- Instructions
- Law Question Paper I: Section A
- Law Question Paper I: Section B
- Law Question Paper 2: Section A
- Law Question Paper II: Section B
Instructions
- There are EIGHT questions divided in Two Sections. Candidate has to attempt FIVE questions in all.
- Question no. 1 and 5 are compulsory and out of the remaining, THREE are to be attempted choosing at least ONE from each section.
- Answers must be written in the medium authorized in the Admission certificate which must be stated clearly on the cover of this Question-cum-Answer (QCA) booklet in the space provided. No marks will be given for answers written in medium other than the authorized one.
- Word limit in questions, wherever specified, should be adhered to.
- Attempts of questions shall be counted in chronological order. Unless struck off, attempt of a question shall be counted even if attempted partly. Any page or portion of the page left blank in the answer book must be clearly struck off.
- 250 marks, 3 hours
Law Question Paper I: Section A
Question 1 (compulsory)
Each with 10 marks and 150 words x 5 question = 50 marks.
- Has judiciary been a hindrance or a facilitator in the interpretation of Directive Principles? Examine in the light of various judgments of the Supreme Court.
- “Fundamental duties are only ethical or moral duties and should not form a part of the Fundamental law.” Comment.
- Is ‘Commercial advertisement’ covered within the ambit of ‘freedom of speech and expression’? Discuss with reference to leading cases.
- critically examine the constitutional validity of an amendment deleting Article 16(4) and authorising the State to make job reservation in favour of the backward classes of citizens.
- Doctrine of equality under the Constitution cannot be applied to legitimise an illegal act. Can equality be invoked to justify another wrong? Critically examine with reference to cases.
Question 2
Each with 25 marks. Word limit not given
- Do you agree with the view that “Equality is antithesis of arbitrariness. In fact equality and arbitrariness are sworn enemies”? Comment critically.
- “The Constitution of India merely subscribes to three-fold division of gubernatorial functions and not to the doctrine of separation of powers in its absolute rigidity.” Comment.
Question 3
Each with 25 marks. Word limit not given
- The goals specified in the Preamble contain basic structure of our Constitution, which cannot be amended under Article 368. Elaborate in context of leading cases.
- What restrictions have been imposed by the Constitutional Amendment (44th) to check misuse of proclamation of emergency? Discuss.
Question 4
write critical notes on each of following.
- Residuary Powers. 15
- Whether law relating to preventive detention can be challenged for violation of Article 19? 15 marks
- Introduction of Uniform Civil Code. 20 marks.
Law Question Paper I: Section B
Question 5 (compulsory)
10 marks each, word limit not given.
- “Due to increasing penetration of international legal rules within the domestic systems, the distinction maintained between two autonomous zones of international and municipal law has been somewhat blurred.” Explain with special reference to Indian practice. How international legal rules emanating from customs and treaties, influence the actions of domestic agencies? 10 marks.
- While concluding a multilateral treaty, a State can make reservation(s) and the other State(s) may accept or reject such reservation(s) without jeopardising the object and integrity of the treaty. Discuss the need and relevance of reservations in treaty law in the light of above statement. 10 marks.
- Explain the rights and duties of coastal state over continental shelf, exclusive economic zone and high seas as defined under the provisions of UN Convention on Law of Sea (III), 1982
- The Arbitration Commission of European Conference on Yugoslavia emphasised in opinion no. 2 that “it is well established that whatever the circumstances, the right to self-determination must not involve changes to existing frontiers at the time of independence (Uti possidetis juris) except where the states concerned agree otherwise.”Explain the present day relevance of principle of self-determination as a human right incorporated in both the international covenants with the help of at least one actual instance
- “States are not under a duty to recognize a nationality acquired by a person who has no genuine link or connection with the naturalizing state.” [Nottenbohm case (second phase) ICJ 1955]. In the light of above statement, explain the concept of ‘nationality’ and its acquisition with the help of suitable instances.
