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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 January 2020
Fiat justitia, ruat caelum.
Introduction
Article 142 of the Constitution of India reads:
Enforcement of decrees and orders of Supreme Court and unless as to discovery, etc. (1) The Supreme Court in the exercise of its jurisdiction may pass such decree or make such order as is necessary for doing complete justice in any cause or matter pending before it, and any decree so passed or orders so made shall be enforceable throughout the territory of India in such manner as may be prescribed by or under any law made by Parliament and, until provision in that behalf is so made, in such manner as the President may by order prescribe.
Thus, article 142 vests the Supreme Court of India with a repository of discretionary power that can be wielded in appropriate circumstances to deliver ‘complete justice’ in a given case. It is pertinent to mention here that no other constitution in the world contains similar provisions except for two very recent constitutions, that is, Bangladesh (article 104) and Nepal (article 88[2]), both of which seem to have borrowed the provisions from the Constitution of India.
The term ‘complete justice’ is comprised of two words, that is, ‘complete’ and ‘justice’. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines ‘complete’ as ‘having all necessary parts, elements, or steps or thorough or concluded’, whereas ‘Justice’ has been understood and defined by various scholars, philosophers, and social scientists in various ways and connotations. Plato defines it thus: ‘Justice is a proper, harmonious relationship between the warring parts of the person or city’. Hobbes and Rousseau understand ‘Justice’ as a process of giving and protecting the rights and liberties of a person.
The aim of justice is, the Romans believed, to give each his due, and in order for each to be given what is his. ‘Give,’ in this sense, means to protect the right of possession. Each man gets ‘what belongs to him’ in the course of voluntary exchanges that constitute the economic process, and, by virtue of the operation of the market, each receives for his contribution, precisely the amount that will impel him to increase the supply of the most urgently demanded commodities….
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