AIR 1953 MADRAS 936 ::55 Mad LW361

Madras High Court

Hon'ble Judge(s): Ramaswami , J

(A) Penal Code (45 of 1860) , S.99— Principle of section. Section 99 rests partly on the probability that the acts of a public servant will be lawful, in which case resistance must necessarily be unlawful; partly on the theory that resistance is unnecessary since the law will set right what has been wrongly clone in its name; and, lastly, on the ground that it is good for society that a public servant should be protected in the execution of his duty even where he is in error.(Para 4) Anno : Penal Code, S.99 N.1. (B) Penal Code (45 of 1860) , S.52— No reference to moral element of honesty. General Clauses Act (10 of 1897) , S.3(22)— Section 52 makes no reference to the moral elements of honesty and right motive which are involved in the popular significance of "good faith" and which are predominant in the positive definition enacted in the other Acts of the Legislature, for example, the General Clauses Act, 1897. While an honest blunderer acts in good faith within the meaning of the General Clauses Act, an honest blunderer can never act in good faith within the meaning of the Penal Code for being negligent. Good faith according to the Penal Code does not require logical infallibility but due care and caution which....