No Court shall proceed with the trial of any suit in which the matter in issue is also directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted suit between the same parties, or between parties under whom they or any of them claim litigating under the same title where such suit is pending in the same or any other Court in India having jurisdiction to grant the relief claimed, or in any Court beyond the limits of India established or continued by the Central Government and having like jurisdiction, or before the Supreme Court.
Explanation.— The pendency of a suit in a foreign Court does not preclude the Courts in India from trying a suit founded on the same cause of action.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Section 10
Section 10 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 codifies the doctrine of Res Sub-Judice, mandating the stay of trial of a subsequently instituted suit where the matter in issue is directly and substantially in issue in a previously instituted pending suit between the same parties.
Section 10 enforces the doctrine of res sub-judice, preventing concurrent conflicting adjudications by mandating the stay of subsequently instituted suits between the same parties.
The legislative object is to prevent courts of concurrent jurisdiction from simultaneously entertaining parallel litigations, thereby avoiding conflicting judicial determinations on identical issues and preventing multiplicity of proceedings. Crucially, Section 10 bars the trial of the subsequent suit, not its institution. The court may still entertain the plaint, issue summons, and pass interlocutory orders (such as temporary injunctions or attachment before judgment) before staying trial.
In commercial and property litigations, parties often file cross-suits in different jurisdictions. A defendant invoking Section 10 must demonstrate that the issues in the previously instituted suit and the subsequent suit are substantially identical, such that the decree in the former would operate as res judicata under Section 11. Interlocutory protections remain fully available pending the stay of trial.