Judgment writing is a critical instrument in fostering the rule of law and in curbing rule by the law. That was the assertion made by the Supreme Court a few days back while delivering a judgment on how to write a judgment. A bench of Justices, Dr DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna, noted that the purpose of judicial writing is not to confuse or confound the reader behind the veneer of complex language because it speaks of the present and the future in settling crucial issues of law besides providing a platform for societal dialogue. Setting down guidelines for judicial writing the two-judge bench underlined that the confidence in the judicial process is predicated on the trust which the written word generates and if the meaning of the written word is lost in language, the ability of the judge to retain the trust of the reader is severely eroded.
This judgment is a milestone judgment and will be ready for times to come although there are other judgments which are delivered in the past, laying down the same principles of law governing the writing of judgment. This judgment which has been passed by Hon’ble Justice Chandrachud and Justice Bopanna reiterates the earlier principles, saying that judgment is a decision by a person who has heard the matter, heard the dispute which has been argued before him. It is the heart and soul of the judicial process, so it should be in a language which is as far as simple. Because if we complicate the wording and is understandable only by the legal fraternity, then perhaps it will not be welcomed by the people whose case the court is deciding.
What is judgment? Judgment is a decision by a person who’s heard the dispute. This judgment of the Supreme Court lays down the law that a judgment should be understandable in simple language to people whose dispute is being decided. The reason behind it is, that justice should not be only done, it should seem to have also been done secondly if the reasons are simple and plain, certainly there will be no ambiguity and arbitrariness will be avoided.
The simplification of a judgment is a very important factor in writing a judgment because unless and until it is not understandable by the person for whom it is meant, in my humble view, it is not a good judgment. It should be in a chronological manner, it should be germane to the facts, it should not be vague and as far as possible only facts of that case should be discussed. The personal knowledge of a judge which is not the subject matter of that record which is produced in the court should not be discussed because otherwise, it will create confusion. If something is not deciding the case, the judgment should try and avoid all those writings in those paragraphs which are not germane to the facts of the case. Because if something is written in a judgment which is not part of the record or part of the fact, it is going to not only create confusion but the justice delivery system will also be affected and the last person standing on the street for whom this justice delivery system is made will not understand. To make it simpler it should be put chronologically and as far as possible in simple English to make it understandable to a common man is the essence of judgment.
There cannot be a judgment till the time reasoning is given for the judgment but here in this particular judgment what Justice Chandrachud has very aptly pointed out is that because of technological advancements we don’t hesitate in this cut copy paste style, we’ve seen the judgments they run into hundreds of pages. So we need to strongly curb this tendency. These are all so complicated and we’ve just been following the tradition without challenging without questioning. See this is an alien system which was handed over to us by the Britishers, maybe we need to change it now. English is not our language or that’s a different thing that Indians have raised it but still if we can bring in very easy terms to substitute those terms that have been handed over to us. If we can overcome that kind of a mental block and write something which is very easy very simple to comprehend for each and everyone who wants to understand what has been written I think that would be a very good judgment.
A judgment should first describe what all the factual position is, maybe commercial contracts, criminal matters, civil matters, family matters, etc. It should in a chronological manner, give the facts and then say what the issues arising out of the facts. Followed by the arguments advanced by one party and what are the arguments advanced by the other parties and then what is most important is why the judge is rejecting a particular argument and why the judge is accepting a particular argument. Most of the judgments are not understandable in the manner they should be, hence every issue which is raised in a dispute should be decided by the judge in the given judgment. If it is not decided it will leave ambiguity and arbitrariness which will lead to further appeals and add to the backlogs of the judicial system.
So, these have been changes that have been suggested by the two-judge bench of the Apex Court. We’ve discussed above the important aspects that have been underlined by the apex court and these need to be incorporated. These are changes that have been the need of the hour and it’s time that we need to evolve and transform our system so that it’s easier and effective for the public at large because ultimately these verdicts, these judgments from courts are impacting common people.
(The author is an advocate by profession)