Question 6
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- “The substance of customary law must be looked into primarily in actual practice and `opinio juris’ of the States.” In the light of above statement and by referring to case law, explain the interplay between objective and subjective elements in acceptance of a particular custom as a source of international law.
- “States are subject to a duty under International Law to recognise a new State fulfilling the legal requirements of Statehood, but the existence of such a duty is not borne out by the weight of precedents and practices of States. The decision of a State in according or withholding recognition is a matter of vital policy that each State is entitled to take by itself.” Reconcile and argue which of these two statements (extreme views) regarding recognition of a State given by Lauterpacht (obligatory) and by Podesta Costa (Facultative) is more appropriate, with the help of instances in regard to de facto and de jure recognition.
Question 7
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- The concepts of ‘necessity’ and ‘proportionality’ are at the heart of self-defence in International Law. Explain, in the light of UN Charter and recent trend of extending these to ‘pre-emptive’ or ‘anticipatory’ self-defence due to ‘the imminence of attacks and advancement in armaments’.
- A group of three men (L, M and N) citizens of country A, posing as officers of premier investigating agency of A, rob a huge jewellery shop and then flee away to country B, where they are granted asylum. Government of A, requests B to extradite L, M and N in terms of extradition treaty between them. B declines. A sends spies to B who abduct L, M and N and who produce them before the Court in A. `B’ approaches ICJ against use of force by ‘A’. Prepare (i) A brief of arguments for A, (ii) A brief of arguments for B,(iii) Opinion of the Court.
Question 8
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- Chapter VI of UN Charter is devoted to peaceful settlement of International Disputes. Discuss the methods mentioned and explain the role of Security Council and General Assembly in this regard, and the role such settlement plays in obviating the need to resort to Chapter VII measures.
- A member of European Union has witnessed widespread disturbances, consequent upon a military coup, including censorship on all forms of media and communication, targeting civilians sympathetic with the ousted leader by assaulting and killing, severe rationing and control on essential commodities such as fuel and food resulting into galloping inflation. In the light of these grave violations of human rights, examine the role of :
- Security Council
- European Court of Human Rights.
Law Question Paper 2: Section A
Question 1 (Compulsory)
10 marks x 125 words each x 5 questions= 50 marks
- “The word ‘Voluntary’ as used in the Indian Penal Code is very significant and it does not mean willingly but knowingly or intentionally.” Explain.
- “Fake police encounters are nothing but murders and police officers committing it without any protection of law to them deserve death penalty as the cases fall into rarer of the rarest category.” Comment.
- “Nuisance as a tort means an unlawful interference with a person’s use or enjoyment of land or some right over or in connection with it.” Comment.
- “Involuntary drunkenness is a defence.” Critically examine the law relating to intoxication as defence.
- “The definition given under the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 gives altogether a new legal colour and scope to the term `Consumer’.” In the light of this statement, explain the term ‘Consumer’.
Question 2
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- Mr.X, the producer of a film showing life of ‘homosexuals’, is prosecuted under Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code, alleging that the film was obscene and indecent. The film was certified by the Censor Board of Film of India for public shows. X intends to claim protection against his charge under Section 79 of the Indian Penal Code. Can he do so? Justify your answer.
- The natural calamity in Uttarakhand left hundreds dead. Some people were seen removing gold ornaments, watches and other valuables from these dead bodies. Few days later, police apprehended them and wanted to prosecute them. Under which provisions of the Indian Penal Code can they be prosecuted? Discuss.
Question 3
- “Assault is an act of the defendant which causes to the plaintiff reasonable apprehension of the infliction of a battery on him by the defendant.” Comment and distinguish between assault and battery. 20m
- X sends an e-mail to Y containing defamatory matters against him. The e-mail is received by Y who deletes it after reading. Is X liable for publication? Refer to relevant case law. 15m
- X, while driving car, suddenly became unconscious and fell back in his seat. The car became uncontrolled, it hit and killed Y. Discuss the liability of X. 15m
Question 4
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- āPlea bargaining, which was considered unconstitutional, illegal and tending to encourage complaint, collusion and pollution of the pure punt of justice, is now a part of sentencing under the Indian Criminal Law.” Comment.
