Rule 1.
Framing of issues
(1)Issues arise when a material proposition of fact or law is affirmed by the one party and denied by the other.
(2)Material propositions are those propositions of law or fact which a plaintiff must allege in order to show a right to sue or a defendant must allege in order to constitute his defence.
(3)Each material proposition affirmed by one party and denied by the other shall form the subject of a distinct issue.
(4)Issues are of two kinds:
(a)issues of fact,
(b)issues of law.
(5)At the first hearing of the suit the Court shall, after reading the plaint and the written statements, if any, and after examination under rule 2 of Order X and after hearing the parties or their pleaders, ascertain upon what material propositions of fact or of law the parties are at variance, and shall thereupon proceed to frame and record the issues on which the right decision of the case appears to the Court to depend.
Rule 2.
Court to pronounce judgment on all issues
(1)Notwithstanding that a case may be disposed of on a preliminary issue, the Court shall, subject to the provisions of sub-rule (2), pronounce judgment on all issues.
(2)Where issues both of law and of fact arise in the same suit, and the Court is of opinion that the case or any part thereof may be disposed of on an issue of law only, it may try that issue first if that issue relates to:
(a)the jurisdiction of the Court, or
(b)a bar to the suit created by any law for the time being in force, and for that purpose may, if it thinks fit, postpone the settlement of the other issues until after that issue has been determined, and may deal with the suit in accordance with the decision on that issue.
Rule 5.
Power to amend, and strike out, issues
(1)The Court may at any time before passing a decree amend the issues or frame additional issues on such terms as it thinks fit, and all such amendments or additional issues as may be necessary for determining the matters in controversy between the parties shall be so made or framed.
(2)The Court may also, at any time before passing a decree, strike out any issues that appear to it to be wrongly framed or introduced.
Legal Commentary & Landmark Judgments: Order XIV
Order XIV of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 governs the settlement of issues by the court, regulating the trial of preliminary issues under Rule 2.
Issues are of two kinds: (a) issues of fact; and (b) issues of law.
Rule 2(1) establishes the general mandate: the court shall pronounce judgment on all issues. However, Rule 2(2) creates an important exception: where issues both of law and of fact arise in the same suit, and the court is of opinion that the case or any part thereof may be disposed of on an issue of law only, it may try that issue first if that issue relates to: (a) the jurisdiction of the Court; or (b) a bar to the suit created by any law for the time being in force (such as limitation or res judicata).
Under Order XIV Rule 2, civil courts cannot fragment trials by hearing mixed questions of fact and law piecemeal. A defendant seeking trial of a preliminary issue must demonstrate that the issue is a pure question of law—such as a statutory bar under Section 9 CPC or admitted dates on limitation—that can be resolved without adducing oral testimony.