Usage - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition usage

Definition :

Usage, denotes a habit or a mode of conduct or a course of action. Though such behaviour may generally be linked with human actions it is not the identify of the person vis-'-vis his caste which matters in discerning the contours of any 'usage'. 'Usage' is described as different from custom as there is no usage through inheritance though a right can be acquired by prescription. 'Usage in its most extensive meaning, includes both custom and prescription, but in its narrower significance, it refers to a general habit, mode or course of procedure. A usage differ from a custom, in that it does not require to be immemorial to establish the same, but the usage must be known, certain, uniform, reasonable and contrary to law'. Usage has been referred to a course of dealing; or a mode of conducting transactions of a particular kind. It cannot be understood as referring to any entitle-ment of a person to hold a particular office, N. Adithayan v. Travancore Devaswom Board (FB), AIR 1996 Ker 169; Travancore Cochin Hindu Religious Institutions Act, 1950, ss. 24, 31.

Usage, include what the people are now or recently in the habit of doing in a particular habit is only of a recent origin or it may be one which has existed for a long time, Regular and ordinary practice is essential, Dalgish v. Mazuffer Hussain, (1896) 23 Cal 427.

Usage, practice long continued, 6 Rep. 65; but it must always be proved, whereas a custom may in some cases (e.g., the custom of gavelkind) be judicially noticed without proof.

The concept of long continuance and passage of time is inbuilt in the expression 'usage', Commissioner H.R.E.C.E. Admn. v. Vedantna Sthappa Sabha, (2004) 6 SCC 497 (512): AIR 2004 SC 3634.

A well-known, customary, and uniform practice usually in a specific profession or business, Black's Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 1539.