaining to that subject. This includes existing provisions from
various statutes on the subject and may also incorporate common
law principles.

An example is the Bill of Exchange Act of 1882 in England, which

codified laws regarding bills of exchange, cheques and promissory
notes. Similarly, the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 in India is a
codifying statute that addresses intestate succession among Hindus.

 Consolidating Statute:
A consolidating statute consolidates all statutory enactments related
to a particular subject into a single law, making it easier to access
and understand. It brings together existing statutory provisions on
the subject, often with minor modifications.

For example, in England, the Law of Property Act of 1925

consolidated the acts of 1922 and 1924. In India, the Code of
Criminal Procedure of 1973 is a consolidating statute concerning
criminal procedures. Such statutes not only compile earlier laws but
also repeal the earlier acts for the sake of clarity.

 Declaratory Statute:
A declaratory statute is one that clarifies and removes doubts or
misunderstandings about the meaning of terms or expressions
within the common law or statutory law. When courts have
interpreted an expression differently from what the legislature
intended, a declaratory statute is passed to set the correct meaning
of that expression. In India, the Income Tax (Amendment) Act of
1985, which added explanation 2 to section 40 of the Income Tax
Act of 1961 and the Finance Act of 1987, which amended the
definition of “Owner of house property” in section 27, are examples
of declaratory acts.

It’s important to note that the mere use of the phrase “it is hereby
declared” does not automatically make a statute a declaratory
statute. A declaratory statute typically contains a preamble and uses
terms like “declared” and “enacted” to signal its intent.

 Remedial Statute:
A remedial statute is a kind of law that offers new help or a new
solution. Its main purpose is to improve how rights are protected
and address problems or errors in the old law. Examples of remedial
statutes include the Maternity Benefits Act of 1961 and the
Workmen’s Compensation Act of 1923. In these laws, you’ll often
find the phrase “for remedy whereof” right before the actual law.

Blackstone, a legal scholar, thought that remedial statutes could

either expand or limit rights. They could expand rights when they
made the law more generous or they could limit rights when they
restricted existing legal rights. In a case called Central Railway
Workshop, Jhansi vs. Vishwanath, the court decided that all laws
in a welfare state aim to promote general well-being. Some laws are
more responsive to urgent social needs and have a more direct and
noticeable impact on fixing social problems.
 Enabling Statute:
An enabling statute is a law that allows something that was
previously forbidden, with or without specific rules on how to do it. It
widens the scope of what’s allowed under common law. An enabling
statute makes an action lawful, even if it wouldn’t be otherwise.

In a case called Bidi, Bidi Leaves and Tobacco Merchants

Association vs. State of Bombay, the court explained that an
enabling act not only permits something to happen but also gives
the necessary authority to do what’s needed to achieve the law’s
goal. Any conditions set by an enabling statute for the public good
must be followed because they are essential. An example is Section
49-A(1) and 49-A(2) of the Advocates Act of 1961, as amended by
Act 21 of 1964.

 Disabling Statute:
A disabling statute is one that limits or reduces a right granted by
common law. It’s a law that restricts a common law right.

 Penal Statute:
A penal statute is a law that punishes certain actions or
wrongdoings. This type of law can be in the form of a detailed
criminal code with many sections that define punishments for
different wrongs. For example, the Criminal Procedure Code, the
Indian Penal Code, the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act of
1954 and the Arms Act of 1959 are all examples of penal statutes.

 Taxing Statute:
A taxing statute is a law that imposes taxes on income or certain
types of transactions. Examples include income tax, wealth tax,
sales tax and gift tax. These taxes help the government collect
money to support public welfare. However, it’s essential that a
statute clearly states that taxes must be paid and any doubts about
this should benefit the person being taxed.

 Explanatory Statute:
An explanatory statute is a law that explains another law. It’s
created to fill in gaps or clarify confusing parts of a previous law. An
explanatory statute aims to make the meaning of an expression
used in an earlier law clearer. For instance, in Britain, the Royal
Mines Act of 1688 was passed to encourage the mining of certain
base metals. The Royal Mines Act of 1963 was enacted to provide a
better explanation of the earlier law.

 Amending Statute:
An amending statute is a law that adds to or changes the original
law to improve it or better achieve its original purpose. It doesn’t
cancel out the old law; it becomes part of it. Examples include the
Direct Taxes Amendments Act of 1974 and the Land Acquisition
(Amendments) Act of 1984.

 Repealing Statute:
A repealing statute is a law that cancels out an earlier law. It can do
this explicitly by saying so in the statute or implicitly through its
language. For example, the Hyderabad District Municipalities Act of
1956 repealed the Hyderabad Municipal and Town Committees Act
of 1951.

