Malice In Law - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition malice-in-law

Definition :

Malice in law, Acting on a legally extraneous or obviously misconceived ground of action would be case of 'malice in law', Regonal Manager v. Pawan Kumar Dubey, AIR 1976 SC 1766 (1771): (1976) 3 SCC 334: (1976) 3 SCR 540.'Malice' in its legal sense means malice such as may be assumed from the doing of a wrongful act intentionally but without just cause or excuse, or for want of reasonable or probable cause, S.R. Venkataraman v. Union of India, AIR 1979 SC 49 (51): (1979) 2 SCC 491: (1979) 2 SCR 202.

Malice in legal sense means an act done wrongfully and without reasonable and provable cause (Law of Torts)

Legal malice or 'malice in law' means 'something done without lawful excuse'. In other words, 'it is an act done wrongfully and wilfully without reasonable or probable cause, and not noiselessly an act done from ill feeling and spite'. It is a deliberate act in disregard of the right of others. Where malice is attributed to the State, it can never be a case of personal ill-will or spite on the part of the State. If at all, it is malice in legal sense, it can be described as an act which is taken with an oblique or indirect object, State of Andhra Pradesh v. Goverdhan Pilti, AIR 2003 SC 1941 (1945): (2003) 4 SCC 739.

Means any action resorted to for an unauthorized purpose would construe malice in law. Even in the absence of any malicious intention, principle of malice in law can be invoked, R.S. Garg v. State of Uttar Pradesh, AIR 2006 SC 2912: (2006) 6 SCC 430: (2006) 7 JT 1: (2006) 7 SCALE 405: (2006) 6 Supreme 324: (2006) 7 SCJ 193: (2006) 8 SCJD 36: (2006) 8 SRJ 545: (2006) 5 SLR 348.