Trust: As per section 2 of Specific Relief Act, trust has the same meaning as in section 3 of the Indian Trusts Act, 1882 (2 of 1882), and includes an obligation in the nature of a trust within the meaning of Chapter IX of that Act.

A trust is a legal relationship where one party maintains an asset on another's behalf, possibly giving rise to tort claims from the fiduciary duty breach. If a trustee, in the performance of his duty, committed gross negligence, thereby resulting in injury or pecuniary loss to the trust's beneficiary, then the tortious aspect of negligence or breach of fiduciary duty may arise.

The trustees are obliged to exercise their authorities, therefore, acting with utmost good faith, loyalty and care in the management of the trust property. A breach of any one of these exposes the trustees to liability, movement likely based on any resulting loss of funds to the beneficiaries.

Trustee: As per section 2 of Specific Relief Act, trustee includes every person holding property in trust.

A trustee is an individual or entity appointed to administer and manage the assets of a trust in accordance with the terms and conditions established by the trustor.

The position of a trustee carries with it a fiduciary duty, which means the maximum good faith, loyalty, and care must be shown to the beneficiaries. A trustee could possibly be found liable under the law of tort if, through gross negligence or malfeasance in office, he has caused injury or financial loss to the beneficiaries.

A trustee who damages or defrauds trust property may be subject to a lawsuit for any harm caused to the beneficiaries.

Settlement: As per section 2 of Specific Relief Act, settlement means an instrument other than a will or codicil as defined by the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (39 of 1925), whereby the destination or devolution of successive interests in movable or immovable property is disposed of or is agreed to be disposed of.

It generally refers to an agreement by the defendant to pay compensation to the plaintiff for injury or harm caused, thereby ending the case without continuing further with litigation.

Apart from this, the tort settlements can be negotiated and settled in any phase of a tort case, starting from the pre-litigation phase to the trial phase. It generally involves various negotiations where the parties agree on an amount of monetary compensation or other remedial actions to amicably settle the dispute.

For instance, in cases involving one person suing another for personal injury, parties can settle on an amount of money to drop the suit, paid to the injured party, rather than continue with a complete trial.

Doctrine of Pari Materia

The Doctrine of pari materia is a statutory interpretation principle providing that statutes or statutory provisions enacted to deal with the same subject matter or identical sets of circumstances are construed harmoniously. In other words, this doctrine essentially ensures such statutes are interpreted in a way that maintains consistency and coherence within the legal system.

The doctrine ensures that statutes, like the Specific Relief Act, are interpreted in conformity with related laws and with internal provisions. This would therefore ensure a harmonious application of rights under legal remedies for better delivery of justice in ensuring different legal principles applied do not clash

Application to the Specific Relief Act:

These include laws relating to specific performance of contracts and enforcement of civil rights. The Doctrine shall be applied in this Act to construe its provisions with other related statutes and legal principles.

Interpretation with Other Statutes:

Indian Contract Act, 1872: Specific Relief Act lays down provisions relating to specific performance and injunctions, while the general principles of the law are dealt with in the Indian Contract Act. The interpretation relating to specific performance under the Specific Relief Act depends upon the Contract Act to provide consistency for its application. For instance, if a contract is void under the Contract Act, specific performance under the Specific Relief Act cannot be granted.

Civil Procedure Code (CPC): The Specific Relief Act finds applicability with a concomitant use of the procedural law laid down by the CPC relating to civil suits. Any construction of the provision in the Specific Relief Act has to be construed and perceived from the work of the CPC to ensure that specific relief is granted in furtherance of the established norms of procedure.

Internal Consistency:

Specific Relief Act, Sections 12 and 14 lay down when a specific performance shall be granted. The Doctrine comes into play while interpreting these sections along with other provisions of the Act in order to ensure that specific performance is granted in the cases falling within the purview and exceptions have been applied uniformly.

The doctrine ensures that such injunctions remain within the confines of the objectives of the Act and other relevant statutes when such provisions under Sections 36 to 42 are interpreted.

Harmonious Construction:

The Doctrine helps in ironing out the ambiguities and conflicts between provisions of the Specific Relief Act and other related statutes. In cases where specific performance and injunctions feature in one case, for instance, the court employs this doctrine in a bid to bring the interpretation of these two reliefs in harmony so that the granted relief shall be in line with the legislative intention and the related legal principles.

