KSLU Solved Question Papers
Law of Torts
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 2
2025 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 2 Law of Torts 2025 Jan Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2025 Jan examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2025 Jan examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2025 Jan 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 80 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all five Units. (2) One essay type question and short note/problem is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written either in English or Kannada completely.
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.
Q1
Unit I
(a)"Torts are civil wrongs, but all civil wrongs are not torts." Justify the statement with cases.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the two halves of the statement; why every tort is a civil wrong (who sues, what remedy, how it differs from a crime); the civil wrongs that are not torts (breach of contract, breach of trust, quasi-contract), each with its source and remedy; what marks out a tort from them (duty fixed by law, owed to persons generally, unliquidated damages); the cases (Jay Laxmi Salt Works, Donoghue v. Stevenson, Ashby v. White); the overlap where one act is both; a conclusion.
The statement in two halves
The statement makes two claims. The first is that every tort is a civil wrong. The second is that the class of civil wrongs is wider than torts. Tort is one member of a larger family. To justify the statement, an answer must show what puts a tort inside that family. It must also show what keeps the other members out of the law of torts.
First half: every tort is a civil wrong
A wrong is civil when the law leaves it to the injured person to sue, and the remedy is compensation to him. A wrong is criminal when the State prosecutes it and the remedy is punishment. A tort has every civil feature.
- The injured person brings the action. He sues in his own name, and he may settle or drop the claim.
- The remedy is for his benefit. The court awards damages, which go to him, or an injunction, which protects him.
- The proceeding is a civil suit or claim. The civil standard of proof applies, the balance of probabilities.
Ashby v. White (1703), as the Supreme Court recounted it in Lucknow Development Authority v. M.K. Gupta, AIR 1994 SC 787, shows this private character. A returning officer wrongfully refused to take a qualified elector's vote. His candidate won anyway, so the elector lost nothing. Yet he recovered damages, because his own legal right had been violated. The wrong was to him, and the remedy was his.
Second half: civil wrongs that are not torts
The Limitation Act 1963 itself recognises the point. Section 2(m) defines a tort as "a civil wrong which is not exclusively the breach of a contract or the breach of a trust". So the law accepts that some civil wrongs are something else. The main ones are these.
1. Breach of contract. In contract, the parties create the duty by their own agreement. It is owed only to the other party. The remedy is damages measured by section 73 of the Indian Contract Act 1872, or specific performance.
Jay Laxmi Salt Works (P) Ltd v. State of Gujarat, (1994) 4 SCC 1. The State had built a reclamation bund, and the appellant's salt works were flooded and destroyed. The High Court had found the State negligent. The Supreme Court explained the difference between the two wrongs. A duty in tort is fixed by law and owed to persons generally. A contractual duty is fixed by the parties and owed to specified persons. The salt works had no contract with the State, and the claim succeeded in tort.
2. Breach of trust. A trustee holds property for a beneficiary. If he misuses it, the beneficiary's claim arises in equity. Historically it was enforced in the Court of Chancery, not by the common law action for damages. The remedy is usually an account, that is, restoring a definite sum.
3. Quasi-contract. Sections 68 to 72 of the Indian Contract Act 1872 make a person return a benefit he received at another's cost. Examples are money paid by mistake, or goods delivered to the wrong person. There is no agreement, and there is no tort. The remedy is the return of a definite sum.
What makes a civil wrong a tort
Two tests separate a tort from its relatives.
- Source of the duty. In tort the duty is fixed by law, not by agreement or by a trust.
- Kind of remedy. The usual remedy is unliquidated damages, an amount the court fixes. Breach of trust and quasi-contract usually lead to a liquidated, definite sum.
Donoghue v. Stevenson, (1932) AC 562, shows the first test at work. A friend bought Mrs Donoghue a ginger beer in an opaque bottle. She said she fell ill from what was in it. She had no contract with the manufacturer, so a claim in contract was impossible. The House of Lords held that the manufacturer owed her a duty of care imposed by law. The civil wrong was therefore a tort.
Comparing the civil wrongs
| Civil wrong | Where the duty comes from | Usual remedy | A tort? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tort | The general law | Unliquidated damages, injunction | Yes |
| Breach of contract | The parties' agreement | Damages under s. 73 ICA, specific performance | No |
| Breach of trust | The trust, enforced in equity | Account, restoration of property | No |
| Quasi-contract | Sections 68 to 72 ICA | Return of a definite sum | No |
Where the classes overlap
The word "exclusively" in section 2(m) matters. One act may be both a tort and a breach of contract. A bus company that carries a paying passenger carelessly breaks the contract of carriage. It also commits the tort of negligence. The passenger may sue on either ground, though he cannot recover twice. What the definition excludes is a wrong that is only a breach of contract or only a breach of trust.
Why the distinction matters
- Who can sue. Only a party can sue on a contract. Anyone to whom the legal duty was owed can sue in tort, as Mrs Donoghue did.
- Limitation. Each wrong has its own period under the Limitation Act 1963. Libel, slander and false imprisonment carry one year (articles 73, 75 and 76), while a breach of contract carries three (article 55).
- Measure of damages. Tort damages aim to put the plaintiff where he was before the wrong. Contract damages aim to put him where he would have been if the promise had been kept.
Conclusion. The statement is correct. Every tort is a civil wrong, because the injured person sues for his own compensation, as in Ashby v. White. But breach of contract, breach of trust and quasi-contract are civil wrongs too, and they are not torts. A tort is marked out by a duty fixed by law and owed to people generally, as Jay Laxmi Salt Works and Donoghue v. Stevenson show. Its remedy is unliquidated damages.
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