Legal terms as the Acts define them: a glossary in the statutes' own words

(1) "act" denotes as well a series of acts as a single act;

(2) "animal" means any living creature, other than a human being;

(a) "applicant" includes-- (i) a petitioner; (ii) any person from or through whom an applicant derives his right to apply; (iii) any person whose estate is represented by the applicant as executor, administrator or other representative;

(b) "application" includes a petition;

(c) "arbitral award" includes an interim award;

(d) "arbitral tribunal" means a sole arbitrator or a panel of arbitrators;

(a) "arbitration" means any arbitration whether or not administered by permanent arbitral institution;

(b) "arbitration agreement" means an agreement referred to in section 7;

In a promissory note or bill of exchange the expressions "at sight" and "on presentment" mean on demand. The expression "After sight"--"after sight" means, in a promissory note, after presentment for sight, and, in a bill of exchange, after acceptance, or nothing for non-acceptance, or protest for non-acceptance.

(a) “audio-video electronic” means shall include use of any communication device for the purposes of video conferencing, recording of processes of identification, search and seizure or evidence, transmission of electronic communication and for such other purposes and by such other means as the State Government may, by rules provide;

(b) “bail” means release of a person accused of or suspected of commission of an offence from the custody of law upon certain conditions imposed by an officer or Court on execution by such person of a bond or a bail bond;

(d) “bail bond” means an undertaking for release with surety;

(c) “bailable offence” means an offence which is shown as bailable in the First Schedule, or which is made bailable by any other law for the time being in force; and “non-bailable offence” means any other offence;

(c) "bill of exchange" includes a hundi and a cheque;

A "bill of exchange" is an instrument in writing containing an unconditional order, signed by the maker, directing a certain person to pay a certain sum of money only to, or to the order of, a certain person or to the bearer of the instrument. A promise or order to pay is not "conditional", within the meaning of this section and section 4, by reason of the time for payment of the amount or any instalment thereof being expressed to be on the lapse of a certain period after the occurrence of a specified event which, according to the ordinary expectation of mankind, is certain to happen, although the time of its happening may be uncertain. The sum payble may be "certain", within the meaning of this section and section 4, although it includes future interest or is payable at an indicated rate of exchange, or is according to the course of exchange, and although the instrument provides that, on default of payment of an instalment, the balance unpaid shall become due. The person to whom it is clear that the direction is given or that payment is to be made may be a "certain person", within the meaning of this section and section 4, although he is mis-named or designated by description only.

(e) “bond” means a personal bond or an undertaking for release without surety;

(d) "bond" includes any instrument whereby a person obliges himself to pay money to another, on condition that the obligation shall be void if a specified act is performed, or is not performed, as the case may be;

(f) “charge” includes any head of charge when the charge contains more heads than one;

1[A cheque is a bill of exchange drawn on a specified banker and not expressed to be payable otherwise than on demand and it includes the electronic image of a truncated cheque and a cheque in the electronic form. Explanation I.-- For the purposes of this section, the expressions 2[(a) a cheque in the electronic form means a cheque drawn in electronic form by using any computer resource and signed in a secure system with digital signature (with or without biometrics signature) and asymmetric crypto system or with electronic signature, as the case may be;] (b) a truncated cheque means a cheque which is truncated during the course of a clearing cycle, either by the clearing house or by the bank whether paying or receiving payment, immediately on generation of an electronic image for transmission, substituting the further physical movement of the cheque in writing. Explanation II. -- For the purposes of this section, the expression clearing house means the clearing house managed by the Reserve Bank of India or a clearing house recognised as such by the Reserve Bank of India.] 3[Explanation III. -- For the purposes of this section, the expressions asymmetric crypto system, computer resource, digital signature, electronic form and electronic signature shall have the same meanings respectively assigned to them in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000).]

