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113. In order to determine this aspect, one of the well-
established tests is "the Inversion Test" propounded inter alia
by Eugene Wambaugh, a Professor at The Harvard Law
School, who published a classic text book called The Study
of Cases [Eugene Wambaugh, The Study of Cases (Boston:
Little, Brown & Co., 1892)] in the year 1892. This textbook
mca498-2022 & mca500-2022-J.-Final.doc
propounded inter alia what is known as the "Wambaugh
Test" or "the Inversion Test" as the means of judicial
interpretation. "the Inversion Test" is used to identify the
ratio decidendi in any judgment. The central idea, in other
words of Professor Wambaugh, is as under:
"In order to make the test, let him first frame carefully
the supposed proposition of law. Let him then insert in
the proposition a word reversing its meaning. Let him
then inquire whether, if the Court had conceived this
new proposition to be good, and had it in mind, the
decision could have been the same. If the answer be
affirmative, then, however excellent the original
proposition may be, the case is not a precedent for that
proposition, but if the answer be negative the case is a
precedent for the original proposition and possibly for
other propositions also" [Eugene Wambaugh, The
Study of Cases (Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1892)].