 Curative or Validating Statute:

A curative or validating statute is one passed to fix problems in a
previous law or to make legal proceedings, documents or actions
valid, even if they didn’t meet the legal requirements. These
statutes often include phrases like “notwithstanding any judgment,
decree or court order.” They’re meant to make previously unlawful
actions legal or to overturn court decisions.

In a case involving Amarendra Kumar Mohapatra and others v. State

of Orissa and others, the Supreme Court of India explained that
while deciding legal rights is a job for the courts, only the legislature
can pass laws to validate illegal actions or laws. However, when the
validity of a validating law is in question, the court must consider
three things:

 Whether the law fixes the problems that made the action or
law invalid.
 Whether the legislature had the authority to validate what was
declared invalid before.
 Whether the validation respects the rights guaranteed by the
constitution. A validating law is effective only if the answers to
these three questions are “yes.”

The classification of statutes refers to the categorisation of laws

based on their distinctive characteristics or purposes. Statutes can
be grouped into various categories depending on their intent, effect
or content. Common classifications include remedial statutes, which
aim to correct legal flaws and penal statutes, which outline
punishments for specific actions.

Enabling statutes expand legal permissions, while explanatory

statutes clarify unclear provisions in prior laws. Amending statutes
modify existing laws and repealing statutes annul or replace earlier
regulations. Curative or validating statutes rectify legal defects.
These classifications aid in understanding and interpreting the
diverse functions and implications of statutory law.

[Link] various Schools of Law?

Schools of Law:
Jurisprudence can be called the philosophy of law. Numbers of
jurists have explained it in the general form for a better
understanding of the lawmaking process. As we know that law has
an unpredictable arena. Its understanding differs from one
particular individual to the others. Everybody has their own
perception of the law. These different perceptions can be clubbed
under different schools of Jurisprudence.

● Analytical School
● Historical School
● Realist School
● Sociological School
● Philosophical School
1) Analytical School:

Analytical School of Jurisprudence is a significant school of thought

in jurisprudence. It was Austin who played a key role in developing
this school, which aims to explain law by examining its nature,
purpose, characteristics and functions. This school traces the history
and philosophy of evolving human ideas regarding law.

The positivist movement (Analytical School of Jurisprudence)

emerged in the early 19th century because, during that time, the
natural theory of law lost relevance due to the growing influence of
the scientific method on social sciences, including jurisprudence.
John Austin is said to have set up this methodology which is
sometimes referred to as Austinian School. This school believes in
law is a direction from the supreme power (Sovereign). According to
this School, Law is the Command of the Sovereign and owes its
existence to the state and is posterior to it. The exponent of this
school regards Legislation as the most important source of law.
According to them, Custom has no place in law. Austin was the one
who propounded the theory of positive law but Bentham was the
one who laid down its establishment. one of mainly five Schools of
Jurisprudence.

Features of Analytical School of Jurisprudence:

 Focus on What Law Is: Analytical School of Jurisprudence is
concerned with understanding what the law is, rather than
what it should be.
 Law’s Basis in Power: It asserts that law is based on the
authority and power of those who enact and enforce it.
 Absence of Moral Law: Positivists argue that there is no
inherent moral aspect to law.
 Distinction Between Law and Justice: This school
differentiates between law and justice, seeing them as distinct
concepts.
Reaction to Natural Law Theories: The Analytical school opposes
natural law theories, which rely on rationalisation, nature, God and
emphasise ethical and moral considerations.

2) Historical School:

Laws should change to match the changing needs of people. The

Historical School of Jurisprudence believes that laws are made by
people and should adapt to the evolving needs of society. People
know their needs better than anyone else.

Historical School of Jurisprudence relies on the customs and habits

of people, which change as their needs change. It’s also known as
the Continental School of Jurisprudence.
The Historical School, also known as the German Historical School,
views law as a product of historical development and cultural
evolution. This school of thought emphasizes the importance of
understanding the historical context and cultural background of law.
Historical jurists argue that law is shaped by the social, economic,
and cultural conditions of a particular time and place.

According to this School, Law is a matter of unconscious and

organic growth. Therefore, the law is found and not made. This
school says that Law is anterior to the state and does not owe its
existence to it. They say custom is the all-important source of law
and is superior to legislation. This School discourages creative
activities and legal reform.

some of the factors that affect this long historical

development are as follows:

 Society and social customs.