- Q refused to marry her boyfriend P, resulting into Ps depression. Mr. R, a friend of P, suggested him to take revenge with an intention that P will come out of shock. R provided P with a bottle of liquid believing it as acid. P mistook X to be Q in darkness and threw it on her (X) causing rashes on the face of X, which later resulted into serious injuries. The investigations revealed that it was not acid but was a concentrate of fungicide. Decide the liability of P and R in this case, keeping in mind that defences which may be available to P and R.
Law Question Paper II: Section B
Question 5 (Compulsory)
10 marks x 125 words each x 5 questions= 50 marks
- ‘Indemnity’ has relation to the conduct either of the indemnifier himself or of a third party. A ‘Guarantee’ is always related to the conduct of a third party.” Elucidate.
- “Privity of contract is no longer a rule but only an exception.” Explain in the context of modern transactions.
- “The copyright exists in expression but not in idea.” Discuss with the help of the provisions of Copyright Act and case law.
- “The principle of ‘holding out’ is based on the principle of estoppel.” Elucidate.
- “Once an instrument passes through the hands of a holder in due course, it is purged of all defects, it is true like a current coin.” Explain.
Question 6
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- “It has been a common statement of the law that while relief is available for certain kinds of mutual mistake, it is unavailable for unilateral mistake unless the other party knew or had reason to know of the mistake.” Critically examine the statement with leading case law.
- Critically analyse the term ‘inventive steps’ as incorporated under the Patent (Amendment) Act, 2005. Do you agree with the present definition? Refer to recent case law.
Question 7
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- “An attempt by all political parties to bring amendments to the RTI Act, 2005 is to sabotage the steps towards transparency of governance in this country.” Critically evaluate the statement.
- In matters such as enforcement of social, economic, cultural or political rights or civil liberties or gender concerns, courts in India have been inclined to apply relaxed rules of standing or litigational competence rather than strict rules of locus. Discuss.
Question 8
25 marks each, word limit not given.
- Competition Law in India has not achieved the result as was expected. Discuss the bottlenecks with which it suffers and suggest the remedies necessary to make it fruitful.
- Corporates causing havoc to the wildlife existing on seashores is an extreme type of environmental crime and laws are almost non-existent to deal with them directly. Discuss.
Courtesy: Mahitosh for sharing the question paper.
sir please upload physics question paper…if possible
sir plz upload commerce and accountancy question papers
thank you :)
could you kindly upload History too…thnx a ton
please upload physics ,maths and chemistry papers. please.
good and sober paper
sir ji aap sahi main ias ka dewanaa ho!!!!!
hahaha
can any 1 upload anthropology paper??
Plz upload paper of medical science also
Sir please upload physics question paper….
Sir plz provide History paper… Thanx a lot
Ty very much for the que papr Mrunal… is there any platform to discuss n share law optional material… if no i invite my law frndz to share the material in this site wd mrunal sir permission
yes please it would be of great help.
Goutham,
Did you give the law mains this year?? would love to know your views on it.
There is a discussion forum of IAS aspirants, with one especially for law optional guys. You can find it here:
http://forumias.com/discussion/997/law-optional-cse-2013#Item_23
Hope it helps.
Alpha
Friend m preparing for 2014 mains. Ty for the link wl go through it n m too searching for some candidate who has appeared for mains.
Kindly provide papers for Gujarati Literature.
sir kindly please provide chemistry mains paper as it is not available
any where thanks in advance
sir kindly please provide chemistry mains papers as it is not available
any where thanks in advance
sir ,please upload economics paper ..
Please upload history optional paper..
