B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Legal Methods 2025 Jan Question Paper with Solutions

For full marks, cover: why there are different approaches; the natural law approach; the analytical or positivist approach (Austin, Holland, Salmond); the historical approach (Savigny); the sociological approach (Pound); the realist approach (Holmes, Llewellyn, Frank); the Marxist approach; how Indian courts have used the approaches, with cases; a comparison table; a conclusion.

Why there are different approaches

The idea of law is the concept of what law is and why it binds. Jurists have looked at law from different angles. Some look at its moral basis and some at its source in authority. Others look at its growth from society, its effects, or how courts actually behave. Each angle gives an approach, or school of thought. Knowing them helps a student see that law is a complex idea, not a single fact.

3. The historical approach

Law is not made deliberately; it grows out of the life and spirit of a people, as language does. Savigny led this school. Pound described its idea of law as "a system of precepts discovered by human experience". Strength: it explains custom as a source of law. Weakness: it underrates deliberate legislation and reform.

4. The sociological approach

Law is judged by what it does in society. Roscoe Pound saw it as a tool for balancing competing interests, "a continually more efficacious social engineering". Strength: it links law to real social needs. Weakness: it says what law does, not what law is.

5. The realist approach

Law is what courts actually do. Holmes wrote: "The prophecies of what the courts will do in fact, and nothing more pretentious, are what I mean by the law." Llewellyn contrasted "paper rules" with the real patterns of decisions, and Frank stressed the uncertainty of facts. Strength: it looks at law in action. Weakness: a statute is law before any court applies it.

Why the approaches matter to a student

The approaches are not just theory. They decide how a judge reads a law. A positivist judge asks what the words say and who enacted them. A judge influenced by natural law asks whether the result is just. A sociological judge asks what effect a reading will have on society. A student who knows the approaches can understand why two judges in the same case reach different results. He can also argue a case from more than one angle.

India: a blend of approaches

The Indian Constitution itself blends the approaches. It is positive law, enacted by the Constituent Assembly. It contains natural law ideas in the fundamental rights and in the requirement of fair procedure. It recognises custom, which reflects the historical school. And the Directive Principles commit the State to social change, which is Pound's social engineering.