INTRODUCTION

Types of Law in India

• India has a federal judicial system has been based on mixed law
(ie) based on parliamentary legislature, Court laws, Customary
laws and Religious Laws.
• The Common law
• Criminal law
• Civil law
• Statutory law.
 Common Law
• The common law can be traced back to have its origin in England.
• Common law is also known as judicial precedent or case law.
• The statutes governing civil and criminal justice like, the Indian
Penal Code, 1860, Indian Evidence Act, 1872, the Code of
Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
 Criminal Law
• The Indian Criminal law is basically dealt by, The Indian Penal
Code 1860; Code of Criminal Procedure 1973; and the Indian
Evidence Act 1872.
• Indian Penal Code defines basic crimes and punishments.
• The police of the state have an important role to play in this kind
of law.
 Civil Law
• It can be simply defined as the law which deals with actions
which are not crimes.
• The Civil Procedure Code (C.P.C) regulates the functioning of the
civil courts. This code lays down the procedure of filing of civil
cases, which includes specific rules for proceedings of a case,
rights of appeals, review or reference etc
• Civil law can be further sub divided into Torts, Contract law,
Family law and Property law.
 Law of Tort
• Tort is a civil wrong the appropriate remedy for which is a suit for
unliquidated damages.
• A tort is a civil wrong, done by one person or entity to another,
which results in injury or property damage and compensation
given is in monetary terms to the injured party.
• There are three pigeonholes of torts: negligence, intentional tort,
and strict liability.
• Negligence - Which is done unintentionally.
• Intentional - Deliberate wrong act the defendant acted with
intent to cause harm or injury. Eg: Assault and battery, false
imprisonment.
• Strict Liability - Master-servant relationship, liability of the
state, liability of the directors of the company, partnership firm,
etc. are instances where strict liability may arise
 Law of Contracts
• It is a law that deals with agreements between two or more
parties. If one party violates any of the terms and conditions of
the contract, they have committed a civil wrong known as
“breach of contract.” It may be written or Oral.
 Family Law
• It deals with marriage, divorce, annulment, child custody,
adoption, birth, child support, and any other issues affecting
families. Various religions have different laws in this regard, like
that of the Hindu law, Muslim law, Christian law, Parsi law. The
cases relating to this law is dealt by the family court.
 Property Law
• Property can be tangible or intangible. Tangible property
includes jewelry, animals, merchandise etc.
While, intangible property includes patents, copyrights, stocks,
and bonds.
• Tort related to property can be of two kinds; trespass and
conversion. Trespass to land is said to happen when a defendant
 Statutory Law
• Statutory laws can be set down by the national, state legislature
or by the local municipalities.
• A bill is proposed in the legislature and voted upon.
• If approved, it passes to the executive authority (either a
governor at the state level or the president at the federal level).
• If the executive signs the bill, it becomes a statute.
• Statutes can be altered by a later parliamentary enactment or if
found unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction.
• Indian Penal Code 1860 has 511 sections
• 23 Chapters
• 77 Amendments
 Criminal Law

Substantive Law Procedural Law

The substantive law gives legal The Procedural Law gives the
rules and procedure by which substantive law
Punishments for the offence is enforced.
• The Indian Penal Code,1860 • The Code Criminal
Procedure,1973
• The Code of Civil Procedure,1908
• The Indian Evidence Act,1872
Hierarchy of Courts in India
Supreme Court

High Court

Subordinate or lower courts in district

Civil Courts Criminal Courts Revenue Courts

District Judge District Judge and District Session Board of Revenue

Judge

Sub Judge family Commissioner,

Metropolitan or I class magistrate
Collector
Munsif Court II Class Magistrate Tahsildar

Small Causes Court, III Class Magistrate Asst. Tahsildar

Lok Adalat
 Supreme Court of India
 Comprised of Chief Justice and 30 other
Judges.
 Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde is the 47th Chief
Justice of India.
 High Court of India
 Totally 25 High courts in India
UNIT -1 CRIME
INTRODUCTION
• CRIME CONCEPT
• CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF CRIME
• ACTUS REUS AND MENSREA
• STRICT RESPONSIBILITY IN CRIMINAL LAW
• MENSREA IN STATUTORY OFFENCES
UNIT – 2 GENERAL
DEFENCES
• Mistake of fact, Judicial Acts
• Accident,
• Doctrine of Necessity
• Infancy, Insanity.
• Intoxication, Consent, Compulsion,
Duress.
• Triviality- Right of private Defence.
UNIT – 3 PARTIES TO CRIME

• Joint and constructive liability

• Group liability
• Abetment
• Conspiracy
• Attempt
UNIT – 4 JURISDICTION
• Personal
• Territorial
• Extra – Territorial
• Admirality
UNIT – 5 PUNISHMENT

