INDIAN LAW REPORTS ACT, 1875: LEGISLATION WHICH AUTHORISES OFFICIAL LAW REPORTING IN INDIA

INDIAN LAW REPORTS ACT, 1875

The Indian Law Reports Act received the assent of the Governor General on 19 th January 1875. It is a short legislation with a preamble and three sections. The enactment of the Act was a result of the constant efforts of Sir J.F.Stephens, Law Member of the Government of India. It sought to officialise law reporting in India by establishing law reports known as, Indian Authorized Law Reports. The title of the Act is an Act for the improvement of Law Reports, as amended in 1987. The preamble of the Act was also repealed in the same year. As any other legislation, Section 1, deals with the short title, date of commencement and territorial extent of the Act. The short title is The Indian Law Reports Act, 1875. Section 2, during its enactment, intended to extend the limits of authority of the precedents reported in authorized law reports to all subordinate courts under the colonial regime. This section was repealed. The gist of the Act lies in Section 3. The section reads as follows: No Court shall be bound to hear cited, or shall receive or treat as an authority binding on it, the report of any case decided by any High Court for a State, other than a report published under the authority of any State Government. Section 4 of the Act reads as follows: Nothing herein contained shall be construed to give to any judicial decision any further or other authority than it would have had if this Act had not been passed. The Act deals with the reporting of judgements of only the High Courts of various states, under the authority of the State Governments. The judgements of the Supreme Court of India are reported in the Supreme Court Reports under the authority of the Supreme Court itself.

INDIAN LAW REPORTS (KERALA SERIES)

The judgements of the Honourable High Court of Kerala are reported through the Indian Law Report (Kerala Series). The Indian Law Reports (Kerala Series) was initially published as Indian Law Reports (Travancore-Cochin Series), under the authority of the erstwhile Travancore-Cochin State. After formation of the State of Kerala, the publication was re-titled as Indian Law Reports (Kerala Series) with effect from January, 1957. The functioning of the Indian Law Reports (Kerala Series) is governed by the Rules relating to the publication of the Indian Law Reports (Kerala). The Law

Reporting Council of Kerala constituted as provided in the Rules is the authority conferred with the power to take decisions regarding the functioning of the Indian Law Reports (Kerala Series). The Law Reporting Council consists of; (i) A Judge of the High Court; (ii) The Advocate General; and (iii) Three Members of the Bar. The Members of the Law Reporting Council are appointed by the Honble Chief Justice. The Judge of the High Court who is the member of the Council shall be the Chairman of the Council and a Senior Officer of the High Court, appointed by the Chief Justice shall be Convenor of the Council. The Indian Law Reports (Kerala Series) is published under the authority of the Government of Kerala and the Council has been empowered to publish Indian Law Reports (Kerala Series) under such authority.