KSLU Solved Question Papers
Political Science (Organisation and Institutions)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 2
2012 Jun Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 2 Political Science (Organisation and Institutions) 2012 Jun 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 2012 Jun examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2012 Jun examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2012 Jun 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 · 20 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B. (1) Answer all 5 Questions. (2) One essay type and one short note question have to be attempted, which is referred as part (a) and (b) in all the units. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers 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)What is law ? Explain the relationship between law and morality.[15]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the meaning of law (Austin, Holland, its features); the meaning of morality; how law and morality are related (morality as the source, the test and the end of law); where they differ (source, scope, inner and outer conduct, sanction, certainty); where they overlap and where they part; the natural law and positivist views; the Hart and Devlin debate on enforcing morals, with Mill's harm principle; the Indian position (constitutional morality, Navtej Singh Johar, ADM Jabalpur); and a conclusion.
What is law?
Law is the body of rules of human conduct that the State makes or recognises and enforces through its courts. John Austin called it the command of the sovereign backed by a sanction. T. E. Holland called it "a general rule of external human action enforced by a sovereign political authority".
Law has four marks. It governs outward conduct. It is general, binding all in like situations. It comes from or is recognised by the State. And it is enforced by sanctions such as fines, imprisonment, damages or the nullity of a transaction.
What is morality?
Morality is the body of principles of right and wrong that a society accepts or a person's conscience holds. It tells us what is good and bad, just and unjust, in thought as well as action. It is enforced not by courts but by conscience, praise and blame, and the approval or disapproval of others.
How law and morality are related
1. Morality as the source of law. Much law began as moral rule. Murder, theft and fraud were wrongs in morality long before any statute. In India, laws against untouchability, dowry, child marriage and sexual harassment all gave legal force to moral demands.
2. Morality as a test of law. Natural law thinkers hold that law must conform to a higher moral standard. Aquinas taught that a human law which conflicts with the law of nature is a perversion of law. On this view a grossly unjust rule is not true law at all.
3. Morality as the end of law. Law aims at a good society: security, fairness and the protection of the weak. Many laws exist to promote moral ends such as honesty in trade, care for children and decent treatment of animals.
How they differ
- Source. Law comes from the State and its organs. Morality comes from conscience, religion, tradition and social conviction.
- Inner and outer conduct. Law looks mainly at what a person does, and at intention only so far as a rule requires. Morality judges the whole person, including motives and desires. A good motive is no defence to theft, yet an evil wish is a moral wrong though no law touches it.
- Sanction. Law is backed by State force. Morality relies on conscience and social pressure.
- Certainty. Law is fairly definite and can be found in statutes and judgments. Moral standards vary between persons, groups and ages.
- Scope. Morality covers ingratitude, unkindness and lying to a friend, which law ignores. Yet law also covers matters morally neutral, such as which side of the road to drive on or the date for filing a tax return.
Where they meet and where they part
- Both: murder, theft, cheating, cruelty, rape.
- Law only: traffic rules, registration of documents, stamp duty.
- Morality only: ingratitude, breaking a casual promise, failing to help a stranger in distress.
So the two are like overlapping circles. Neither wholly contains the other.
Two great schools
- Natural law says there is a necessary link. Law that violates basic morality is defective, and in the strong form, no law.
- Legal positivism (Austin, Kelsen, Hart) says there is no necessary link. Austin wrote that the existence of law is one thing, its merit or demerit another. Hart argued that it is more honest to say "this is law, but it is too wicked to obey" than to deny that it is law.
Should law enforce morality? The Hart and Devlin debate
In 1957 the Wolfenden Committee in England recommended that private homosexual acts between consenting adults should no longer be crimes. It said there must remain a realm of private morality that is "not the law's business".
Lord Devlin disagreed. A society is held together by a shared morality, he argued. Conduct that deeply offends the ordinary person threatens that bond, so the law may punish it even in private.
H. L. A. Hart, in Law, Liberty and Morality (1963), replied in the spirit of J. S. Mill. Mill's harm principle holds that power may be used against a person only "to prevent harm to others". A person's own good, or the majority's disgust, is not enough. Hart warned that enforcing popular morality as such leads to the tyranny of the majority. Most modern democracies have moved towards Hart's view.
The Indian position
The Indian Constitution builds moral standards into legal tests. Article 14 forbids arbitrariness, article 19 allows only reasonable restrictions, article 21 demands fair procedure, and "decency or morality" is a ground for restricting speech. Courts therefore make moral judgments under legal rules.
In Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, (2018) 10 SCC 1, the Supreme Court held section 377 of the Penal Code unconstitutional so far as it punished consensual sexual acts between adults. The section had been defended by appeal to popular morality. The Court held that constitutional morality, the values of dignity, equality and liberty in the Constitution, must prevail over popular or social morality. This is the Indian answer to the Hart and Devlin debate.
In Additional District Magistrate, Jabalpur v. Shivkant Shukla, AIR 1976 SC 1207, decided during the Emergency, the majority read the Constitution narrowly. It held that detainees could not seek habeas corpus while the right to move courts was suspended. Justice Khanna dissented: the right to life and liberty does not owe its existence to the Constitution alone. The majority view, a law cut off from morality, was later overruled, and the dissent is now honoured.
A worked example
Suppose a statute orders every citizen to report to the police anyone who criticises the government. Ravi knows where such a critic lives and stays silent.
- Has he broken the law? Yes, if the statute was validly made.
- Has he done wrong? On any ordinary moral view, no. He has done right.
- The positivist says the statute is law and Ravi is liable. Whether he was right to disobey is a separate moral question, and the answer is yes.
- The natural lawyer says the statute is so contrary to reason and human dignity that it is not law at all.
- The Indian lawyer asks whether it violates the freedom of speech under article 19(1)(a) and fair procedure under article 21. The moral objection becomes a legal one that a court can decide, and such a statute would very likely be struck down.
The example shows why the relation matters. Law and morality can conflict sharply, and a constitution with rights gives a peaceful way to resolve the conflict.
Why the relation matters
Law that ignores morality loses respect and becomes mere force. Law that enforces every moral opinion crushes liberty. The task is balance: law should embody the basic moral values of justice, dignity and freedom while leaving private conscience free.
Conclusion. Law is the body of rules made or recognised and enforced by the State. Morality is the body of principles of right and wrong enforced by conscience and opinion. They overlap but differ in source, scope, sanction and certainty. Morality is a source, a test and an aim of law. Natural law and positivism divide over whether the link is necessary. The Hart and Devlin debate asks how far law should enforce morals. India answers through constitutional morality, as Navtej Singh Johar shows.
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