res sub judice

Latin · rayz sub JOO-dih-see · Courts and procedure

Meaning. The rule that a later suit on the same matter must be stayed while an earlier suit between the same parties is pending.

Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 prevents a court from proceeding with the trial of a suit in which the matter in issue is also directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties, litigating under the same title, pending in a competent Indian court. The object is to avoid conflicting decisions and needless parallel trials.

The later suit is stayed, not dismissed; only the trial is barred, so the court may still pass interim orders such as injunctions. The whole subject-matter of the two suits must be substantially the same. A pending suit in a foreign court does not bar a suit in India. Contrast res judicata (s.11), which applies after the earlier suit has been decided.

Example

Since the landlord's earlier eviction suit raising the same tenancy issue was pending, the tenant's later suit was stayed under s.10 CPC.

In Indian law

Section 10, Code of Civil Procedure, 1908

res sub judice

Example

In Indian law

See also

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