Public acts, records and judicial proceedings

Article 238, Draft Constitution of India 1948

(1) Full faith and credit shall be given throughout the territory of India to public acts, records and judicial proceedings of the Union and of every State.

(2) The manner in which and the conditions under which the acts, records and proceedings referred to in clause (1) of this article shall be proved and the effect thereof determined shall be as provided by law.

(3) Final judgments or orders delivered or passed by civil courts in any part of the territory of India shall be capable of execution anywhere within that territory according to law:

Provided that the provisions of clauses (1) and (3) of this article shall not apply to public acts, records and judicial proceedings of, and the final judgment or order delivered or passed by civil courts in, any State for the time being specified in Part III of the First Schedule unless Parliament has, under the terms of any agreement entered into in that behalf by such State with the Union, power to make laws with respect to the matters enumerated in entries 2, 4 and 5 of the Concurrent List.

Article 261, Constitution of India 1950

(1) Full faith and credit shall be given throughout the territory of India to public acts, records and judicial proceedings of the Union and of every State.

(2) The manner in which and the conditions under which the acts, records and proceedings referred to in clause (1) shall be proved and the effect thereof determined shall be as provided by law made by Parliament.

⁠(3) Final judgments or orders delivered or passed by civil courts in any part of the territory of India shall be capable of execution anywhere within that territory according to law.

Draft Article 238 (Article 261, Constitution of India 1950) was first discussed on 13 June 1949. It deals with the legitimacy of public acts, records and judicial proceedings. It bestowed legitimacy on Union and State public acts, records and judicial proceedings. The value of these records as evidence would be determined by legislation.

The Chairman of the Drafting Committee proposed two amendments. The first allowed for only the Union law to decided the value of the records. The second proposed that princely states should also be subject to the provisions of the Draft Article. The proposed amendments were accepted without discussion.

Draft Article 238, as amended was adopted on 13 June 1949.