Adjournment - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition adjournment

Definition :

Adjournment [fr. jour, Fr., a day], a putting off to another time or place, a continuation of a meeting from one day to another. An adjourned meeting is in ordinary cases a mere continuation of the original meeting and no fresh notice of it need be given, Scadding v. Lorant, (1851) 3 HLC 418. The adjournment of a trial is in the discretion of the judge. As to adjournment of trial in the High Court, see R.SC. Ord. XXXVI., r. 34; and as to adjournments in County Courts, see County Courts Act, 1934, s. 36.

As to adjournment by justices on hearing charge of offence punishable on summary jurisdiction, see Summary Jurisdiction Act, 1848 (11 & 12 Vict. c. 43), s. 16.

Unless the object of the context or inquiry otherwise warrants the term 'adjournment' in connection with a meeting should be applied only to the case of a meeting which has already convened and which is thereafter postponed and not to a case where a notice convening a meeting is cancelled and subsequently, a notice for holding the same meeting on a later date is issued, Jayantibhai Manubhai Patel v. Arun Subhodhai Mehta, (1989) 2 SCC 484 (491): AIR 1989 SC 1289.

An Adjournment of the House contemplates postponement of the sitting or proceedings of either House to reassemble on another specified date. During currency of a session the House may be adjourned for a day or more than a day. Adjournment of the House is also sine die. When a House is adjourned, pending proceedings or Bills do not lapse, In re (Gujarat Assembly Election Matter), (2002) 8 SCC 237 (279). (Constitution of India, Art. 174)

Adjournment is a putting off of a court cession or other meeting or assembly until a later time. The period of interval during which a session is put off, Black Law Dictionary, 7th Edn., p. 42.