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Legal Methods
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2026 Jan (100 marks) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Legal Methods 2026 Jan (100 marks) Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2026 Jan (100 marks) examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2026 Jan (100 marks) examination, reproduced as Karnataka State Law University set them, in the order it set them. Long reading passages are shortened to their first and last lines and our summary; the original paper prints them in full. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 13 questions answered
How to use this volume
Solve the paper first, under exam conditions and against the clock. Then read the answers here and mark your own. Reading a solution before attempting the question feels productive and teaches very little, because recognising an answer is not the same as being able to write one.
Q1Explain Salmond classification of law, with appropriate illustrations.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: who Salmond was and the wide sense of "law"; his three opening remarks on the list; each of the eight kinds, with his definition and an illustration (physical, natural or moral, imperative, conventional, customary, practical, international, civil); how they overlap; Indian cases where the kinds meet; a summary table; criticism; a conclusion.
Introduction
Sir John Salmond was a leading jurist of the analytical school. His Jurisprudence became a standard textbook. In its fourth edition (1913), chapter III, "Other Kinds of Law", he began with the widest meaning of the word. "In its widest and vaguest sense the term law includes any rule of action." He then listed eight kinds of law that deserve separate mention: "(1) Physical or Scientific law, (2) Natural or Moral law, (3) Imperative law, (4) Conventional law, (5) Customary law, (6) Practical law, (7) International law, (8) Civil law."
Salmond's three opening remarks
Salmond warned the reader about his own list.
- It "is not based on any logical scheme of division and classification, but is a mere simplex enumeratio of the chief forms of law". In other words, it is a list, not a strict classification.
- "There is nothing to prevent the same rule from belonging to more than one of these classes."
- Arguing about which of them is "law properly so called" is "a purposeless dispute about words". The task is to tell them apart.
1. Physical or scientific law
Salmond's definition. "Physical laws or the laws of science are expressions of the uniformities of nature." They describe "the regularity and harmony observable in the activities and operations of the universe".
Illustration. The law of gravitation, the laws of the tides, or the laws of chemical combination. Salmond added that even human conduct, so far as it is uniform, can be described this way, as in the laws of economics.
Key point. These laws express "not what men ought to do, but what they do". They cannot be broken. If a stone did not fall, the law of gravitation would simply be wrong.
2. Natural or moral law
Salmond's definition. "By natural or moral law is meant the principles of natural right and wrong", the principles of natural justice in the widest sense.
Illustration. The rule that one must keep a promise or must not harm the innocent. The idea comes from Greek philosophy, through the Roman jus naturale.
Indian illustration. The principles of natural justice, such as that no one should be a judge in his own cause, are applied by Indian courts. In A.K. Kraipak v. Union of India, AIR 1970 SC 150, a candidate for the Indian Forest Service sat on the selection board that assessed his rivals. The Supreme Court set the selections aside. It said it is "against all canons of justice to make a man judge in his own cause". A moral principle thus became an enforceable legal rule.
3. Imperative law
Salmond's definition. "Imperative law means any rule of action imposed upon men by some authority which enforces obedience to it." It is "a command which prescribes some general course of action".
Kinds. Salmond divided imperative laws into divine and human. Human imperative laws are of three kinds: civil law, the law of positive morality, and the law of nations.
Illustration. The Ten Commandments are a divine imperative law, Salmond's own example. A rule of etiquette, enforced only by social disapproval, is positive morality. A criminal statute is a human imperative law enforced by the State.
4. Conventional law
Salmond's definition. "By conventional law is meant any rule or system of rules agreed upon by persons for the regulation of their conduct towards each other." In his phrase, "Agreement is a law for the parties to it."
Illustration. Salmond gave "the rules and regulations of a club or other society, and the laws of whist, cricket, or any other game". Today we may add the articles of association of a company and the terms of a contract.
When it becomes civil law. Conventional rules are often enforced by the State. A contract binds because the Indian Contract Act 1872 enforces it. But a purely private contract does not attract the public law remedy. In Binny Ltd. v. V. Sadasivan, (2005) 6 SCC 657, employees of a private company challenged their termination under a clause of their service agreement by writ petition. The Supreme Court held a writ is "pre-eminently a public law remedy" and "cannot be exercised to enforce purely private contracts". The remedy lay in the civil courts or under labour laws.
