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............................................................................................................................DescriptionLawyers and Judges are aware of the books on the principles of interpretation by Maxwell, Craies, Crawford, etc. but hardly anyone is aware of the Mimansa Principles of Interpretation, which was our indigenous system of interpretation.The First Edition of Maxwell's Book on Interpretation was published in 1875 whereas Jaimini's Sutras have been in existence since about fifth century BC (in fact there were writers on the principles of interpretation even before Jaimini since Jaimini has referred to eight of them and their views, but their works have not survived). Thus we have a much longer tradition of Interpretation in our country than Western jurists, and we have gone much deeper into the subject.When the British came to India they sought to create the impression that before they came Indians were only a race of fools and savages with no worthwhile intellectual achievement to their credit. It is probably for this reason that the Mimansa Principles of Interpretation, which had been in existence for two and a half thousand years, were suppressed, and the only books on interpretation known to the Indian legal community are the books of Maxwell, Craies, etc. This historical injustice to the Indian people has sought to be overcome by this book.I had been using the Mimansa Principles in some of my judgments when I was a Judge of the Allahabad High Court and these have been appended to this book. However, there was no judgment of the Supreme Court utilizing these principles. After being appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court I was determined to utilize these principles in some of my judgments, and two of my judgments in the Supreme Court have been appended to this book. Dated : 27.3.2008............................................................................................................................ContentsPart I – Introduction Chapter I – The Mimansa Principles of Interpretation I Chapter II – The Mimansa Principles of Interpretation II Chapter III – The Mimansa Principles of Interpretation IIIPart II – Mimansa Rules of InterpretationThe Introductory Lecture Section I – Remarks on the subject of interpretation generally Section II – Introductory remarks on the Mimansa system of Interpretation Section III – Application of Mimansa Rules to the positive smriti lawLecture II – The General Principles of Mimansa Interpretation Section I – The Elementary principles or the axioms of interpretation Section II – The four general principles brodly explained Section III – Each of the four principles separetely dealt with in detail Section IV – The relative force of Sruti, Linga, Vakya & c.Lecture III – General Mimansa Principles Regarding the Application of Texts Section I – Which texts are obligatory and which are not obligatory as also which are only partially obligatory Section II – The remaining principles of applicationLecture IV – Mimansa Rules Specially Regarding the Smritis and Usages Section I – A Succinct idea of the topic Section II – Detailed consideration of the seven rulesLecture V – The Mimansa Nyayas or the specific Principles of Mimansa calledNyayas (Maxims) Section I – Introduction to the topic Section II – Maxims relating to the interpretation of words Section III – Maxims bearing on the construction of sentences and textsLecture VI – Maxims relating to Negative Rules and Cases of Conflict and also of Certain Miscellaneous Maxims Section I – Maxims regarding negative rules and conflict of texts Section II – Miscellaneous maximsLecture VII – Certain Principles of Interpretation of Common Knowledge or thePopular Maxims Section I – Popular maxims with Legal significance Section II – Explanatory observations on the forgoing maxims Section III – Some other popular maximsLecture VIII – The Mimansa Rules of Interpretation as applied to and asapplied by Digest Writers Section I – Departure taken by digest writers in different directions Section II – How the Mimansa Principles are to be applied to the texts of the digestsLecture IX Section I – Application of Mimansa Principles by writers other than the founders of the two codes Section II – The utility of the Presumptions of the Substantive law in matters of InterpretationLecture X Section I – Interpretation of Hindu Law regarding adoption by the Courts under the English Rule. Section II – Cases decided by the Courts under the English rule regarding the Hindu Usage and CustomLecture XI – Resemblance or Otherwise between the Hindu Legal Maxims andPrinciples of Interpretation and those Modern European Law Section I – General Reseblance between western legal maxims and Hindu Legal Maxims Section II – Resemblance and difference between not General Lines of Interpretation followed by English author and the Hindu authorsLecture XII – A Summary of Hindu Jurisprudence and of Mimansa Philosophyand Literature Part I – Hindu Jurisprudence Part II – Mimansa Philosophy and Mimansa LiteratureLecture XIII – A brief ResumePart III – Selected Judgment............................................................................................................................Author DetailsHon'ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju was born on 20-9-1946 . He obtained first division in every examination he appeared for, from Senior Cambridge to LL.B. He stood first in the merit list in LL.B from Allahabad University in 1967. Thereafter, he practiced law in the Allahabad High Court specializing in Labour Law, Taxation and Writ Petitions. He has worked as Standing Counsel, Income Tax Department. He has also served as a Member, International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARIJ) and attended conference in Switzerland from 23rd to 28th October 2000 and various law related conferences in Delhi and elsewhere. He was elevated to the Bench of Allahabad High Court in 1991, and since then has given several landmark judgments. He was appointed Acting Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court in August 2004, Chief Justice of Madras High Court in November 2004, Chief Justice of Delhi High Court in October 2005, and now elevated to Supreme Court on 10th April, 2006.Hon'ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju is keenly interested in academics, and has a wide range of interests, including Sanskrit, Urdu, History, Philosophy, Science, Sociology etc. apart from his interest in jurisprudence. He has written several books, such as 'Law in the Scientific Era', 'Interpretation of Taxing Statutes' and 'Domestic Enquiry'. His study of diverse subjects is reflected in his judgments, which are often unconventional and path breaking.Hon'ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju is the son of late Justice S.N.Katju, who was a former Judge of Allahabad High Court, and the grand son of late Dr K.N.Katju, former Union Home andDefence Minister, Governor of West Bengal and Orissa and Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh. His uncle Justice B.N.Katju was Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court.Hon'ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju has got passionate love for Indian culture and his keen desire to unearth and bring to light the great intellectual achievements of our ancestors was the main motivating force in bringing out the book "Mimansa Rules of Interpretation". Hon'ble Mr. Justice Markandey Katju has pointed out in his lecture and articles (which have been published in Part I of the Mimansa Rules of Interpretation) that Mimansa Rules of Interpretation were one of the greatest and most remarkable achievements of our ancestors, but about which even the educated Indians are wholly ignorant today.As Chief Justice of Madras High Court, he gave a landmark judgment, Rama Muthuramalingam v. Dy.S.P, AIR 2005 Madras 1, on the constitutional question of inter se relationship between the Judiciary, the Legislature and the Executive in which His Lordship emphasized on judicial restraint and the impropriety of the judiciary encroaching onto the legislative or executive domain. His speech at the first anniversary of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court in which he said that the people have a right to criticize the judiciary as the people were supreme in a democracy, and all authorities including Judges were servants of the people, was hailed by Mr. Fali Nariman, the doyen of the bar, in a centre spread article in 'Indian Express'.............................................................................................................................
