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CPC, 1908 · Part II · Execution · Repealed centrally · Rajasthan § 48-A

Section 48 — Execution Barred in Certain Cases [Repealed]

§ 48 once capped execution of a decree at twelve years. The Limitation Act, 1963 absorbed that rule and repealed it — but Rajasthan had inserted a transitional § 48-A to fit the cap onto its newly-merged territories.

§ 48

What § 48 was, and why it went

What it did

§ 48 (“Execution barred in certain cases”) set an outer limit of twelve years for applying to execute a decree — after that, no execution order could be made.

Why repealed

The Limitation Act, 1963 (Article 136) now fixes a twelve-year period for executing any decree. A duplicate rule in the CPC was needless, so § 48 was repealed by s. 28 of that Act, w.e.f. 1 January 1964.

What survives here

Centrally, nothing. But the Rajasthan State amendment — § 48-A, a transitional rule for decrees around 25 January 1950 — is set out and dissected below.

The bare Act

48. [Repealed.]

[Execution barred in certain cases.] Rep. by the Limitation Act, 1963 (36 of 1963), s. 28 (w.e.f. 1-1-1964).

Note The marginal heading is shown in brackets because the section itself no longer carries operative text — only the repeal entry remains in the Code.

Key terms decoded

Execution barred

The loss of the right to apply for execution once the limitation period has run out.

Time-barred

A claim or decree that can no longer be enforced because its limitation period has expired.

Infructuous

Fruitless / of no effect — here, a decree that has become unenforceable or pointless.

Adaptation of Laws Order

An executive instrument that re-fits existing statutes to a changed constitutional or territorial setup.

Deemed always to have been inserted

A retrospective fiction — the provision is treated as if it had been there from the very start.

State amendment — Rajasthan: the new § 48-A

State Amendment · Rajasthan

Insertion of new section 48 A.— After section 48 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 (Central Act V of 1908), in its application thereof to the State of Rajasthan, the following new section shall be, and be deemed always to have been inserted, namely:—

48-A. Varied application of section 48.—

For the purposes of the application of section 48 to the State of Rajasthan;—

(i) a decree, made before the twenty-fifth day of January, 1950, in those parts of Rajasthan where a corresponding provision did not then exist, shall, unless it shall have become time-barred or otherwise infructuous before the said day in accordance with any law then prevailing in those parts, be deemed to have been made on the said day, and

(ii) Where a decree might have been made before the twenty-fifth day of January, 1950 in those parts of Rajasthan where a corresponding provision then existed, with a period longer than twelve years provided therein such longer period or the period of twelve years from the said day whichever expires first shall be the period after which, according to section 48, no order for execution shall be made.

[Vide Rajasthan Act XX of 1952, s. 2].

The picture — the 25 January 1950 anchor

Both tracks measure the twelve-year § 48 bar against the same anchor — 25 January 1950, the eve of the Constitution — so that decrees from every merged part of Rajasthan run on one clock.

§ 48-A, clause by clause

Purpose

For the purposes of the application of section 48 to the State of Rajasthan

§ 48-A does not create a fresh bar — it only adjusts how the twelve-year § 48 bar is applied to decrees from the various territories that had just merged to form Rajasthan.

i No prior provision
ii Longer period existed

Clause (i) handles decrees from parts of Rajasthan that had no equivalent execution-limit before integration.

📜Pre-1950 decree, no local bar

→

📍Deemed made on 25 Jan 1950

→

⏳12-yr clock starts then

→

⚠but not if already dead before that day

Which decrees

a decree, made before the twenty-fifth day of January, 1950

Only decrees passed before 25 January 1950 — the eve of the Constitution — are dealt with here.

From where

in those parts of Rajasthan where a corresponding provision did not then exist

Confined to the merged territories that had no twelve-year (or similar) execution-bar of their own at that time.

Saving

unless it shall have become time-barred or otherwise infructuous before the said day in accordance with any law then prevailing in those parts

A vital saving: a decree already dead (time-barred or infructuous) under the old local law before 25 January 1950 is not revived — the clause does not resurrect lapsed decrees.

The deeming

be deemed to have been made on the said day

A live such decree is treated as if made on 25 January 1950 — so the § 48 twelve-year clock uniformly starts from that day (expiring around 1962).

Clause (ii) handles parts that did have a provision, but a longer one than twelve years.

