This post is not on ‘X’ law or ‘Y’, instead, it is on the method of it. As young judges/aspirants, over a lifetime of adjudication, you’d be faced with a myriad of different fact-situations and various laws to interpret. There, even if you don’t know the right answer, knowing the right method will keep you afloat and some tools of interpretation which have stood the test of time, would keep you firmly anchored. The importance of this would be highlighted by the following case (fictionalised form of a real case) which I would encourage the reader to attempt.

Picture this: You are the judge; the judge of Court of the last resort. The other colleagues on the bench are evenly divided and you have the casting vote. The facts of the case are as follows:

• The case relates to an incident that took place at ‘X’ water reservoir/dam in Karnataka;
• A couple was spending time there on the reservoir property;
• An employee operating the reservoir/dam, knowing perfectly well that the couple was there (since he was perched up on a tower) and might be endangered, released the accumulated flood-water by opening the flood-gates.
• However, there was no urgent need to open these gates.
• Needless to state, the couple got swept away by the flood-water. 
• The husband died but the wife, luckily, survived.
• The wife sued the government for damages in tort.
• The District Court found the action of the employee of the government as ‘grossly negligent’ and held the government liable. The Government filed an appeal against the order of the District Court and this where the plot thickens.
• There is a law – let us call it – ‘The 1972 Karnataka Torts Act‘, which allows tort claims to be filed against the state government, but it expressly excludes liability for/arising from actions relating to flood-water. The Flood Water Act of 1954 (assume such a legislation exists), in turn, says “no liability of any kind shall attach to or rest upon the State for any damage from or by flood or flood waters at any place”.
• The issue that arises is: whether this statutory exception/immunity would cover loss of human life or not? 
• The Arguments made for both the sides are:
  • The contents of the reservoir are ‘flood waters’ under the 1954 statute, because a prior Supreme Court decision says so.
  • There has been no litigation under the Flood Water Act, 1954 and the statute appears to have fallen into disuse and appears not having been used at all.
  • It is trite law that waiver of an immunity is to be narrowly constructed.
  • The surviving spouse in this case is extremely poor and bereft of any means.
  • Legislative history of the 1954 Act shows that the act was made with a view to conserve farm-land which was always vulnerable to floods. The reservoir/dam was intended to provide that protection and conservation of human life does not appear to be the aim/intent of this act.
  • The immunity provision in the 1954 Act is pretty wide; it says, no liability of any kind for any damage at any place.
  • The statute providing immunity – Flood Water Act of 1954 is extremely old and the recent judicial trend seems to be to narrow down/limit tort immunities and not enlarge their scope.
  • Purpose of the statute was to protect the state from a series of law suits and to allow it to carry out flood-control measures, in the larger good.
  • Original drafters of the law never envisioned that reservoirs/dams would be used for leisurely activity or would be open to individuals for walks etc.

In light of the factual matrix and the arguments advanced, what would you, as the Judge with the deciding vote, do?

Further readings: Reading Law by Antonin Scalia