munotes®
Sign in
Home / KSLU Solved Papers / B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) / Sem 3 / Political Science (State and Political Obligations) / 2011 Jun / Solutions

B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 3 Political Science (State and Political Obligations) 2011 Jun Question Paper with Solutions

KSLU Solved Question Papers

Political Science (State and Political Obligations)

Previous Year Question Paper with Solution

B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 3

2011 Jun Examination

munotes.in

Mumbai

munotes.in

First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.

Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.

Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.

Passages from this volume may be quoted, in print, online or by an AI system, with credit: name munotes.in and link to this volume's page. The volume may not be reproduced as a whole. Full terms at munotes.in/content-license.

munotes.in is an independent study resource for students of Karnataka State Law University. It is not affiliated with Karnataka State Law University, and is not endorsed by it.

The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.

The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2011 Jun examination.

munotes.in ii

Contents

The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2011 Jun examination, in the order it was set.

MarksPage

munotes.in iii

MarksPage

munotes.in iv

The Paper as Set

The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2011 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) 1) Answer all Questions. 2) Figures to the right indicate marks. 3) Answers should be written either in English or Kannada completely. 4) One essay type and one short note question have to be attempted, which is referred as Part (a) and Part (b).

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.

Read the original question paper

munotes.in v

Q1

Unit I

munotes.in 1

(a)What is the meaning of law ? Explain safeguards against unjust laws.[15]

Answer

For full marks, cover: the meaning of law (the word, three or four definitions, its essential features); what makes a law unjust (natural law and positivist views; the practical tests); why safeguards are needed; the safeguards, grouped as constitutional (written rights, judicial review, basic structure), institutional (separation of powers, rule of law, federalism, legislative procedure), democratic (elections, opposition, press, public opinion) and personal (petition, litigation, civil disobedience, resistance); Indian cases (Mithu, Navtej Singh Johar, Kesavananda Bharati); and a conclusion.

Meaning of law

The English word law comes from an old Norse root meaning something "laid down" or fixed. In politics, law means the body of rules of conduct that the State recognises and enforces.

Thinkers define it in different ways:

  1. John Austin: law is the command of the sovereign, backed by a sanction.
munotes.in 2
  1. T. E. Holland: law is "a general rule of external human action enforced by a sovereign political authority".
  2. Natural law thinkers such as Aquinas: law is a rule of reason for the common good. It is made by the one who has care of the community.
  3. Sociological jurists such as Roscoe Pound: law is a tool of social engineering, used to balance competing interests.

From these, the essential features of law appear:

  1. It is a rule of external conduct, not of private thought.
  2. It is general, applying to all in like situations.
  3. It is made or recognised by the State.
  4. It is backed by sanctions, enforced by courts and officials.
  5. It aims at order and justice in social life.

When is a law unjust?

A law may be made in proper form and still be unjust. Two schools answer differently whether such a rule is law at all.

munotes.in 3
  1. Natural law says "an unjust law is not a law" (lex iniusta non est lex). A grossly wicked rule has no claim to obedience.
  2. Legal positivism (Austin, Hart) says a rule validly made is law, however bad. H. L. A. Hart preferred to say: this is law, but it is too unjust to obey. That keeps the moral problem in view.

Practical tests help identify an unjust law:

  1. It treats people unequally without a rational reason.
  2. It takes away a basic interest such as life, personal liberty, conscience or livelihood.
  3. It is made or applied unfairly: retrospective punishment, no hearing, a judge in his own cause.
  4. It fails Lon Fuller's tests of a proper legal order: it is secret, vague, retrospective, contradictory or impossible to obey.
  5. Those it burdens had no voice in making it.
  6. Its only defence is that it is old.
munotes.in 4

Why safeguards are needed

The State holds great power, and legislatures can be captured by a majority, a party or a powerful interest. Laws affect life, liberty and property. History shows slavery, apartheid and religious persecution all enforced through valid laws. A free society therefore needs ways to prevent unjust laws, cure them when made, and resist them in the last resort.