(3) "child" means any person below the age of eighteen years;

(1) "Code" includes rules;

(g) “cognizable offence” means an offence for which, and "cognizable case" means a case in which, a police officer may, in accordance with the First Schedule or under any other law for the time being in force, arrest without warrant;

(h) “complaint” means any allegation made orally or in writing to a Magistrate, with a view to his taking action under this Sanhita, that some person, whether known or unknown, has committed an offence, but does not include a police report. Explanation.—A report made by a police officer in a case which discloses, after investigation, the commission of a non-cognizable offence shall be deemed to be a complaint; and the police officermeans of an electronic device including a telephone, mobile;

(b) "conclusive proof" means when one fact is declared by this Adhiniyam to be conclusive proof of another, the Court shall, on proof of the one fact, regard the other as proved, and shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it;

(4) "counterfeit".---A person is said to "counterfeit" who causes one thing to resemble another thing, intending by means of that resemblance to practise deception, or knowing it to be likely that deception will thereby be practised. Explanation 1.---It is not essential to counterfeiting that the imitation should be exact.. Explanation 2.---When a person causes one thing to resemble another thing, and the resemblance is such that a person might be deceived thereby, it shall be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that the person so causing the one thing to resemble the other thing intended by means of that resemblance to practise deception or knew it to be likely that deception would thereby be practised;

1[(e) "Court" means— (i) in the case of an arbitration other than international commercial arbitration, the principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction in a district, and includes the High Court in exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the subject-matter of the arbitration if the same had been the subject-matter of a suit, but does not include any Civil Court of a grade inferior to such principal Civil Court, or any Court of Small Causes; (ii) in the case of international commercial arbitration, the High Court in exercise of its ordinary original civil jurisdiction, having jurisdiction to decide the questions forming the subject-matter of the arbitration if the same had been the subject-matter of a suit, and in other cases, a High Court having jurisdiction to hear appeals from decrees of courts subordinate to that High Court;]

(5) "Court" means a Judge who is empowered by law to act judicially alone, or a body of Judges which is empowered by law to act judicially as a body, when such Judge or body of Judges is acting judicially;

(a) "Court" includes all Judges and Magistrates, and all persons, except arbitrators, legally authorised to take evidence;

(6) "death" means the death of a human being unless the contrary appears from the context;

(2) "decree" means the formal expression of an adjudication which, so far as regards the Court expressing it, conclusively determines the rights of the parties with regard to all or any of the matters in controversy in the suit and may be either preliminary or final. It shall be deemed to include the rejection of a plaint and the determination of any question within 1*** section 144, but shall not include (a) any adjudication from which an appeal lies as an appeal from an order, or (b) any order of dismissal for default. Explanation.A decree is preliminary when further proceedings have to be taken before the suit can be completely disposed of. It is final when such adjudication completely disposes of the suit. It may be partly preliminary and partly final;

(3) "decree-holder" means any person in whose favour a decree has been passed or an order capable of execution has been made;

(e) "defendant" includes-- (i) any person from or through whom a defendant derives his liability to be sued; (ii) any person whose estate is represented by the defendant as executor, administrator or other representative;

(7) "dishonestly" means doing anything with the intention of causing wrongful gain to one person or wrongful loss to another person;

(c) "disproved" in relation to a fact, means when, after considering the matters before it, the Court either believes that it does not exist, or considers its non-existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it does not exist;

(4) "district" means the local limits of the jurisdiction of a principal Civil Court of original jurisdiction (hereinafter called a District Court), and includes the local limits of the ordinary original civil jurisdiction of a High Court; [2(5) "foreign Court" means a Court situate outside India and not established or continued by the authority of the Central Government;]

(8) "document" means any matter expressed or described upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks, or by more than one of those means, and includes electronic and digital record, intended to be used, or which may be used, as evidence of that matter. Explanation 1.---It is immaterial by what means or upon what substance the letters, figures or marks are formed, or whether the evidence is intended for, or may be used in a Court or not. (a) A writing expressing the terms of a contract, which may be used as evidence of the contract, is a document.. (b) A cheque upon a banker is a document. (c) A power-of-attorney is a document. (d) A map or plan which is intended to be used or which may be used as evidence, is a document. (e) A writing containing directions or instructions is a document. Explanation 2.---Whatever is expressed by means of letters, figures or marks as explained by mercantile or other usage, shall be deemed to be expressed by such letters, figures or marks within the meaning of this section, although the same may not be actually expressed. Illustration. A writes his name on the back of a bill of exchange payable to his order. The meaning of the endorsement, as explained by mercantile usage, is that the bill is to be paid to the holder. The endorsement is a document, and shall be construed in the same manner as if the words"pay to the holder" or words to that effect had been written over the signature;

