Queen-Empress vs Ram Saran And Ors. on 11 November, 1885
In the course of the argument our attention was drawn to the decision of this Court in the case of Queen-Empress v. Ram Saran, I.L.R., 8 All., 306. In that case the Court decided on the facts before it. What those Judges would have done if they had the facts in this case before them, 1 have no means of knowing. In my judgment, every case as it arises must be decided on its own facts. If cases were to be decided as to the facts on their supposed analogy to others, the result might be that when there was a series of cases, each decided on its analogy to the previous case,' the last case to be decided would have applied to it the same principle which had been applied in the first of the series, although as between them there might be no similarity in the facts. The fallacy and the danger of applying such a principle to the legal construction of documents was pointed out more forcibly than T can hope to do, by one of the most eminent and clear-headed Judges and lawyers who ever adorned the English Bench,--I refer to the late Master of the Rolls, Sir George Jessel,--in one of his celebrated judgments. If such a principle be a fallacious and dangerous one to apply to the construction of documents, how much more fallacious and dangerous must such a principle be if applied to the determination of cases which depend on the consideration of oral evidence, and the value and weight to be attached to such evidence.