§ SECTION 2(1)

What does “Code” include?

An umbrella only shelters you when the canopy and the handle are joined. The word “Code” works the same way.

Bare Act — Section 2(1)

“Code” includes rules;

One short line, one big idea

“Includes” is an expanding word. The legislature is telling us the “Code” is not just the numbered Sections — it also takes in the Rules of the First Schedule. Picture an umbrella:

Handle alone

Useful, but it can’t shelter you by itself.

= the Rules

Canopy alone

Looks complete, yet you can’t hold or open it.

= the Sections

Complete umbrella

Canopy + handle, working as one.

= “Code”

The Canopy

The Sections (the body)

The numbered Sections (Ss.1–158) form the main, permanent skeleton of the Code — enacted by Parliament. They state the broad principles: jurisdiction, res judicata, appeals, execution and so on.

Settled framework of the statute
Amended only by Parliament

The Handle

The Rules (First Schedule)

The Orders & Rules in the First Schedule supply the working machinery — how a plaint is filed, how summons issue, how a decree is executed. They can be modified by the High Courts / Supreme Court under Ss.122–131.

Detailed, flexible procedure
Amendable by the higher courts

🔑 Why this tiny definition matters

“Includes” is inclusiveIt widens the meaning. “Code” is never read as the Sections only — the Rules are pulled in too.

Rules carry statutory forceBecause they are part of the “Code”, the First Schedule Rules are binding law, not mere guidelines.

Read the two togetherA procedural question is answered by Sections and Rules combined — like canopy and handle, neither stands alone.

How these four ideas connect

Follow the arrows. One small word opens a chain that runs from the definition all the way to the courts that shape day-to-day procedure.

“Code”Section 2(1)

The term being defined — and it is left deliberately open.

the word “includes” widens it

“rules”Section 2(18)

The rules & forms of the First Schedule, or made under s.122 / s.125.

which live inside the

First ScheduleOrders I–LI

The step-by-step procedure physically attached to the Code.

framed & altered by

HC & SCSs.122–131

The High Courts & Supreme Court may add to or amend the Rules — the flexible “handle”.

“includes”

Enlarges the meaning. It pulls extra things inside the word — here, the Rules are gathered in alongside the Sections under the single term “Code”.

“means”

Limits the meaning. Whatever follows is the whole definition and nothing more can be read in — it is exhaustive.

Quick reference — the same four terms

“rules”

Defined in Section 2(18) — the rules and forms in the First Schedule, or made under Section 122 or Section 125.

First Schedule

The body of Orders (Order I to Order LI) and their Rules attached to the Code, containing the step-by-step procedure.

Ss.122–131

The provisions that let the High Courts and the Supreme Court frame, alter or add to the Rules — which is why the “handle” is the flexible part.

“includes”

A drafting word that enlarges a definition rather than limiting it (contrast with “means”, which is exhaustive).

“Code” — step by step

Read the definition as 4 ordered steps — the easiest way to hold it in memory.

The term — “Code”

s.2(1) · the word

Section 2(1) fixes what “Code” means throughout the CPC.

The connector — “includes”

term of art

An inclusive (enlarging) definition — it widens the term, it does not limit it.

What it takes in — the Rules

First Schedule · s.2(18)

The rules in the First Schedule (the Orders & Rules).

The whole — Sections + Rules

ss.122–131

Code = the body of Sections + the First Schedule Rules (amendable by HC/SC).

Remember the chain:

Code→includes→Rules→whole Code

🔒 Members area

CPC 1908 — Section 2(1): Meaning of “Code”