 Many religious and convention principles.
 Also, the economic needs of society play a crucial role.
 Last but not the lease, the needs, and desires of the citizens.
3)Sociological School:

The Sociological School, also known as Sociological Jurisprudence,

views law as a product of social forces and relationships. This school
of thought emphasizes the importance of understanding the social
context and relationships that shape law. Sociological jurists argue
that law is shaped by the social, economic, and cultural conditions of
a society, and that it reflects the interests and values of the
dominant groups in society.

This School takes law as an instrument of social progress and treats

law as a social wonder. This school studies the effect of law and
society on each other. According to this school, the law is the
product of the general will of society. The reasons which brought
about this kind of approach are many. The historical school, the
philosophical movement, and the comparative study of legal
systems all in different ways contributed to the emergence of this
method.

As already stated above, sociological school of law focuses on

studying the law in practice with relation to the society. They lay
emphasis on actual social conditions and situations which require
the help of the law.

Furthermore, these societal conditions give rise to legal institutions

which often facilitate dispute resolving functions. This law also
states and strongly believes that:

 the legal order is a stage and crucial phase of social control.

 this law remains unclear unless you analyze it with relation to
a social phenomenon.

4) Realist School:

The Realist School, also known as American Legal Realism, views

law as a product of social and economic forces that shape the
behavior of judges, lawyers, and other legal actors. This school of
thought emphasizes the importance of understanding the actual
practices and behaviors of legal actors, rather than just their formal
rules and procedures. Realist jurists argue that law is shaped by the
social, economic, and cultural conditions of a society, and that it
reflects the interests and values of the dominant groups in society.

Roscoe Pound has defined ‘realism’ as “Fidelity to nature, accurate

reordering of the things as they are, as contrasted to things as they
are imagined to be, or wished to be or as one feels they ought to
be.” Basically, the evolution of the Realist school lies in the English
Jurisprudence. It is regarded as a branch of the Sociological
approach. Gray and O.W. Holmes were the two great jurists from
whom the origin of this realist approach has been traced. Gray
definedlaw as “What Judges Declare”. Coming on to the Llewellyn,
he said that Realist School is not a separate school of Jurisprudence
instead it should be called Sociological Jurisprudence.
Coming on to the factors responsible for this approach are
numerous. The most important one is pragmatic philosophy. They
started dealing with the law with a practical approach rather than
constraining them with the principles. The second most important
factor which seems to have led to this thought is the organization of
the judiciary in America. Eminent supporters of this School are
Holmes, Gray, Jerome Frank, Llewellyn, and many more.

Features of the Realist school include:

 Denouncing traditional legal rules and concepts, focusing on
what the courts actually do to reach final decisions.
 Law’s predictability depends on the specific facts before the
court in a
particular case, making it uncertain.
 Supporting an emotive approach rather than a formal, logical,
or conceptual approach.
 Placing greater emphasis on the psychological aspect, as law
deals with human behavior and the convictions of lawyers and
judges.

5) Philosophical School:
This school is also known as Moral School. The basic aim of this
school is that it tries to extract the reasons why particular law has
been established. Immanuel Kant, Hegel, and Grotius are some of
the eminent law specialists in this School. They basically think that
law is the product of human reason and its ultimate aim is to raise
and praise human identity. Hegel seems to be the most persuasive
scholar in the philosophical school. According to him “The state and
law both are developmental”. Coming on to Maine, he made a
comparative study of the legal institutions of various communities
and laid down a theory of the evolution of law

The emergence of distinct philosophical schools unfolded against the

dynamic backdrop of social evolution in the Indian sub-continent.
This transformative process found its anchor in the meticulous
establishment of a structured social order. Anchored in both the
governance structures of the State and the stratified divisions of
varna, this societal framework provided fertile ground for the
nuanced development and expression of diverse philosophical
perspectives. With the maturation of this social order, the contours
of each philosophical school became more perceptible, weaving a
rich tapestry of intellectual diversity that echoes through the
chronicles of Indian philosophical history.

6)Natural Law School:

The Natural Law School posits that law is derived from a higher,
universal moral order that is inherent in nature. This school of
thought argues that law should be based on reason, morality, and
the natural rights of individuals. Natural law theorists believe that
law should promote the common good and protect the rights of all
individuals.

Natural Law School is a philosophical and jurisprudential framework

centred on the belief in inherent, universal principles governing
human conduct. Rooted in the idea that these principles derive from
nature, reason and often a divine source, proponents argue for a
connection between morality and law.

This school of jurisprudence asserts that laws should be rational

extensions of moral principles, with actions considered morally
wrong deemed unlawful. Key sources of natural law include God,
nature and human reason.

Despite facing criticisms, including cultural relativism and

challenges in practical application, the Natural Law School has
played a significant historical role in shaping legal thought and
continues to influence discussions on the interplay between ethics
and jurisprudence.