Principle: Any person who provides service to others is bound to ensure that such service is without any defect. Fact: X, a resident of a middle class housing colony, was habituated to taking morning walks in the RWA Park. One day, X, accompanied by his wife, after taking one round in the park, decided to go out to walk on the main road, maintained by the Municipal Corporation. They were walking on the beautiful footpath which was paved with interlocking concrete bricks. Suddenly X’s wife, who was walking behind her husband, fell down into a big hole on the pavement, which was not there when X crossed the point. X pulled out his wife from the pit and observed that the hole occurred due to a bad construction of the pavement. X wants to sue the Corporation for compensation for the injuries suffered by his wife.

Principle: A defendant is liable for all direct consequences of his act or omission, which he could have reasonably foreseen as naturally flowing from his action. Fact: A bus driver was driving a bus along the BRT corridor in New Delhi. At a bus stand, he carelessly drove the bus, resulting in hitting a railing and crushing a Marshal on duty at the spot. A lady standing at a distance, on hearing about the accident rushed to the spot and saw the injured covered in blood, hanging on a piece of the railing. The sight terrified the lady and as a result she fainted and had to be treated for nervous shock. The lady, on recovery, filed a suit for compensation against the driver and the owner of the bus.

Principle: An occupier or owner of land owes a duty to warn a suspected trespasser of deadly conditions on the land which would be hidden to a trespasser, but of which the property owner is aware. Fact: Shiva, the owner of a Fire Cracker Factory, owned a large plot of land, which he used for testing his crackers. One day while he was about to set fire to some special crackers, he noticed some children wandering on his land. Shiva did not pay any attention to the children as according to him, they were trespassers. He set fire to test the crackers. One of the crackers which was supposed to ignite a series of crackers up in the sky at a height of 100 metres did not burst in the sky. Instead, it fell to the ground and exploded, injuring one of the children. In a suit for compensation initiated by the parents of the injured child, how would you decide?

Principle: Under law, persons in possession of property are entitled to the quiet enjoyment of their property. Fact: Ram and his wife occupied a flat in New Delhi to reside peacefully during his retired life. His neighbour who was staying on rent was a young couple having a two month old baby. The cries of the baby disturbed Ram during his afternoon nap and at night. Irritated by the baby's cries, Ram asked the young couple to shift their residence, to which they turned a deaf ear. Ram wants to file a suit against the young couple for nuisance.

Principle: A plaintiff who suffers some injury will be entitled to receive compensation even if he suffers no loss. Fact: Reddy was a strong political worker of Party X. He was proceeding to the poling booth at about 7:30 a.m. to cast his vote in favour of Mr. Naik, his party candidate. On the way, the State Police officials suspected Reddy to be an anti-social element and took him into custody for questioning. Reddy pleaded with the officials that he was a genuine voter and had no previous criminal records and requested them to allow him to cast his vote. The officials allegedly detained him in custody till about 4:45 p.m. and thereafter released him, recording that they could not find anything against him. By the time Reddy reached the poling booth, the polling time was over and he could not vote for Mr. Naik. When the results were declared, Mr. Naik got a majority of over 6000 votes and Party X got the majority to form the Government. Reddy files a suit for compensation against the State.

Principle: Even if a person suffers a loss, he will be entitled to receive compensation only if a legal right is violated. Fact: An English teacher in a famous ‘English School’, after having some rifts with the management, left the school and started a new ‘Language School’ very close to the English School. Many students of the English School left it and joined the new Language School. As a result, the English School suffered huge financial loss and hence, filed a suit for compensation against the new school.

Principle: A defamatory statement is one which has a tendency to injure the reputation of the person to whom it refers to. Defamation is of two kinds: (1) Libel, when the defamatory statement is in some permanent and visible form. (2) Slander, when it is in some transitory form, visible or audible. Libel is actionable per se, but slander is actionable only on proof of actual damage. Factual Situation: A person accused of a crime is arrested by the police. The police gives an open statement that the suspect had an extra-marital affair. It is subsequently proved in court that the suspect was innocent of the crime. Will the accused succeed if he files a civil suit for defamation, claiming compensation against the police?

