Civil justice in Punjab

THE report on the administration of civil justice in Punjab during 1924 is a document of great interest, not only because civil litigation is an index of the financial and commercial condition of the province but also because the facts disclosed by the report furnish an effective answer to several common fallacies regarding civil litigation in this province. The report conclusively shows that the accusation that litigation is on the increase or that people are fond of vexatious and mendacious litigation is entirely false. The suits instituted during the past 10 years are as follows: 1915 — 199,166; 1916 — 194,864; 1917 — 202,893; 1918 — 174,408; 1919 — 189,109; 1920 — 198,951; 1921 — 177,184; 1922 — 187,084; 1923 — 156,180; 1924 — 163,946. It would thus appear that the number of suits filed in the civil courts of the province is almost steadily on the decrease. No doubt there was a slight rise in the number of suits during 1924 as compared with the previous year, but the number was much lower than in any year since 1915; and even this slight increase was due, as explained in the report itself, to “good harvests, which gave greater expectation of realising decrees and the near approach of the end of the period of limitation, as curtailed by the Punjab Loans Limitation Act of 1923.” The report further proves that the overwhelming majority of suits was true. There were 219,966 regular suits before the courts, out of which 178,201 were disposed of. Of these, 15.04 per cent were disposed of without actual trial, 54.28 per cent without contest and 1.06 per cent on reference to arbitration; and only 29.62 per cent after contest.