What is the doctrine of res judicata?

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Prelims: Current Affairs & Events
What is the doctrine of res judicata? Blog Image

Overview:

The Madras High Court recently dismissed a civil revision petition filed by a woman against an order of a lower court that had allowed a second divorce petition filed by her husband on the ground of r

 What is res judicata?

  • The concept of res judicata has evolved from the English Common Law System.
  • Res judicata literally means ‘the thing has been judged”.
  • The principle of res judicata applies when a litigant attempts to file a subsequent lawsuit on the same matter after having received a judgment in a previous case involving the same parties.
  • It is a judicial concept which means that the issue before the court has already been decided by another court, between the same parties, and the courts do not allow a petition to be filed in the same or to the other Court. 
  • Therefore, the court will dismiss the case before it as being useless.
  • Res Judicata as a concept is applicable both in the case of the Civil as well as Criminal legal system.
  • Purpose
  • To prevent injustice to the parties of a case supposedly finished.
  • To avoid unnecessary waste of resources and time of the Judicial System

 


Q1) What is Common Law?

Common law is a body of unwritten laws based on legal precedents established by the courts. Common law influences the decision-making process in unusual cases where the outcome cannot be determined based on existing statutes or written rules of law.  
Source: No Bar of Res-judicata on Second Petition for Divorce If It Is Founded on New Facts: Madras HC