(d) "document" means any matter expressed or described or otherwise recorded upon any substance by means of letters, figures or marks or any other means or by more than one of those means, intended to be used, or which may be used, for the purpose of recording that matter and includes electronic and digital records. Illustrations. (i) A writing is a document. (ii) Words printed, lithographed or photographed are documents. (iii) A map or plan is a document. (iv) An inscription on a metal plate or stone is a document. (v) A caricature is a document. (vi) An electronic record on emails, server logs, documents on computers, laptop or smartphone, messages, websites, locational evidence and voice mail messages stored on digital devices are documents;

The maker of a bill of exchange or cheque is called the drawer; the person thereby directed to pay is called the drawee. "Drawee in case of need". -- When in the Bill or in any indorsement thereon the name of any person is given in addition to the drawee to be resorted to in case of need such person is called a "drawee in case of need". "Acceptor". -- After the drawee of a bill has signed his assent upon the bill, or, if there are more parts thereof than one, upon one of such parts, and delivered the same, or given notice of such signing to the holder or to some person on his behalf, he is called the "acceptor". "Acceptor for honour". -- 1[When a bill of exchange has been noted or protested for non-acceptance or for better security,] and any person accepts it supra protest for honour of the drawer or of any one of the indorsers, such person is called an "acceptor for honour". "Payee". -- The person named in the instrument, to whom or to whose order the money is by the instrument directed to be paid, is called the "payee".

(f) "easement" includes a right not arising from contract, by which one person is entitled to remove and appropriate for his own profit any part of the soil belonging to another or anything growing in, or attached to, or subsisting upon, the land of another;

(i) “electronic communication” means the communication of any written, verbal, pictorial information or video content transmitted or transferred (whether from one person to another or from one device to another or from a person to a device or from a device to a person) by means of an electronic device including a telephone, mobile phone, or other wireless telecommunication device, or a computer, or audio-video player or camera or any other electronic device or electronic form as may be specified by notification, by the Central Government;

(e) "evidence" means and includes-- (i) all statements including statements given electronically which the Court permits or requires to be made before it by witnesses in relation to matters of fact under inquiry and such statements are called oral evidence; (ii) all documents including electronic or digital records produced for the inspection of the Court and such documents are called documentary evidence;

(f) "fact" means and includes-- (i) any thing, state of things, or relation of things, capable of being perceived by the senses; (ii) any mental condition of which any person is conscious. Illustrations. (i) That there are certain objects arranged in a certain order in a certain place, is a fact. (ii) That a person heard or saw something, is a fact (iii) That a person said certain words, is a fact (iv) That a person holds a certain opinion, has a certain intention, acts in good faith, or fraudulently, or uses a particular word in a particular sense, or is or was at a specified time conscious of a particular sensation, is a fact;

(g) "facts in issue" means and includes any fact from which, either by itself or in connection with other facts, the existence, non-existence, nature or extent of any right, liability or disability, asserted or denied in any suit or proceeding, necessarily follows. Explanation. --Whenever, under the provisions of the law for the time being in force relating to Civil Procedure, any Court records an issue of fact, the fact to be asserted or denied in the answer to such issue is a fact in issue. Illustrations. A is accused of the murder of B. At his trial, the following facts may be in issue:-- (i) That A caused B's death (ii) That A intended to cause B's death (iii) That A had received grave and sudden provocation from B. (iv) That A, at the time of doing the act which caused Bs death, was, by reason of unsoundness of mind, incapable of knowing its nature;

(g) "foreign country" means any country other than India;

(6) "foreign judgment" means the judgment of a foreign Court;

(9) "fraudulently" means doing anything with the intention to defraud but not otherwise;.

(38) "gaining wrongfully" and "losing wrongfully".---A person is said to gain wrongfully when such person retains wrongfully, as well as when such person acquires wrongfully. A person is said to lose wrongfully when such person is wrongfully kept out of any property, as well as when such person is wrongfully deprived of property; and (39) words and expressions used but not defined in this Sanhita but defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000) and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act and Sanhita.

