Definitions

Five, there must be a formal expression of the adjudication. The decree is the formal document drawn up; it is not the judgment.

What the Code deems to be a decree, and what it excludes

The definition then does two more things, and both are examinable.

It deems two things to be decrees, even though they might not otherwise satisfy every element: the rejection of a plaint, and the determination of any question within section 144, which is restitution. So an order rejecting a plaint under Order VII Rule 11 is a decree, and is therefore appealable as one. That single sentence answers a very common exam question.

It expressly excludes two things. First, any adjudication from which an appeal lies as an appeal from an order. Second, any order of dismissal for default. So a suit dismissed because the plaintiff did not appear produces no decree at all, which is why the remedy there is an application to set the dismissal aside under Order IX rather than an appeal.

Preliminary, final, and both at once

The Explanation to section 2(2) provides that a decree is preliminary when further proceedings have to be taken before the suit can be completely disposed of; it is final when the adjudication completely disposes of the suit; and it may be partly preliminary and partly final.

That last clause is the one students leave out, and it is the whole of an exam answer on its own. A decree in a suit for possession and mesne profits can decide possession outright while directing an enquiry into the profits: final as to one, preliminary as to the other.

Shankar Balwant Lokhande v. Chandrakant Shankar Lokhande, AIR 1995 SC 1211, decided on 20 March 1995, is the case to use here.

Facts. A partition suit. A preliminary decree declared the parties' shares in the joint family property. The dispute that reached the Supreme Court was about when time began to run for executing the final decree, which turned on what a final decree in a partition suit actually is and when it comes into existence.

Held. In a partition suit the preliminary decree only declares the rights and the shares of the parties. The final decree is what divides the property by metes and bounds, meaning by actual measured boundaries, and it must be engrossed on stamped paper before it can be executed. The suit continues until the final decree is passed; the final decree implements the preliminary one.

Why it matters here. It is the clearest illustration of the Explanation. A partition suit is the standard example precisely because the two stages are so visibly separate: first who owns what share, then which land is whose.

The terms the paper actually asks for

These are the ones that have come up as one-or-two-sentence questions. Each answer below is the section's own words, tightened to what will fit in two sentences.

Decree-holder, section 2(3): any person in whose favour a decree has been passed, or an order capable of execution has been made. Note that it is not limited to a plaintiff, and not limited to decrees.

Judgment-debtor, section 2(10): any person against whom a decree has been passed, or an order capable of execution has been made. The mirror image of the last one.

Mesne profits, section 2(12): the profits which the person in wrongful possession of property actually received, or might with ordinary diligence have received, together with interest on those profits, but not including profits due to improvements made by that person in wrongful possession. Three things to keep: wrongful possession, what he might have received with ordinary diligence and not merely what he did, and the exclusion of his own improvements.

Legal representative, section 2(11): a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person, including any person who intermeddles with the estate, and where a party sues or is sued in a representative character, the person on whom the estate devolves. The intermeddler limb is the part worth remembering: you can become a legal representative by meddling, without inheriting anything.

Foreign Court, section 2(5): a Court situated outside India and not established or continued by the authority of the Central Government. Foreign judgment, section 2(6): the judgment of a foreign Court. Both are dealt with in [Foreign Judgments].

Judge, section 2(8): the presiding officer of a Civil Court. Short, and asked as a two-mark question. Note that it is defined by the office held and not by the court's grade, so a Civil Judge and a District Judge are equally "Judges" for the Code.

Government Pleader, section 2(7): includes any officer appointed by the State Government to perform all or any of the functions expressly imposed by the Code on the Government Pleader, and also any pleader acting under his directions.

Pleader, section 2(15): any person entitled to appear and plead for another in Court, and it includes an advocate, a vakil and an attorney of a High Court.

District, section 2(4): the local limits of the jurisdiction of a principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction, called a District Court, and it includes the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of a High Court.