• Objective
• Basis
• Types
UNIT – 6 SPECIFIC CRIMES
• Offences affecting the public : Against
state
• Against public peace: Unlawful assembly,
Rioting, Affray
• Against public administration: Bribery,
Personation.
• Offences against administration of justice
giving and fabricating false statement.
• Offences against persons:
Homicide(Murder, Culpable Homicide,
Negligent)
• Kidnapping
• Abduction
• Sexual Assault
• Rape
• Stalking
• Voyeurism
UNIT – 7

• Law of Attempt
UNIT – 1
 What is Crime?
 Its not possible to derive the legal Definition of crime,
 Russell To define Crime is a task which is so far has not been
accomplished by any other writer.
 Kenney’s outline of criminal law
 The Definition of crime is a great matter difficulty.
 Lord Atkin By examining what acts at any particular period are
declared by the state to be crimes, and only common nature they
will be found to possess is that they are prohibited by the state and
those who commit them are punished.
 Definition of Crime
 Sir William Blackstone He gave as
 An Act committed or Omitted in the violation of Public law forbidding
or commanding it.
 Sergeant Stephen A crime is A violation of right considered in
reference to the evil tendency of such violation as regards the
community at large
 Concluded that it is an Harm or Injury to the community.
 Similarly immoral acts like ingratitude, Hard- Heartedness,
insensitivity to the sufferings of others have been not crimes.
 Section 40 of IPC states about OFFENCE.
 Halsbury’s law of England ‘A crime is an unlawful act or default
which is an offence against the public and renders the person
guilty of the act or default liable to the legal punishment’.
 There must be some external consequences or harm to social
interest
 The harm must be prohibited by penal law
 There must be conduct ie Intentional or Reckless Act or inaction
Action that brings the prohibited.
 There must be ‘ Mensrea or Criminal Intent’.
 There must be concurrence of Mensrea and Conduct.
 There must be Causal relation between the legally prohibited
harm and the voluntary misconduct.
 There must be legally prescribed Punishment.
History of IPC
 The Indian Penal Code indirectly owes its origin to
Jeremy Bentham, who is a well-known jurist on the
subject of law reforms. The basic premise of the
substantive law Code is very much influenced by the
British law.
 Lord Macaulay was the President of 1st Indian Law
commission in 1834
 There was no criminal law in Ancient society.
 A tooth for a tooth, An eye for an eye, A life for a life
was the forerunner of Criminal Justice.
 History of criminal law can be studied under three
heads namely
 Ancient Hindu criminal law

Elements of Crime

ActusReus
Mens Rea
Actus Reus and Mensrea
 There must be a wrongful Act.
 Actus Non Facit Reum Nisi Mens Sit Rea meaning ‘ An Act does not
make one guilty unless the mind is also legally blameworthy ’
 It becomes criminal only when the act does it with requisite guilty
mind.
 Actus Reus represent the physical aspect of Crime. It may be with
reference to place, Time, Consent, State of mind of the victim.
 Place : In the offence of criminal trespass house breaking The Actus
Reus is in respect of place.
 Time: In the offence lurking house trespass or House breaking by
night in order to commit an offence the actus reus is in both time and
place.
 Person : In kidnapping and Abduction of a minor Girl etc the Actus
reus in respect of Person
 Consent : In Rape Non – Consent is the Actus Reus.
 Mensrea represent mental aspect.
Stages Of Crime
 No
Intention - An intent to cause an offence. punishmen
 Preparation – Preparation for the execution of crime. t in this two
stages.
 Attempt - An attempt is made.
 Offence Completed – Offence is completed.
Strict Liability in IPC
 The principle of criminal liability as the act itself is not criminal
unless it is accompanied by a guilty mind.
 Strict Liability is liability for which mens rea i.e. guilt mind does
not have to be proven in relation to one or more elements
comprising the act.
 A person be held liable criminally even if that man has not
intended a particular act which has been prohibited by law.
 In case of offences of strict liability, the element of mens rea is
presumed, and it need not be proved.
 R v Queen, a man who was in love with a girl, eloped with her,
he did not know at that time that she was underage, but since
the law in England punished such an act, the court did not see
the intention but instead directly imposed the principle of strict
liability and he was charged for the same.
VICARIOUS LIABILITY
 Under the concept of vicarious liability, one person is held
responsible for the wrong committed by the other. The doctrine
of vicarious liability is also known by the name of joint liability.
 Under criminal law also one person can become liable for the act
of the other if he is a party to the offense.
 A person may be held liable as the principal offender, even
though the Actus reus was committed by some other person.
 The person committing the act on the instruction of the other will
not be considered as innocent and will also be held liable.
 A driver of a car which goes and robs a bank will also be liable
even though the driver did not get out of the car.
 Section 34, 149, 154,155,156,268,269,499.