(10) "gender".---The pronoun "he" and its derivatives are used of any person, whether male, female or transgender. Explanation.---"transgender" shall have the meaning assigned to it in clause (k) of section 2 of the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Act, 2019 (40 of 2019);

(11) "good faith".---Nothing is said to be done or believed in "good faith" which is done or believed without due care and attention;

(h) "good faith"--nothing shall be deemed to be done in good faith which is not done with due care and attention;

(12) "Government" means the Central Government or a State Government;

(7) "Government Pleader" includes any officer appointed by the State Government to perform all or any of the functions expressly imposed by this Code on the Government Pleader and also any pleader acting under the directions of the Government Pleader;

(13) "harbour" includes supplying a person with shelter, food, drink, money, clothes, arms, ammunition or means of conveyance, or the assisting a person by any means, whether of the same kind as those enumerated in this clause or not, to evade apprehension;

(j) “High Court” means,— (i) in relation to any State, the High Court for that State; (ii) in relation to a Union territory to which the jurisdiction of the High Court for a State has been extended by law, that High Court; (iii) in relation to any other Union territory, the highest Court of criminal appeal for that territory other than the Supreme Court of India;

(7A) "High Court" in relation to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, means the High Court in Calcutta;

The "holder" of a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque means any person entitled in his own name to the possession thereof and to receive or recover the amount due thereon from the parties thereto. Where the note, bill or cheque is lost or destroyed, its holder is the person so entitled at the time of such loss or destruction.

"Holder in due course" means any person who for consideration became the possessor of a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque if payable to bearer, or the payee or indorsee thereof, if 1[payable to order,] before the amount mentioned in it became payable, and without having sufficient cause to believe that any defect existed in the title of the person from whom he derived his title.

(15) "illegal" and "legally bound to do".---The word "illegal" is applicable to everything which is an offence or which is prohibited by law, or which furnishes ground for a civil action; and a person is said to be "legally bound to do" whatever it is illegal in him to omit;

(7B) "India", except in sections 1, 29, 43, 44, 4 [44A,] 78, 79, 82, 83 and 87A, means the territory of India excluding the State of Jammu and Kashmir;]

(14) "injury" means any harm whatever illegally caused to any person, in body, mind, reputation or property;

(k) “inquiry” means every inquiry, other than a trial, conducted under this Sanhita by a Magistrate or Court;

(f) "international commercial arbitration" means an arbitration relating to disputes arising out of legal relationships, whether contractual or not, considered as commercial under the law in force in India and where at least one of the parties is— (i) an individual who is a national of, or habitually resident in, any country other than India; or (ii) a body corporate which is incorporated in any country other than India; or (iii) 2 *** an association or a body of individuals whose central management and control is exercised in any country other than India; or (iv) the Government of a foreign country;

(l) “investigation” includes all the proceedings under this Sanhita for the collection of evidence conducted by a police officer or by any person (other than a Magistrate) who is authorised by a Magistrate in this behalf. Explanation.—Where any of the provisions of a special Act are inconsistent with the provisions of this Sanhita, the provisions of the special Act shall prevail;

(16) "Judge" means a person who is officially designated as a Judge and includes a person,--- (i) who is empowered by law to give, in any legal proceeding, civil or criminal, a definitive judgment, or a judgment which, if not appealed against, would be definitive, or a judgment which, if confirmed by some other authority, would be definitive; or (ii) who is one of a body or persons, which body of persons is empowered by law to give such a judgment. Illustration. A Magistrate exercising jurisdiction in respect of a charge on which he has power to sentence to fine or imprisonment, with or without appeal, is a Judge;

(8) "Judge" means the presiding officer of a Civil Court;

(9) "judgment" means the statement given by the Judge of the grounds of a decree or order;

(10) "judgment-debtor" means any person against whom a decree has been passed or an order capable of execution has been made;

(m) “judicial proceeding” includes any proceeding in the course of which evidence is or may be legally taken on oath;

(g) "legal representative" means a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person, and includes any person who intermeddles with the estate of the deceased, and, where a party acts in a representative character, the person on whom the estate devolves on the death of the party so acting;

(11) "legal representative" means a person who in law represents the estate of a deceased person, and includes any person who intermeddles with the estate of the deceased and where a party sues or issued in a representative character the person on whom the estate devolves on the death of the party so suing or sued;

(17) "life" means the life of a human being, unless the contrary appears from the context;

(n) “local jurisdiction”, in relation to a Court or Magistrate, means the local area within which the Court or Magistrate may exercise all or any of its or his powers under this Sanhita and such local area may comprise the whole of the State, or any part of the State, as the State Government may, by notification, specify;

(18) "local law" means a law applicable only to a particular part of India;

(19) "man" means male human being of any age;

The maturity of a promissory note or bill of exchange is the date at which it falls due. Days of grace.--Every promissory note or bill of exchange which is not expressed to be payable on demand, at sight or on presentment is at maturity on the third day after the day on which it is expressed to be payable.