Is there any platform for discussion on physics optional. …
hi
Please upload Economics optional (Mains) papers and its analysis
The papers of law subject are quite easy…attempted all questions. No question related to current happening was asked in the first question paper…less weightage to the indian contract act in the second paper. various question are the nature of essay topic in the second paper. I hope scaling won’t affect my performance. fingers are crossed till the result comes out !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Neel,
Nice to hear your views. People who have written the exam in real time have the best perspective on the paper.
I felt that international law in paper 1 was a bit difficult. Questions were a bit lengthy, with the ICJ judgement quotations making it more confusing.
Paper 2 had some excellent questions from Contemporary legal developments.
My doubt is regarding the length of the papers. How much did you write for the 25 markers? Was it easy to finish within 3 hours?
Hi alpha, it is good to have a friend of common subject on this blog. I attempted 6th question in the first paper, both parts of the question of 25 marks⦠in the first part asked about opinio juris,,, analyzed the way of evolution of custom from uses and treaty and gave two case laws in this regardā¦ā¦..in the second part discussed points regarding both methods of recognition with a short comparisonāable to complete within 40 min. (around)ā¦..in the second paper, both parts of question no. 2 and the second part of question no. 4 were problem based questions, which make the paper manageable to complete within given time. Didnāt give answer to the questions of 10 marks in the both paper⦠overall it seem an easy paper to me in comparison to the papers of last year ( as I saw them in the unsolved, it was my first attempt this year) correct me if I think wrong.
Neel, can you please highlight the sources you used during your prep?
also did you stick to a world limit? As in how long were your answers?
Thanks
@exo, didnāt stick to the word limit. The prime sources of my preparation were the short books on various law subjects by Ashok K. Jain apart from some standard books, which everyone know. Some topics solely had been prepared through the help internet.
Neel,
Thanks for such lucid explanation of your approach. You are right that the papers were relatively easy this year compared to last year, though the difference in difficulty level is not that big. I can say that with experience as I wrote the mains last year, but didn’t this year.
I cant say how to view the skipping of 10 markers altogether. If sounds a bit dangerous leaving out 100 marks worth of answers, but if the sacrifice improved the quality of the other 150-200 marks, it might just be a masterstroke.
Seems we got lots to share. If you wish, feel free to mail me at ankitsrivastav25[at the rate]gmail[dot]com. Would love to discuss booklist, strategies, notes, articles and stuff.
Cheers.
@Alpha, I didnāt spare to give the answers to the questions of 200 marks (lolz, how I could do it?), I only skipped two questions of 10 marks- one in the first paper and other in the second one. BTW you attempted the main last yearā¦.you knew the marking criteria on the subject by UPSC better. May you please tell me,,,, how do the marks in this subject left after their so called scaling.
Oops.. My bad in reading your comment. I have no clue as to how the scaling system works. My marks last year were not that great – 240/600 [103+137]. Missed the interview cut-off by 50 marks. My grave was dug by my second optional Public Administration. Based on info from all my law optional friends, I can say on an average, 260/600 were the standard marks awarded last year, plus or minus 15. Don’t know how liberal they would be this year with a 250 marks paper.
@Neel and Alpha
What I have come to understand about marking in Law Paper is that they prefer to-the-point answer. My marks last year wasn’t great, 146+132, but I felt they gave me more marks in paper 1 than 2 because of that only.
Good Luck Neel.
Hi sir can u please put electrical engineering optional paper
@Alpha, Neel, Chandan
2014 would be my first attempt and I am planning to take LAW as the optional subject. Since I have a commerce background and haven’t really studied LAW at any point in my career, I am not fully convinced about my decision. Would appreciate if any of you could provide some guidance as to whether or not a person with a commerce background should opt for Law?
I took a look at the 2013 Law papers and I believe that the portion is not that vast and also since Polity forms part of the prelims preparation, it would prove handy for Paper 1 of Law and in the process might just save some time during the mains preparation. What would be your take on that?
Also, could you advise of some institutes in Delhi who provide Law coaching and usually how many months would it take to cover the portions? Any other advise is also welcomed. (always good to collect gyaan from the experienced ppl!)