5. Customary law
Salmond's definition. Customary law is "any rule of action which is actually observed by men". "Custom is a law for those who observe it."
Illustration. A family or community custom of succession, or a usage of trade.
Indian illustration. Article 13(3)(a) of the Constitution counts "custom or usage having in the territory of India the force of law" as law. But a custom must be proved. In Bhimashya v. Janabi, AIRONLINE 2006 SC 355, an adoption relying on a local custom failed because the custom was neither pleaded nor proved. The Court said a custom "must be ancient, uniform, certain, peaceable, continuous and compulsory".
6. Practical law
Salmond's definition. Practical laws are "rules for the attainment of some practical end". They "inform us as to what we ought to do, or must do, in order to attain a certain end".
Illustration. Salmond listed "the laws of health, the laws of musical and poetical composition, the laws of style, the laws of architecture". Some laws of a game are practical, being rules for playing it well. Other laws of the same game are conventional, being the rules the players agree on.
7. International law
Salmond's definition. International law "consists of those rules which govern sovereign states in their relations and conduct towards each other". Salmond treated it as "essentially a species of conventional law", resting on express agreement (treaties) or implied agreement (custom).
Indian illustration. International law enters Indian law in limited ways. In Jolly George Verghese v. Bank of Cochin, (1980) 2 SCC 360, judgment-debtors were ordered to be arrested for an unpaid decree without any inquiry into their present ability to pay. They relied on Article 11 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Supreme Court held that "until the municipal law is changed to accommodate the Covenant what binds the court is the former". But "in the event of doubt, the national rule is to be interpreted in accordance with the State's international obligations". It read the Code of Civil Procedure accordingly and allowed the appeal.
8. Civil law
Meaning. Civil law, in Salmond's sense, is the law of the land, the law of the State. It is not "civil" as opposed to "criminal". Salmond defined the law as "the body of principles recognised and applied by the state in the administration of justice".
Illustration. The Constitution, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita 2023, the Indian Contract Act 1872 and the rules made under them.
Indian illustration. In A.K. Gopalan v. State of Madras, 1950 AIR 27, the majority held that "law" in Article 21 means "State-made law", not natural justice in the abstract. That is the civil law in Salmond's sense.
How the kinds overlap
Salmond's second remark matters in practice. One rule can belong to several classes.
- A contract is conventional law between the parties and civil law when a court enforces it.
- A custom proved in court is customary law and civil law.
- A treaty rule is conventional law, international law and, once Parliament enacts it, civil law.
- A principle of natural justice is moral law and, once applied by courts, civil law.
| Kind | Salmond's core idea | Illustration |
|---|---|---|
| Physical or scientific | Uniformities of nature; what happens | Law of gravitation |
| Natural or moral | Principles of natural right and wrong | No one judge in own cause (Kraipak) |
| Imperative | A command enforced by authority | Ten Commandments; a criminal statute |
| Conventional | Rules agreed by persons | Club rules, laws of cricket, contracts |
| Customary | Rules actually observed | Custom of succession (Bhimashya) |
| Practical | Rules for attaining an end | Laws of health, of style, of architecture |
| International | Rules between sovereign States | ICCPR read in (Jolly George Verghese) |
| Civil | Law applied by the State in justice | BNS, Contract Act (Gopalan) |
Criticism
- It is a list, not a classification. Salmond admitted this himself. The classes overlap and do not share one test.
- It mixes descriptive and prescriptive rules. Physical laws describe; the rest prescribe. Calling both "law" invites confusion.
- International law as "conventional" is disputed. Salmond himself recorded that writers were "far from being unanimous" on its nature.
- But it is useful. It teaches the student to ask, of any rule called "law", what kind it is and who enforces it.
Conclusion. Salmond's classification sorts the many uses of the word "law" into eight kinds: physical, natural or moral, imperative, conventional, customary, practical, international and civil. He insisted it was a mere enumeration, and that one rule may fall into several kinds. Its value lies in separating the law of the land, which courts apply, from rules of nature, morality, agreement, custom and skill. Indian cases such as Kraipak, Bhimashya, Jolly George Verghese and Gopalan show these kinds meeting inside the civil law.
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