(h) "may presume".--Whenever it is provided by this Adhiniyam that the Court may presume a fact, it may either regard such fact as proved, unless and until it is disproved or may call for proof of it;

(12) "mesne profits" of property means those profits which the person in wrongful possession of such property actually received or might with ordinary diligence have received therefrom, together with interest on such profits, but shall not include profits due to improvements made by the person in wrongful possession;

(20) "month" and "year".---Wherever the word "month" or the word "year" is used, it is to be understood that the month or the year is to be reckoned according to the Gregorian calendar;

(21) "movable property" includes property of every description, except land and things attached to the earth or permanently fastened to anything which is attached to the earth;

(13) "movable property" includes growing crops;

1[(1) A negotiable instrument means a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque payable either to order or to bearer. Explanation (i) -- A promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque is payable to order which is expressed to be so payable or which is expressed to be payable to a particular person, and does not contain words prohibiting transfer or indicating an intention that it shall not be transferable. Explanation (ii) -- A promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque is payble to bearer which is expressed to be so payable or on which the only or last indorsement is an indorsement in blank. Explanation (iii) -- Where a promissory note, bill of exchange or cheque, either originally or by indorsement, is expressed to be payable to the order of a specified person, and not to him or his order, it is nevertheless payable to him or his order at his option.] 2[(2) A negotiable instrument may be made payable to two or more payees jointly, or it may be made payable in the alternative to one of two, or one or some of serveral payees.]

(o) “non-cognizable offence” means an offence for which, and “non-cognizable case” means a case in which, a police officer has no authority to arrest without warrant;

(i) "not proved".--A fact is said to be not proved when it is neither proved nor disproved;

(p) “notification” means a notification published in the Official Gazette;

(22) "number".---Unless the contrary appears from the context, words importing the singular number include the plural number, and words importing the plural number include the singular number;

(23) "oath" includes a solemn affirmation substituted by law for an oath, and any declaration required or authorised by law to be made before a public servant or to be used for the purpose of proof, whether in a Court or not;

(a) "obligation" includes every duty enforceable by law;

(24) "offence".---Except in the Chapters and sections mentioned in sub-clauses (a) and (b), the word "offence" means a thing made punishable by this Sanhita, but--- (a) in Chapter III and in the following sections, namely, sub-sections (2), (3), (4) and (5) of section 8, sections 9, 49, 50, 52, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 119, 120, 123, sub-sections (7) and (8) of section 127, 222, 230, 231, 240, 248, 250, 251, 259, 260, 261, 262, 263, sub-sections (6) and (7) of section 308 and sub-section (2) of section 330, the word offence means a thing punishable under this Sanhita, or under any special law or local law; and (b) in sub-section (1) of section 189, sections 211, 212, 238, 239, 249, 253 and sub-section (1) of section 329, the word "offence" shall have the same meaning when the act punishable under the special law or local law is punishable under such law with imprisonment for a term of six months or more, whether with or without fine;

(q) “offence” means any act or omission made punishable by any law for the time being in force and includes any act in respect of which a complaint may be made under section 20 of the Cattle Trespass Act, 1871 (1 of 1871);

(r) “officer in charge of a police station” includes, when the officer in charge of the police station is absent from the station-house or unable from illness or other cause to perform his duties, the police officer present at the station-house who is next in rank to such officer and is above the rank of constable or, when the State Government so directs, any other police officer so present;

(25) "omission" denotes as well as a series of omissions as a single omission;

(14) "order" means the formal expression of any decision of a Civil Court which is not a decree;

