Nemo debet esse judex in propria sua causa

Lohitashwa Pratap Singh

No man can be judge in his own cause

Nemo debet esse judex in propria sua causa is a fundamental rule in the administration of justice ,that a person cannot be judge in a cause wherein he is interested; nemo sibi esse judex vel suis jus dicere debet; and, therefore, in the reign of james I., it was solemnly adjudged that the king cannot take any cause, whether civil or criminal, out of any of his Courts, and give judgment upon it himself ; but it must be determined and adjudged in some. court of justice according to the law and custom of England; and “the judges informed the king that no king, after the Conquest ,assumed to himself to give any judgment in any case whatsoever which concerned the administration of justice within this realm; but these were solely determined in the courts of justice”,

Justice should not only be done but seem to be done P. K. Ghosh v J. G. Rajput. That is the basic structure on which confidence and faith in the institution rests. The judiciary commands respect from the bottom in the hierarchy to the apex because of its impartiality and objectivity. When a judge directs a case to be listed before another Court or Bench, as he knows one or the other party, it is not because any statutory law precludes him from hearing and deciding it but the propriety is practised and observed to exclude even the remotest possibility of any misgiving or doubt about the impartiality of the judge as even if he is just and fair and his decision is correct yet it may not be satisfying.

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