2012 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 52 - Civil Actions
Chapter 895 - Civil Jurisdiction
Section 52-29 - Superior Court may declare rights and legal relations.

(a) The Superior Court in any action or proceeding may declare rights and other legal relations on request for such a declaration, whether or not further relief is or could be claimed. The declaration shall have the force of a final judgment.

(b) The judges of the Superior Court may make such orders and rules as they may deem necessary or advisable to carry into effect the provisions of this section.

(1949 Rev., S. 7628; 1949, June, 1955, S. 3116d; P.A. 76-436, S. 388, 681; P.A. 82-160, S. 6.)

History: P.A. 76-436 removed court of common pleas from purview of section, reflecting transfer of all trial jurisdiction to superior court, and specified that superior court judges rather than supreme court judges are empowered to make orders and rules to carry out section provisions, effective July 1, 1978; P.A. 82-160 replaced “shall have power to” with “may” and added Subsec. indicators.

Cited. 3 CA 118; Id., 302; 4 CA 137; 11 CA 332; 13 CA 282; 21 CA 77; 40 CA 75; Id., 692; 42 CA 13; Id., 363; Id., 712; 46 CA 187. Court improperly determined it lacked subject matter jurisdiction on the ground that the arbitrator had not completed the arbitration proceeding because plaintiff was seeking a declaratory judgment on the question of whether the arbitrator had completed the arbitration proceeding. 121 CA 135.

Section is remedial and it should be liberally construed. 9 CS 268. Action in the nature of declaratory judgment not appropriate to try title to office. 13 CS 430. Action for a declaratory judgment is statutory, not equitable. 14 CS 508. Prayer for declaratory judgment cognizable only in Superior Court. 16 CS 76. Cited. 18 CS 403. Action does not lie where court is of opinion parties should seek redress by some other form of procedure as where questions of fact are presented which should be determined in another action. 22 CS 44. Action allowed in case concerning claimed violation of restrictive covenant in deed. Statute is broader in scope than Uniform Act and statutes of most other jurisdictions. Id., 84. Judicial intervention to determine administrative authority at the behest of one immediately and truly injured by an administrative regulation may take place even before completion of the administrative process, if the need of the person injured is sufficiently compelling. 23 CS 30. Cited. Id., 170. The jurisdiction of Superior Court to determine the question of unlawful exercise of authority by administrative agencies is independent of the jurisdiction conferred on it by statutes creating a right of appeal. Id. A reservation or other restriction in a deed is the proper subject of an action for a declaratory judgment. Id., 486. Cited. Id., 515; 25 CS 322. Connecticut courts do not have inherent power to render declaratory judgments; circuit court has no power to render declaratory judgments and claim for incidental damages and attorneys’ fees does not change essential nature of cause of action. 32 CS 539. Cited. 42 CS 562; 44 CS 592.

Circuit court has no power to render a declaratory judgment. 3 Conn. Cir. Ct. 517.

Subsec. (a):

Cited. 192 C. 704; 209 C. 692; 218 C. 335; 222 C. 299.

Cited. 46 CA 187.

Subsec. (b):

Cited. 222 C. 299.