CDS (I) 2022 General Knowledge · Question 89 of 120

Correct — D, Audi Alteram Partem. The phrase means hear the other side, and it is one of the two great rules of natural justice: no one may be condemned without being given notice of the case against him and a fair opportunity to answer it. Its companion rule is nemo judex in causa sua, that no one may be a judge in his own cause. Indian courts apply both far beyond the criminal trial — to a departmental inquiry against a public servant, to the cancellation of a licence, to a university's disciplinary action, to a blacklisting order — and a decision reached without a hearing is ordinarily set aside on that ground alone, without the court going into whether the decision was right. The other three options are all Latin too, but all three belong to a different doctrine altogether: the bar against being tried twice for the same offence.

• (a)Autrefois acquit — Autrefois acquit means formerly acquitted. It is the plea that the accused has already been tried and acquitted of the same offence, and so cannot be tried again. That is double jeopardy, not the right to be heard.
• (b)Non bis in idem — Non bis in idem means not twice for the same thing, and it is simply the general Latin statement of the double jeopardy rule that the other two options express as pleas.
• (c)Autrefois convict — Autrefois convict means formerly convicted — the mirror of option (a), pleading a previous conviction for the same offence. Again a bar on a second trial, not a rule about hearing the accused.

Natural justice is a set of judge-made procedural minima that a decision-maker exercising public power must observe, whether or not the governing statute says so. The two classical rules are audi alteram partem and nemo judex in causa sua, and Indian courts have added a third strand, the duty to give reasons. In India the doctrine draws constitutional strength from Article 14, since an arbitrary procedure offends equality, and from Article 21 after Maneka Gandhi, which required the procedure established by law to be fair, just and reasonable.

Three of the four options are the same idea in three costumes, which is the shortest route to the answer: autrefois acquit, autrefois convict and non bis in idem all say that a person may not be put in peril twice for one offence, so none of them can be the odd rule about being heard. That leaves audi alteram partem, and its literal sense — hear the other side — matches the maxim quoted in the stem directly. The double jeopardy family is worth knowing in its own right, because it has an Indian home: Article 20(2) provides that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once, and the criminal procedure code carries the corresponding bar on a second trial.

• Audi alteram partem — hear the other side; no one is to be condemned unheard.
• Nemo judex in causa sua — no one may be a judge in his own cause; the rule against bias.
• Autrefois acquit and autrefois convict are pleas in bar founded on a previous acquittal or conviction for the same offence.
• Non bis in idem is the general Latin statement of the same double jeopardy principle.
• Article 20(2) of the Constitution provides that no person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once.

• Choosing non bis in idem because it sounds the most general; it states the double jeopardy rule, not the right to be heard.
• Treating autrefois acquit and autrefois convict as unrelated maxims; they are the two halves of one plea.
• Assuming natural justice applies only to courts; it binds administrative and quasi-judicial authorities as well.

As a maxim-to-meaning match, as which principle a described situation violates, or as a question on the two rules of natural justice.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The maxim nemo judex in causa sua expresses which rule of natural justice?

  • (a)The right to be heard
  • (b)The rule against bias
  • (c)The bar on a second trial
  • (d)The duty to give reasons

  Answer(b) The rule against bias — no one may be a judge in his own cause; it is the companion of audi alteram partem.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The protection against being prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once is contained in which Article of the Constitution of India?

  • (a)Article 19
  • (b)Article 20(2)
  • (c)Article 21
  • (d)Article 22

  Answer(b) Article 20(2) — the constitutional form of the rule the phrases autrefois acquit, autrefois convict and non bis in idem all express.