Understanding the procedure

THE third edition of Barrister Md. Abdul Halim's book entitled 'Procedure and Practice in the Supreme Court' , which has been thoroughly revised and updated in the light of the newly introduced rules of the High Court Division of the Supreme Court, has been published recently. The first and second editions of the book were out of print for a long time and there was a great demand of the book among the new practitioners in the Supreme Court. With its updates in light of the new rules of the High Court Division, now it has been a quite useful book for both the old and new legal practitioners in the Supreme Court. 

The first volume of this book dealing with Criminal side and Appellate Division has nine chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the substantive and interim remedies provided for in different jurisdictions of the Supreme Court. Chapters 2 and 3 contain criminal matters covering aspects of jurisdictions of criminal appeal, revision, miscellaneous and bail matters. Chapter 4 and 5 contain procedural as well as pleading aspects of criminal revision and criminal miscellaneous jurisdiction. Chapter 6 discusses both procedure and pleadings on bail with particular reference to various authoritative judicial decisions which will certainly assist both bar and the bench. Chapter 7 discusses jurisdiction on transfer of criminal cases with examples of pleadings and procedure. Chapter 8 deals with both conceptual and procedural aspects of contempt matter. Lastly, Chapter 9 contains procedure and examples of pleadings on Appellate Division in the Supreme Court. 

The second volume of the book discusses general and civil jurisdictions in the High Court Division in nine chapters. Chapter 1 discusses various conceptual and substantive provisions of the Supreme Court like the Supreme Court's original, appellate, revisional, reference, admiralty and miscellaneous jurisdictions. Chapter 2 of this volume discusses various technical aspects of cause list, motion, mention, in re, affidavit, applications and petitions in the High Court Division. Chapter 3 discusses advocates, their responsibilities with the court, vakalatnama, power of attorney and related issues, of course, with citations of proper authorities. Chapter 4 discusses detailed procedure and systems in writ jurisdiction with all possible formats of applications and petitions. Chapter 5 and 6 discuss practice and procedure on civil appeal and civil revision. Similarly, chapters 7, 8 and 9 discuss and deal with procedures and pleadings on admiralty matter, company matter and reference applications. 

There is a legal doctrine that there is no vested right in remedy or in the mode of procedure. It means that the procedural rules may be changed by the authorities when necessary or when greater social interest requires the change. That is, a remedial statute or procedure may be made applicable to cases pending at the time of the enactment or change. However, the doctrine does not mean that existing procedure and rules may be bypassed or may be broken down at any time when an individual judge or lawyer feels it convenient. The procedure must be fair and the fair procedure must be followed with caution, because the procedural fairness is an essential component of natural justice. 

The beauty of this book is that it has covered both the written and unwritten procedure and practice of the Supreme Court. The practicing lawyers in the Supreme Court know that there are two types of rules to follow. Some rules are specific, fixed and written in the sense they are prescribed by the Rules of the Supreme Court.  Other rules are customary and followed in practice, and can be learned only by practicing in the court. 

These books has documented most of these unwritten rules and practices which will be of immense use for the new legal practitioners. It can be a valuable reference book for the practicing lawyers, judges, and legal researchers. 

The reviewer is an Advocate, Supreme Court of Bangladesh.