TMI Blog1964 (4) TMI 123X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... nts on December 4, 1953. The first respondent Labh Singh owned the adjacent house and he claimed pre-emption on the ground of vicinage after making the usual demands. The suit was filed by Labh Singh in the court of Munsif, Rampur who by his judgment dated September 25, 1955 held that there was a general custom of pre-emption in the town of Milak. He also held that Labh Singh was entitled to preempt and had performed the Talabs. He, however, dismissed the suit because the sale did not include a strip of land 3 feet 6 inches wide between Labh Singh's house and the property sold. He made no order about costs. There was an appeal by Labh Singh and the present appellants objected. The District Judge, Rampur allowed the appeal and dismissed ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... gious, races or castes, could not be considered reasonable in view of Art. 15 of the Constitution. If this ruling applies the present appeal must succeed. Mr. B. C. Misra, who appears for Labh Singh attempts to distinguish Bhau Ram's case(1). He contends that the earlier case was concerned with a legislative measure whereas the. present case of pre-emption arises from custom. He refers to the decision in Digambar Singh v. Ahmad Said Khan(1) where the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has given the early history of the law of pre-emption in village com- munities in India and points out that the law of pre-emption had its origin in the Mohammedan Law and was the result, some times, of a contract between the sharers in a village. ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... hich takes away or abridges the rights conferred by this Part and any law made in contravention of this clause shall, to the extent of the contravention, be void. (3) In this article, unless the context otherwise re-requires,- (a) law includes any Ordinance, order, bye-law, rule, regulation, notification, custom or usage having in the territory of India the force of law; (b) law in force includes laws passed or made by a Legislative or other competent authority in the territory of India before the commencement of this Constitution and not repealed, notwithstanding that any such law or any part thereof may not be then in operation either at all or in particular areas. The argument of Mr. Misra is that the definiti ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X ..... luded by the first definition. There are two compelling reasons why custom and usage having in the territory of India the force of the law must be held to be contemplated by the expression all laws in force . Firstly, to hold otherwise, would restrict the operation of the first clause in such ways that none of the things mentioned in the, first definition would be affected by the fundamental rights. Secondly, it is to be seen that the second clause speaks of laws made by the State and custom or usage is not made by the State. If the first definition governs only cl. (2) then the words custom or usage , would apply neither to cl. (1) nor to cl. (2) and this could hardly have been intended. It is obvious that both the definitions control ..... X X X X Extracts X X X X X X X X Extracts X X X X
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