LANDMARK CASE
Hamdard Dawakhana v. Union of India
AIR 1960 SC 554 · Supreme Court of India · Constitutional law
At a glance
- Citation: AIR 1960 SC 554
- Court: Supreme Court of India
- Area of law: Constitutional law
- In one line: Such advertisements were held not to be protected as they promoted trade, not ideas.
1 Facts
A law banned advertisements of drugs claiming to cure certain diseases.
2 Issue
Is commercial advertising protected free speech?
3 What the court decided
Such advertisements were held not to be protected as they promoted trade, not ideas.
4 Why it matters
Later modified by Tata Press (1995).
5 Think about it
Why did the Court change its view in Tata Press?
6 Analyse it yourself
Read the full judgment from an official source or a law database, then brief it in seven steps: facts, issues, arguments, decision, ratio, obiter and significance. Always check the citation before you rely on it.
7 More cases on Constitutional law
- A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras AIR 1950 SC 27
- ADM Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla (1976) 2 SCC 521
- Air India v. Nergesh Meerza (1981) 4 SCC 335
- Ajay Hasia v. Khalid Mujib Sehravardi (1981) 1 SCC 722
- Anuj Garg v. Hotel Association of India (2008) 3 SCC 1
- Anuradha Bhasin v. Union of India (2020) 3 SCC 637
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