Principle: A manufacturer is liable to pay compensation to a consumer for any harm or damage caused due to a defect in the product. Factual Situation: X purchased a banian from Y & Co. Before rushing for an interview he wore the new banian. When he was called in for the interview, his entire body was itching. Throughout the interview he was embarrassed as he was repeatedly scratching his body. After the interview he rushed to a dermatologist, who diagnosed it as dermatitis due to the presence of some chemical present in the banian. The Doctor brought to his attention a warning strip in the banian “Wash before use”. He obviously lost the job due to his clumsy behaviour at the interview. X sues Y & Co. for compensation.

Principle: A person has got a right to defend his life or that of any other person. Factual Situation: Sonia was returning home from work at about 10:00 pm. The cab driver dropped her at the gate of her residence. Suddenly she heard a male voice telling her to hand over her purse and mobile. She screamed to draw the attention of her driver but the driver did not hear her and drove away. When she looked back she saw a man pointing a dagger at her. She was about to hand over her purse to the man. Hearing her cries, her neighbour, Major Singh, a military officer, looked through his window and saw the scene. He took out his gun and shot the man dead, later identified as X.

Principle: When a criminal act is done by several persons in furtherance of the common intention of all, each of such persons is liable for that act in the same manner as if it was done by him alone. Factual Situation: A, B, C and D who were unemployed, decided to loot the house of a rich businessman one night. When all of them were about to jump the compound wall, D decided to remain at the gate and warn them, in case of any problem. A, B and C entered the house and took cash and gold ornaments. While coming out of the house,B tripped on a rubber hose pipe creating a sound. By this the watchman who was otherwise asleep woke up. B suddenly took the rubber hose and strangled the watchman’s neck thus killing him. Later all A, B, C and D were arrested and prosecuted.

Principle: Nothing is an offence if done by a person who, at the time of doing it, by reason of unsoundness of mind, is incapable of knowing the nature of the act or what he is doing, is wrong or contrary to law. Factual Situation: A, an author of macabre stories, was undergoing treatment for somnambulism. One night, he was given a high dose of sedative as he had become violent. There was a ‘Do not disturb’ board out side his room. Early morning, while A was still asleep, a nurse went to his room to check his condition. She started to note his pulse and thereafter to measure his BP. While she was fixing the equipment to measure the BP, A, saw the nurse, but in a delirium he thought the nurse to be a vampire going to drink his blood. Suddenly in order to exercise the ghost, A grabbed the BP apparatus and hit the ‘ghost’ on the head several times. The nurse collapsed and died subsequently.

Principle: Consent to do an act is not taken as real consent if the same is given under fear of injury or under a misconception of fact and the person doing the act knows that the consent was given in consequence of such fear or misconception. Factual Situation: P, a male music teacher told R, one of his girl students that there is an operation for improving the voice and that if she agreed; he would perform it on her. She agreed. On the basis of her consent P raped R. Later the matter was reported to the police by R.

Principle: Whoever, attempts to commit an offence ,and in such attempt does any act towards the commission of the offence, shall be punished. Factual Situation: A, a trustee, makes an attempt to steal some jewels by breaking open a box belonging to the Trust B and finds after opening the box, that there is no jewel in it. A is prosecuted for the offence of attempt to commit theft.

Principle: Whoever tenders to any other person counterfeit coins or currency which he knows to be counterfeit, commits an offence. Factual Situation: A was an employee in a private company. One day while depositing some money at the bank, handed over to him by the company’s cashier, the bank’s casher identified a 100 rupee note as counterfeit and returned it to A. Then A went to a hotel, ordered lunch and handed over the counterfeit 100 rupee note at the hotel, so as to get rid of it. The hotel manager identified the note as counterfeit and informed the police.

Principle: Nothing is an offence which is done by a person who, at the time of doing it, is, by reason of intoxication, incapable of knowing the nature of the act, or that he is doing what is either wrong, or contrary to law, provided that the thing which intoxicated him was administered to him without his knowledge or against his will. Factual Situation: Ram, Shyam and Vipin were friends. Vipin was in love with Anita and wanted to marry her. One day she told him that her marriage was fixed with a rich NRI and that he should not disturb her again in future. Vipin, who became depressed, told this to his friends. Ram suggested that they should go to a nearby Bar and drink some Beer so that Vipin could relax. As Vipin was not habituated to drinks, initially he declined, but later at the bar Ram told Vipin to take a little Whisky, which he did hesitatingly. After a while, Vipin became totally intoxicated and started to say that Anita ditched him. Shyam, who was also drunk then said, “If you are so worried, go and kill her”. A little while later all three friends parted company. Vipin went straight to Anita’s hostel, called her out and shot her.