Published on: October 20, 2023 at 10:33 IST
Court: Supreme Court of India
Citation: Ajoy Kumar Banerjee V. Union of India (1984)
Honourable Supreme Court of India has held that Doctrine of Generalia Specialibus Non Derogant must be invoked to resolve a conflict between two competent statutes governing the subject matter.
- What is the General Law?
- What is the Special Law?
- Which law in case of conflict would prevail would have arisen and that would have necessitated the application of the principle?
It is held that prior special law would yield to a later general law, if either of the two following conditions is satisfied:
(i) The two are inconsistent with each other.
(ii) There is some express reference in the later to the earlier enactment.
If either of these two conditions is fulfilled, the later law, even though general, would prevail.
39. From the text and the decisions, four tests are deducible and these are: (i) The legislature has the undoubted right to alter a law already promulgated through subsequent legislation, (ii) A special law may be altered, abrogated or repealed by a later general law by an express provisions, (iii) A later general law will override a prior special law if the two are so repugnant to each other that they cannot co-exist even though no express provision in that behalf is found in the general law, and (iv) It is only in the absence of a provision to the contrary and of a clear inconsistency that a special law will remain wholly unaffected by a later general law. See in this connection, Maxwell on the Interpretation of Statutes, Twelfth Edn., pp. 196-198.
Drafted By Abhijit Mishra