Akshata Das, BA LLB, Damodaram Sanjivayya National Law University
ABSTRACT
This project aims to study the scope and application of the legal maxim “Fiat Justitia Ruat Caelum”. The project shall endeavour to look at the history of the maxim and the application of this legal maxim in case laws. The origin of this maxim remains murky but is attributed to the period of ancient Roman law, especially to Seneca, Roman dramatist and author of De Ira which narrates the story of Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. It was first said to appear in the chapter of Piso’s Justice. In more recent years, this maxim has resurfaced in many landmark judgements such as Sir S. Subramania Iyer’s statement in the Tirupati Mahant case, in Judge James Edwin Horton’s judgment for the Scottsboro Boys trial and in Somerset v Stewart. The common vein in all of these cases is that they centre around the human rights of the parties, making this a globally followed and essential maxim.
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