KSLU Solved Question Papers
Private International Law (Hons)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 10
2022 Oct Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 10 Private International Law (Hons) 2022 Oct Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 2 November 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2022 Oct examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2022 Oct examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2022 Oct 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 2½ hours · Total marks 70 · 12 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.
Q1Describe the development of Private International Law in India.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what private international law is; why India has no single code; the statutes that hold its rules (the Code of Civil Procedure, the Indian Succession Act, the marriage and divorce Acts, the Arbitration Act and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam); the part played by the courts (Satya v. Teja Singh, Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkata Lakshmi, Pradeep Jain v. Union of India); India's treaties through the Hague Conference; and a conclusion.
What the subject is
Private international law decides three questions in a case with a foreign element. Which court has jurisdiction? Which country's law governs the issue? Will a foreign judgment be recognised or enforced? A marriage in Tirupati followed by a divorce in Missouri raises all three.
No single code
India has never enacted a code of private international law. Its rules are scattered. Some are in statutes and many come from the courts. In Y. Narasimha Rao the Supreme Court said exactly this. It named the places where the rules are found. They are the Civil Procedure Code, the Contract Act, the Indian Succession Act, the Indian Divorce Act and the Special Marriage Act.
The early period
Before 1947 the courts in British India often followed English rules where no Indian law spoke. They applied "justice, equity and good conscience". Personal laws governed family matters, so the law of the domicile and the personal law did much of the work.
The statutory rules
Foreign judgments. Section 13 of the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 makes a foreign judgment conclusive between the same parties, except in six cases. Section 14 presumes that the foreign court had jurisdiction. Section 44A allows a decree of a superior court of a reciprocating territory to be executed as if it were an Indian decree.
Domicile and succession. Part II of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 (sections 4 to 19) is India's statutory code of domicile. Section 5 sends succession to immovable property in India to Indian law. Succession to movables goes to the law of the domicile at death.
Marriage and divorce. The Special Marriage Act, 1954 lays down the conditions of a civil marriage. The Foreign Marriage Act, 1969 governs marriages of Indian citizens abroad. Section 2 of the Divorce Act, 1869 allows dissolution only where the parties are domiciled in India.
Jurisdiction clauses. Section 28 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, on agreements in restraint of legal proceedings, is the base of the law on jurisdiction clauses.
Arbitration. Part II of the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 enforces foreign awards under the New York and Geneva Conventions.
Evidence of foreign law. Foreign law is a fact to be proved. Section 32 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (formerly section 38 of the Evidence Act) makes official law books relevant. Section 39 (formerly section 45) admits expert opinion on foreign law.
The part played by the courts
Fraud on the foreign court. In Satya v. Teja Singh, AIR 1975 SC 105, a husband obtained a Nevada divorce by falsely claiming to be domiciled there. Held: the false claim was a fraud on the very fact that gave the Nevada court jurisdiction. The decree was not conclusive in India, and the wife could claim maintenance.
The rule for foreign matrimonial decrees. Y. Narasimha Rao v. Y. Venkata Lakshmi, (1991) 3 SCC 451, is the leading case. Facts. The parties married in Tirupati under Hindu law. The husband obtained a divorce in Missouri on 90 days' residence, and the wife did not submit to that court. Held: the decree could not be recognised. The jurisdiction of the foreign court, and the ground of relief, must accord with the law under which the parties married. Irretrievable breakdown was not a ground under the Hindu Marriage Act.
One domicile for India. In Pradeep Jain v. Union of India, (1984) 3 SCC 654, the Court held that under Article 5 of the Constitution there is only one domicile, the domicile of India. Domicile is a legal concept for deciding the personal law.
Domicile in practice. In Sankaran Govindan v. Lakshmi Bharathi, (1975) 3 SCC 351, the Court applied English law to a doctor who died domiciled in England. It also explained that fraud in section 13 means trickery of the court, not a wrong decision.
Treaties and international co-operation
India is a Member of the Hague Conference on Private International Law. It is a Contracting Party to the Apostille Convention, in force for India on 14 July 2005. It is also a party to the Service Convention, the Evidence Convention and the Intercountry Adoption Convention of 1993. It is not a party to the Child Abduction Convention, so its courts decide child removal cases on the child's welfare.
Assessment
The subject has grown case by case. The courts borrowed English rules and then adapted them to Indian personal laws. The result works, but it is hard to find. A student must look in many Acts and many judgments for the rule on one question.
Conclusion. Private international law in India developed without a code. Its rules sit in the Code of Civil Procedure, the Indian Succession Act and the marriage and divorce statutes. Others are in the Arbitration Act and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam. The Supreme Court filled the gaps, most of all in Satya v. Teja Singh and Y. Narasimha Rao, and India's Hague treaties have extended co-operation with other States.
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