Cessante Ratione Legis Cessat Ipsa Lex

Posted on by Rudrajyoti Nath Ray

Manoj Kumar Khokhar v. State of Rajasthan, 2022 SCC OnLine SC 30 and Jaibunisha v. Meharban, 2022 SCC OnLine 58 after duly acknowledging, liberty of an individual is an invaluable right, held, granting bail, if passed in a casual and cryptic manner, de hors reasoning which would validate grant of bail, is liable to be set aside. Latin maxim ‘cessante ratione legis cessat ipsa lex’, meaning ‘reason is soul of law, and when reason of any particular law ceases, so does law itself’, is apposite.

Court, deciding on bail, cannot completely divorce its decision from material aspects such as – allegations made; severity of punishment if allegations are proved; reasonable apprehension of witnesses being influenced; tampering of evidence; criminal antecedents; prima­ facie satisfaction of Court in support of charge.

High Court has not taken into account even a single material aspect.

– Hon’ble Justice B.V. Nagarathna, Kamla Devi v. State of Rajasthan, [Criminal Appeal No. 342 of 2022].

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Also see, Vishal Ashwin Patel v. Assistant Commissioner of Income Tax, [Civil Appeal No. 2200 of 2022] decided on 28.03.20222 and K. Srinivasappa v. M. Mallamma, [Civil Appeal No. 3486-3488 of 2022] decided on 18.05.2022.

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