Public officer, section 2(17): a person falling within any of eight described classes, which include every Judge, every member of an All-India Service, commissioned or gazetted officers of the armed forces while serving under the Government, court officers with specified duties, persons empowered to keep another in confinement, and officers whose duty concerns offences, public safety, or Government property and revenue. For a two-mark answer, give the definition and two or three examples rather than attempting all eight.

Movable property, section 2(13): includes growing crops. Signed, section 2(20): save in the case of a judgment or decree, includes stamped. Rules, section 2(18): the rules and forms in the First Schedule, or made under section 122 or section 125.

Distinguish: decree, judgment and order

The practical test a court applies: has this decision conclusively determined the rights of the parties in the matters in controversy in a suit? If yes it is a decree, whatever it is called. If no it is an order.

What it does not mean

A decree is not the judgment. The judgment gives the grounds; the decree is the formal expression of the result. They are separate documents and only one of them is executable.

"Conclusively determines" does not mean unappealable. It means final as regards the court that expressed it. Almost every decree is appealable.

Not every court order is an "order" under section 2(14) for appeal purposes. Being an order tells you it is not a decree. Whether you can appeal from it is a different question, answered by section 104 and Order XLIII.

A dismissal for default is not a decree, by the express exclusion, so there is nothing to appeal from.

Rejection of a plaint IS a decree, by the express inclusion, so there is.

Mesne profits are not rent. They are what a person in wrongful possession got or could have got. A tenant lawfully in possession pays rent, not mesne profits.

Quick revision

Section 2, twenty clauses, governing the whole Code unless the context is repugnant.

Decree, section 2(2): formal expression of an adjudication conclusively determining rights in the matters in controversy in a suit. Five elements: adjudication, in a suit, determination of rights in controversy, conclusive as regards that court, formal expression.

Deemed decrees: rejection of a plaint, and determinations under section 144. Excluded: adjudications appealable as orders, and dismissals for default.

Preliminary, final, or partly preliminary and partly final. Shankar Balwant Lokhande: preliminary declares the shares, final divides by metes and bounds and is engrossed on stamped paper.

Judgment, section 2(9): the statement of the grounds of a decree or order. Order, section 2(14): the formal expression of any decision that is not a decree.

Mesne profits, section 2(12): wrongful possession, actually received or receivable with ordinary diligence, plus interest, minus the possessor's own improvements.

Legal representative, section 2(11): represents the estate, and includes an intermeddler.

Test yourself

1. Define "decree" in two sentences. Under section 2(2), a decree means the formal expression of an adjudication which, so far as regards the Court expressing it, conclusively determines the rights of the parties with regard to all or any of the matters in controversy in the suit. It may be preliminary or final, and it is deemed to include the rejection of a plaint and the determination of any question within section 144.

2. What is meant by mesne profits? Under section 2(12), mesne profits of property are the profits which the person in wrongful possession of that property actually received, or might with ordinary diligence have received, together with interest on those profits. They do not include profits due to improvements made by the person in wrongful possession.

3. Is an order rejecting a plaint appealable? Yes. Section 2(2) expressly deems the rejection of a plaint to be a decree, and a decree is appealable.

4. A suit is dismissed because the plaintiff did not appear. Can he appeal? No. Section 2(2) expressly excludes any order of dismissal for default from the definition of a decree, so there is no decree to appeal from. The remedy is an application under Order IX to set the dismissal aside.

5. Can one decree be both preliminary and final? Yes. The Explanation to section 2(2) says a decree may be partly preliminary and partly final, which happens where the court disposes of part of the suit outright and directs further proceedings on the rest, as in a decree granting possession while ordering an enquiry into mesne profits.

6. Who is a legal representative? Under section 2(11), a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person, including anyone who intermeddles with the estate, and, where a party sued or was sued in a representative character, the person on whom the estate devolves on that party's death.

7. What is the difference between a judgment and a decree? The judgment, under section 2(9), is the Judge's statement of the grounds of a decree or order, so it contains the reasoning. The decree, under section 2(2), is the formal expression of the adjudication, so it contains the result and it is the document that is executed.