Pre-requisites for Res Judicata

 

Pre-requisites for Res Judicata

 Prerequisites of res judicata includes:

•  A judicial decision by proficient court or tribunal,
•  Final and binding and
•  Any decision made on the merits
•  A fair hearing 
•  Earlier decision right or wrong is not relevant.  

Nature and Scope of Res Judicata

Res judicata includes two concepts of claim preclusion and issue preclusion. Issue preclusion is also known as collateral estoppel. Parties cannot sue each other again after the final judgment on the basis of merits has reached in civil litigation. For example, if a plaintiff wins or loses a case against the defendant in the case say A, he cannot probably sue the defendant again in case B based on the same facts and events. Not even in a different court with the same facts and events. Whereas in issue preclusion it prohibits the relitigation of issues of law that have already been determined by the judge as part of an earlier case. 

The scope has been decided in the case of Gulam Abbas Versus State of Uttar Pradesh. In  this case the court incorporated the rules as evidence as a plea of an issue already tries in an earlier case. Judgment of this case was difficult as the judges should apply res judicata. It was decided that res judicata is not exhaustive and even if the matter is not directly covered under the provisions of the section it will be considered as a case of res judicata on general principles.