Practical Application:

If a contract contains provisions for specific performance and another for an injunction, then in deciding upon the issue, a court has to consider both the considerations in the light of each other. For instance, if one clause of the contract provides the conditions of performance and another clause may provide the justification of an injunction, then the court would see that the order of specific performance is duly supported from the direction of the injunction or other forms of relief as provided under the Specific Relief Act and similar statutes.

Savings

It refers to any special provisions or exceptions contained in the Act that save certain kinds of rights or claims from being adversely affected by the provisions contained therein. The Specific Relief Act, 1963, is an Indian statute that covers remedies concerning specific performance of contracts, injunctions, and other specific reliefs rather than general damages or compensation.

Personal Rights and Liabilities:

Section 14 of the Act describes that the Act is not applicable on specific performance of contracts which are determinable, which normally includes contracts of a personal nature. To elaborate, a contract that involves personal services or personal obligations cannot be specifically enforced since such contracts are determinable in nature.

Nothing in the Act compels any person to give personal service or to do any other act which is of a personal nature and not transferable.

Other Legal Remedies:

Any statutory right or remedy shall not be affected by this act unless that right or remedy is expressly modified by the act. This in effect means that special relief under this Act shall itself not limit or override the remedies a party may have under other legal regimes, say under tort or contract laws.

In the case of proceedings relating to specific performance or injunctions pending on the commencement of Specific Relief Act, such proceedings are not affected by the provisions of the Act.

Execution of Contracts:

- The Act does not enforce the performance of contracts requiring the performance of government or public authorities, especially when the said contract involves public policy or administrative discretion.

- The court cannot enforce the specific performance when it is contrary to public policy or when such enforcement will, in effect, force the court to apply a contract in a manner that goes against the spirit of public policy.

Injunction and Declaratory Orders:

- Under Sec. 34 of the Act, declaratory judgments are available by which the rights of the parties can be determined without necessarily enforcing specific performance of a contract. Similarly, such declaratory judgment may run concurrently with other reliefs and will in no way oust or preclude other legal remedies.

- Injunctions, Section 37 An injunction can be granted to avoid a breach of contract or maintain the status quo; however, it is at the court's discretion. They will not be granted if the breach involves matters outside the purview of the courts or which are public policy issues.

Specific Performance-Exceptions:

- Specific performance normally arises when damages alone cannot correct the harm incurred as a result of a breach. This underlines the fact that there cannot be any specific relief if damages would be an adequate remedy.

- Specific performance, being an equitable relief, can only be enforced if the contract is expressed in explicit words and unambiguous and the party seeking performance is ready to perform his part of the contract. The relief is contingent upon the mutuality of the obligations and adherence to the contract terms.

The Specific Relief Act supplements and does not exclude other legal remedies. Certain features are as follows:

- Complementary Nature:

The Specific Relief Act gives remedies supplementary to other laws. For example, where one party to the contract has his remedy for breach of contract under the Indian Contract Act, he may sue for specific performance under the Specific Relief Act, if the subject matter of the contract is unique or not easily replaceable.

- Concurrent Remedies:

An application for relief under the Specific Relief Act in no way deprives a person of pursuing other legal remedies. For instance, a plaintiff can claim specific performance and damages if the breach of contract justifies it. In fact, under the Specific Relief Act itself, the pursuit of any other remedy is not barred but rather a balance in achieving justice effectively.

- Other Statutory Provisions:

The Act operates concurrently along with other laws like the Transfer of Property Act, 1882, or the Indian Easements Act, 1882, without taking away any of the rights or other remedies available under such legislation. For example, a dispute over a property may have specific performance under the Specific Relief Act regarding that property and simultaneously have rights relating to the property under the Transfer of Property Act.

- Supreme Court Judgements:

The Indian judiciary has explained that the Specific Relief Act is not intended to be one that would supplant the other provisions of law insofar as the remedies were concerned but additional to those whereby in cases where the general legal framework proved an insufficiency, there was further possibility of availing remedies under it. The courts have generally attempted to interpret the Act with a view to ensuring that this act supplements rather than displaces other remedies.