How to Read Bare Acts for Judiciary Exams?

Understanding laws requires reading the bare act, which is the exact wording of a certain statutory legislation. In bare acts, the terminology is frequently a little more difficult and perplexing. When reading the Bare Acts, the majority of students, professors, lawyers, judicial aspirants, and even judges have trouble understanding the law. In order to understand legislation, we will learn how to read the Bare Act from the point of view of Judiciary Exams in this post.

You can use specific approaches or techniques to help you grasp the legislation when you read Bare Acts. However, we are sharing some tips and techniques for this purpose.

1. Understand the Act's Objective/Purpose

When reading a bare act, the first thing you must do is comprehend the goals and objectives of that specific act. You must also determine why the government passed this particular act. 

Almost all acts include a lengthy title at the beginning that describes their purpose. For instance, the Code of Criminal Procedure Act of 1973's long title is "An Act to consolidate and amend the law relating to criminal procedure."

Therefore, the Code of Criminal Procedure Act, 1973 was passed in order to codify and revise the laws pertaining to the criminal procedure, as indicated by the lengthy title. Similarly, the full title of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 describes its purpose as "To define and amend certain parts of the law relating to contracts."

Always seek to connect each section, clause, and illustration with its intended meaning; this will aid in your comprehension of the law. Once you understand the intent of an Act, everything will be extremely obvious to you.

2. Go through the Interpretation/Definition Clause

A definition or interpretation clause is placed at the beginning of every Act, and it serves to clarify or define certain terminology used throughout the Act. Usually Section 2 of the Bare Acts contains the definitions, for instance, the Indian Contract Act, 1872 contains the definitions of some terms which are used in the Act and these particular terms shall be interpreted in accordance with Section 2 of the Act. However, some laws may contain such a clause in another section, such as Section 3 of the Transfer of Property Act of 1882.

3. Literal Interpretation

Widely accepted, literal interpretation is the first principle of interpreting a statute. According to literal interpretation, a biblical passage should be understood in light of the "plain meaning" that its linguistic structure and historical setting make clear. Interpreting the Bare Act simply implies that it should be read in its simple and usual meaning, without speculating on any potential meanings. Examine the Bare Act thoroughly. 

4. Divide Long Sentences into Parts

It can be terrifying to read long, complex sentence, and these are usually present in Bare Acts. As a result, understanding the Bare Act becomes very challenging. In that case, segment the sentences, read them patiently and carefully, pause when you notice the use of the comma. A Bare Act cannot be read too quickly because it is not as simple to read as other books or novels. You must have the patience to read the Bare Act carefully and comprehend the law. Dividing long sentences into parts will prove very effective for a thorough understanding.

5. Take the Help of Standard Books

Don't hesitate to take the help of standard textbooks available for the subject while reading its Bare Act. It will help you in understanding the complexities involved in a simplified way. 

6. Choosing the Right Edition of the Bare Act

One of the key things to remember is that you should choose between the English and diglot editions of the Bare Act. Always choose the latest edition of the Bare Act as they keep on changing with amendments. In my opinion, diglot Bare Act should be favoured as they contain sections/articles written in Hindi on one side and in English on the other. Referring to both the languages will help you in the translation paper in Judiciary Examinations.

Some Tricks to Remember the Sections of Bare Act

• Every morning, read through the Bare Act's content or index page.
• At least 10 sections should be learned each day.
• Additionally, make it a practice to review at least 15 sections every day.
• If you want, you can simply study 5 new sections per day; however, be sure to raise the number of revisions to 20.
• In a notebook, list down the section and article names. Throughout your legal studies, make it a habit to go through the Bare Act of the respective act present in your curriculum. 
• To recall, read the sections several times.
• Create mnemonics for the sections you want to remember for a long time.
• Solve section-wise MCQ's of the subject for enhancing and revising the content of the Bare Act. You can find the MCQ's on Lawlogy App.

 

Do not wait: the time will never be 'just right'. Start where you stand, and work whatever tools you may have at your command and better tools will be found as you go along. ― Napoleon Hill