(h) "party" means a party to an arbitration agreement. (2) This Part shall apply where the place of arbitration is in India: 3[Provided that subject to an agreement to the contrary, the provisions of sections 9, 27 and clause (a) of sub-section (1) and sub-section (3) of section 37 shall also apply to international commercial arbitration, even if the place of arbitration is outside India, and an arbitral award made or to be made in such place is enforceable and recognised under the provisions of Part II of this Act.] (3) This Part shall not affect any other law for the time being in force by virtue of which certain disputes may not be submitted to arbitration. (4) This Part except sub-section (1) of section 40, sections 41 and 43 shall apply to every arbitration under any other enactment for the time being in force, as if the arbitration were pursuant to an arbitration agreement and as if that other enactment were an arbitration agreement, except in so far as the provisions of this Part are inconsistent with that other enactment or with any rules made thereunder. (5) Subject to the provisions of sub-section (4), and save in so far as is otherwise provided by any law for the time being in force or in any agreement in force between India and any other country or countries, this Part shall apply to all arbitrations and to all proceedings relating thereto. (6) Where this Part, except section 28, leaves the parties free to determine a certain issue, that freedom shall include the right of the parties to authorise any person including an institution, to determine that issue. (7) An arbitral award made under this Part shall be considered as a domestic award. (8) Where this Part— (a) refers to the fact that the parties have agreed or that they may agree, or (b) in any other way refers to an agreement of the parties, that agreement shall include any arbitration rules referred to in that agreement. (9) Where this Part, other than clause (a) of section 25 or clause (a) of sub-section (2) of section 32, refers to a claim, it shall also apply to a counterclaim, and where it refers to a defence, it shall also apply to a defence to that counterclaim.

"Payment in due course" means payment in accordance with the apparent tenor of the instrument in good faith and without negligence to any person in possession thereof under circumstances which do not afford a reasonable ground for believing that he is not entitled to receive payment of the amount therein mentioned.

(j) "period of limitation" means the period of limitation prescribed for any suit, appeal or application by the Schedule, and "prescribed period" means the period of limitation computed in accordance with the provisions of this Act;

(26) "person" includes any company or association or body of persons, whether incorporated or not;

(s) “place” includes a house, building, tent, vehicle and vessel;

(i) "plaintiff" includes-- (i) any person from or through whom a plaintiff derives his right to sue; (ii) any person whose estate is represented by the plaintiff as executor, administrator or other representative;

(15) "pleader" means any person entitled to appear and plead for another in Court, and includes an advocate, a vakil and an attorney of a High Court;

(t) “police report” means a report forwarded by a police officer to a Magistrate under sub-section (3) of section 193;

(u) “police station” means any post or place declared generally or specially by the State Government, to be a police station, and includes any local area specified by the State Government in this behalf;

(16) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules;

(k) "promissory note" means any instrument whereby the maker engages absolutely to pay a specified sum of money to another at a time therein limited, or on demand, or at sight;

A "Promissory note" is an instrument in writing (not being a bank-note or a currency-note) containing an unconditional undertaking, signed by the maker, to pay a certain sum of money only to, or to the order of, a certain person, or to the bearer of the instrument. Illustrations A signs instruments in the following terms: (a ) "I promise to pay B or order Rs. 500." (b) "I acknowledge myself to be indebted to B in Rs. 1,000, to be paid on demand, for value received." (c) "Mr. B, I O U Rs. 1,000. (d) "I promise to Pay B Rs. 500 and all other sums which shall be due to him." (e) "I promise to Pay B Rs. 500, first deducting thereout any money which he may owe me." (f) "I promise to Pay B Rs. 500 seven days after my marriage with C." (g) "I, promise to Pay B Rs. 500 on D's death, provided D leaves me enough to pay that sum." (h) "I promise to Pay B Rs. 500 and to deliver to him my black horse on 1st January next." The instruments respectively marked (a) and (b) are promissory notes. The instruments respectively marked (c), (d), (e), (f), (g) and (h) are not promissory notes.

(j) "proved".--A fact is said to be proved when, after considering the matters before it, the Court either believes it to exist, or considers its existence so probable that a prudent man ought, under the circumstances of the particular case, to act upon the supposition that it exists;

(27) "public" includes any class of the public or any community;