📜Pre-1950 decree, local period > 12 yrs

→

⚖Compare: longer period vs 12 yrs from 25 Jan 1950

→

⏱Whichever expires first = the bar

From where

Where a decree might have been made before the twenty-fifth day of January, 1950 in those parts of Rajasthan where a corresponding provision then existed

Now the opposite case: territories that did have their own execution-limitation provision before integration.

The condition

with a period longer than twelve years provided therein

And that local provision allowed a period longer than twelve years — more generous than central § 48.

The test

such longer period or the period of twelve years from the said day whichever expires first

The holder gets the earlier of two deadlines: (a) the longer local period, or (b) twelve years from 25 January 1950 — whichever runs out first.

The effect

shall be the period after which, according to section 48, no order for execution shall be made

That earlier deadline is the § 48 cut-off — after it, no execution order can issue. The longer local period is honoured, but never beyond twelve years from the anchor day.

Read together, (i) and (ii) cover both kinds of merged territory — those with no prior limit (given a fresh, uniform 12-year run from the anchor day) and those with a longer one (capped to the earlier of their period or 12 years from that day). Neither revives a decree already dead; both pull every part of Rajasthan onto a single, predictable execution clock.

The amendment: its nature, and its effect in Rajasthan

What kind of amendment

A transitional / saving State amendment, and an expressly retrospective one — it was “deemed always to have been inserted”. It does not change § 48’s twelve-year policy; it only fixes a starting date for that clock across territories that, until 1949–50, ran on many different former princely-state laws.

Why it was needed

The State of Rajasthan was formed by integrating numerous covenanting states, each with its own (or no) law on how long a decree stays executable. Without a common anchor, identical decrees would have bared at wildly different times. 25 January 1950 — the eve of the Constitution — was chosen as that anchor.

Its effect — track (i)

Decree-holders from no-prior-limit areas got a uniform fresh twelve-year window running from 25 January 1950 (so until about 1962) — but decrees already time-barred or infructuous before that day stayed dead. No unfair revival.

Its effect — track (ii)

Decree-holders from longer-period areas were capped: they kept the benefit of their longer local period only up to twelve years from the anchor day. This stopped decrees from remaining executable almost indefinitely in some pockets of the State.

Net impact in Rajasthan: uniformity and certainty. By 1964, when central § 48 was itself repealed and the field passed to the Limitation Act, 1963, § 48-A had largely done its transitional work — it remains chiefly of historical interest for very old Rajasthan decrees.

Amendment & repeal history — a timeline

§ 48’s story in Rajasthan runs across three dates:

1950

25 January 1950 — the anchor day

Event the eve of the Constitution and the reference date for the integration of Rajasthan’s territories.

Role § 48-A pegs both its “deemed made” date (i) and its twelve-year cap (ii) to this single day.

1952

Rajasthan Act XX of 1952, s. 2 — § 48-A inserted

Change a new § 48-A (“Varied application of section 48”) was inserted after § 48 for Rajasthan, and deemed always to have been inserted.

Why to give the twelve-year execution-bar a single, fair starting point across the merged princely territories.

1964

Limitation Act, 1963, s. 28 — central § 48 repealed

Change § 48 of the CPC was repealed (w.e.f. 1 January 1964); the twelve-year execution period moved to Article 136 of the Limitation Act, 1963.

Effect with its parent section gone and its transition spent, § 48-A became historical — relevant only to long-dormant pre-1950 Rajasthan decrees.

The maxim behind it

“Vigilantibus non dormientibus jura subveniunt”

— The law assists the vigilant, not those who sleep on their rights.

In § 48: § 48 once barred execution after twelve years (the rule now in Article 136 of the Limitation Act, 1963). A decree-holder who delays loses the power to execute — the very time-bar § 48-A adapted for Rajasthan. It also answers to interest reipublicae ut sit finis litium: even a decree must not hang over a debtor for ever.

How § 48 connects

Though repealed, § 48 sat among the execution sections and shared their court machinery. The live links open them.

§ 47Questions for the executing courtThe section immediately before § 48; many limitation disputes surfaced as § 47 execution questions.

§ 38Court by which a decree may be executedThe forum whose power to make an execution order § 48 used to time-bar.

§ 39Transfer of decreeExecution — and its timing — followed the decree wherever it was sent.

§ 46PreceptsAnother timing-sensitive execution tool in the same group of sections.

Outside the Code: the live rule today is Article 136, Limitation Act, 1963 — twelve years to execute a decree (from when it becomes enforceable). § 48 and § 48-A are now of historical reference.

Part II · Execution · §§ 36–74 — § 47 · § 48 [repealed] · § 49 (transferee) onward