Thanks
Dear Anant,
At this stage I wouldn’t recommend that you pick up an alien optional, that too Law, for yourself. My two bits to remove a couple of misconceptions based on your comment above are as follows
1. Law paper 1 syllabus overlaps with polity but the nature and content of answers don’t have much resemblance. Our answers consist of mostly judicial precedents and doctrines, on a level far more technical than polity answers. And Constitutional law is only about one-sixth or maybe less of the total syllabus.
2. There are no good coachings for law. As a former resident of Mukherjee Nagar, I can vouch for that. Rahul’s which is considered good, focuses only on judiciary exams and not civil services. Rest are advertising scams mostly.
3. Personally I think, with about 82 days to go for prelims and just 3 months between prelims and mains this year, picking a new optional would be suicidal.
Hope this helps.
Dear Ananth,
Your decision to go for law optional is good because law optional is very limited and easy to cover. It will give you advantage in Pre (Polity Part) and GS mains also. Even though i completed my Pub Ad optional subject, after changing the exam pattern being a law student i preferred to take Law as my optional. Many students having misconception that Law optional is very difficult and we can not mug-up all case studies and Section. Some extent is is correct but, it is totally wrong. Being a Rahul’s Student, It is the best coaching center for Law but, Institute providing coaching for only Judicial Exams. You may go for “Ambition Institute” for coaching. Still you have any query you may send to this id kts.career@gmail.com
-Santhosh
Dear Anant,
To add to what i said earlier, do go through this blog my a topper with law optional, considered the best written blog on law preparation:
http://thecivilservicesdream.blogspot.in/search/label/Why%20LAW%20%3F
you can also browse the discussion thread on forumias.com , whose link I have given above in reply to Goutham’s comment. Although I have my doubts, but try finding a candidate who gave law mains exam without any prior LLB graduation background. His preparation methodology would be the best guide.
sir,
please suggest me name of the books and their author for the optional “philosophy” and is there any study material of any
specialised coaching is needed for this optionaland aslo for g.s. for mains?what are the required study material or books needed for g.s. mains.please suggest me here.
regards a.d.
one more question, this is my first attempt of civil services.and i am first year law student of 3 yr llb course .here i am bit confused about the optional that what should i opt philosophy or law? i know it is great risk to plan to opt law as optional before completing the full course.but i am ready to face the music beacuse if a non-law student can crack upsc with law optional why not i.but for this year what should i opt.please suggest me.
There are many students who took law and cleared civils despite the fact that none of them were lawyers. Even this year Rank 2 Munish(MBA) had law, Saloni(Doctor) Rank 74, Mrinal(Phd. Pol sci) Rank-156, Prateek Rank 216. These are the people I know who took law and cleared without doing LLB and all of them did this in their first attempt. So law is a good optional to crack and can be opted by anyone from any field.
Sir…Could you please upload Economics Optional paper??? Please
please upload more law quastion
sir,
please upload Telugu (Compulsory Regional Language).
i am unable to it.
-santhosh
sir please pro law optional mains question paper of last few years.
try this link on forumias for topicwise question papers from 2009-2013. You will find the pdf download link in the 16th comment by username “igirit”:
http://forumias.com/discussion/997/law-optional-cse-2013/p6
my completed llb i have choiced law opt. subjet for upsc mains so, i want study material or classes for law. where will get study marial/ classes.
SIR
PLEASE UPLOAD THE ALL ACT OF LAW
sir, i belong to differently abled category . Iām a student of Law & want to get through CIVIL SERVICES EXAM .
my doubt regarding the position of PH candidates is left unresolved.
i have few doubts & looking forward for your help.
1) as per notification upsc2015 there are 29reserved seats for PH categories.my question is that
are we eligible for only those 29seats or its other way round that those 29seats are reserved for PH candidates other than mentioned seats therein notification.
hey friends im a mechanical engineering post graduate and i want to take law as my optional.all are discouraging me sinc i dont havve law background..can you please help me..hope you could understand my doubts regarding the same..