(17) "public officer" means a person falling under any of the following descriptions, namely: (a) every Judge; (b) every member of 5 [an All-India Service]; (c) every commissioned or gazetted officer in the military 6 [naval or air] forces of7 [the Union] 8 *** while serving under the Government; (d) Every officer of a court of Justice whose duty it is, as such officer, to investigate or report on any matter of law or fact, or to make, authenticate or keep any document, or to take charge or dispose of any property, or to execute any judicial process, or to administer any oath, or to interpret, or to preserve order, in the Court, and every person especially authorised by a court of Justice to perform any of such duties; (e) every person who holds any office by virtue of which he is empowered to place or keep any person in confinement; (f) every officer of the Government whose duty it is, as such officer, to prevent offences, to give information of offences, to bring offenders to justice, or to protect the public health, safety or convenience; (g) every officer whose duty it is, as such officer, to take, receive, keep or expend any property on behalf of the Government, or to make any survey, assessment or contract on behalf of the Government, or to execute any revenue process, or to investigate, or to report on, any matter affecting the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to make, authenticate or keep any document relating to the pecuniary interests of the Government, or to prevent the infraction of any law for the protection of the pecuniary interests of the Government; and (h) every officer in the service or pay of the Government, or remunerated by fees or commission for the performance of any public duty;

(v) “Public Prosecutor” means any person appointed under section 18, and includes any person acting under the directions of a Public Prosecutor;

(29) "reason to believe".---A person is said to have "reason to believe" a thing, if he has sufficient cause to believe that thing but not otherwise;

(k) "relevant".--A fact is said to be relevant to another when it is connected with the other in any of the ways referred to in the provisions of this Adhiniyam relating to the relevancy of facts;

(18) "rules" means rules and forms contained in the First Schedule or made under section 122 or section 125;

(b) "settlement" means an instrument (other than a will or codicil as defined by the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of 1925), whereby the destination or devolution of successive interests in movable or immovable property is disposed of or is agreed to be disposed of;

(l) "shall presume".--Whenever it is directed by this Adhiniyam that the Court shall presume a fact, it shall regard such fact as proved, unless and until it is disproved. (2) Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (21 of 2000), the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 shall have the same meanings as assigned to them in the said Act and Sanhitas.

(19) "share in a corporation" shall be deemed to include stock, debenture stock, debentures or bonds; and

(20) "signed", save in the case of a judgment or decree, includes stamped. 9* * * * *

(30) "special law" means a law applicable to a particular subject;

(w) “sub-division” means a sub-division of a district;

(l) "suit" does not include an appeal or an application;

(x) “summons-case” means a case relating to an offence, and not being a warrant-case;

(m) "tort" means a civil wrong which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or the breach of a trust;

(c) "trust" has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (2 of 1882), and includes an obligation in the nature of a trust within the meaning of Chapter IX of that Act;

(n) "trustee" does not include a benamidar, a mortgagee remaining in possession after the mortgage has been satisfied or a person in wrongful possession without title.

(d) "trustee" includes every person holding property in trust; (e) all other words and expressions used herein but not defined, and defined in the Indian Contract Act, 1872 (9 of 1872), have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act.

(31) "valuable security" means a document which is, or purports to be, a document whereby any legal right is created, extended, transferred, restricted, extinguished or released, or whereby any person acknowledges that he lies under legal liability, or has not a certain legal right. Illustration. A writes his name on the back of a bill of exchange. As the effect of this endorsement is to transfer the right to the bill to any person who may become the lawful holder of it, the endorsement is a "valuable security";

(32) "vessel" means anything made for the conveyance by water of human beings or of property;

(y) “victim” means a person who has suffered any loss or injury caused by reason of the act or omission of the accused person and includes the guardian or legal heir of such victim;

(33) "voluntarily".---A person is said to cause an effect "voluntarily" when he causes it by means whereby he intended to cause it, or by means which, at the time of employing those means, he knew or had reason to believe to be likely to cause it. Illustration. A sets fire, by night, to an inhabited house in a large town, for the purpose of facilitating a robbery and thus causes the death of a person. Here, A may not have intended to cause death; and may even be sorry that death has been caused by his act; yet, if he knew that he was likely to cause death, he has caused death voluntarily;.

(z) “warrant-case” means a case relating to an offence punishable with death, imprisonment for life or imprisonment for a term exceeding two years. (2) Words and expressions used herein and not defined but defined in the Information Technology Act, 2000 (2 of 2000) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in that Act and Sanhita.

(34) "will" means any testamentary document;

(35) "woman" means a female human being of any age;

(36) "wrongful gain" means gain by unlawful means of property to which the person gaining is not legally entitled;

(37) "wrongful loss" means the loss by unlawful means of property to which the person losing it is legally entitled;