A. Constitutional safeguards

  1. A written constitution with fundamental rights. Rights placed above ordinary law limit what the legislature may do. Article 13 of the Indian Constitution declares void any law that takes away or abridges the fundamental rights.
  2. Judicial review. Independent courts can strike down a law that violates the constitution. This is the most effective cure in a constitutional democracy.
munotes.in 5
  1. The basic structure. In Kesavananda Bharati v. State of Kerala, AIR 1973 SC 1461, the Supreme Court held by seven to six that Parliament's power to amend the Constitution does not extend to destroying its basic structure. Even an amendment cannot remove the core of democracy, rights and the rule of law.
  2. Protections in criminal law. Article 20 bars retrospective criminal laws, double punishment and compelled self-incrimination. Article 21 requires a fair, just and reasonable procedure before life or liberty is taken.

B. Institutional safeguards

  1. Separation of powers. When law-making, execution and adjudication are in different hands, no organ can both make and enforce an oppressive rule unchecked. Montesquieu argued this in The Spirit of Laws.
  2. The rule of law. As A. V. Dicey explained, no one may be punished except for a breach of law proved before ordinary courts. All persons, including officials, are equal before the law.
  3. Careful legislative procedure. Debate, committee scrutiny, a second chamber and the President's power to return a Bill for reconsideration (article 111) give time to detect injustice.
munotes.in 6
  1. Control of delegated legislation. Rules made by the executive are laid before the legislature and can be struck down by courts if they exceed the parent Act.
  2. Federalism and decentralisation. Dividing power between Union, States and local bodies prevents a single centre from imposing one unjust rule on all.
  3. Independent bodies. Human rights commissions, the Election Commission and the Comptroller and Auditor-General check abuse.

C. Democratic safeguards

  1. Periodic elections. Voters can remove a government that passes unjust laws.
  2. A strong opposition. It exposes bad Bills and offers alternatives.
  3. A free press. It informs the public and gives a platform to those harmed.
  4. Public opinion. Laski held that rights are safe only where citizens are alert. Organised opinion through parties, interest groups and civil society can force repeal.
  5. Right to information. Open government makes it harder to hide unjust purposes.

D. Personal safeguards: what the citizen can do

munotes.in 7
  1. Petition and representation to legislators and ministers.
  2. Litigation: a person affected can challenge the law in court, as many have done in India through writ petitions and public interest litigation.
  3. Civil disobedience: open, non-violent breach of an unjust law, with acceptance of the penalty, to awaken the conscience of the majority. Thoreau, Gandhi and Martin Luther King used it.
  4. Resistance: Locke allowed the people to resist a government that breaks its trust after "a long train of abuses". It is a last resort when all lawful remedies fail.
munotes.in 8

A worked example

Suppose a State law requires every applicant for a ration card to prove fifteen years of continuous residence. Apply the tests. The rule treats recent migrants differently, and fifteen years is far more than needed to stop duplicate cards. It touches subsistence, a basic interest. Its real purpose, to keep migrants out, could not be stated openly. Those hit hardest have the least political voice. The safeguards then come into play. An affected person can apply, obtain a written refusal and challenge the rule in the High Court under article 226. The press and opposition can raise it in public, and voters can punish it at the next election. Civil disobedience is needed only if every such route is closed.

Indian examples of unjust laws struck down

In Mithu v. State of Punjab, (1983) 2 SCC 277, section 303 of the Indian Penal Code imposed a mandatory death sentence on a life convict who committed murder. The court could consider nothing about the crime or the criminal. The Supreme Court struck it down under articles 14 and 21. There was no rational basis for singling out life convicts. A procedure that shut out all consideration of the circumstances was not fair, just and reasonable.

munotes.in 9

In Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India, (2018) 10 SCC 1, a Constitution Bench held section 377 unconstitutional so far as it criminalised consensual sexual acts between adults in private. The Court found it manifestly arbitrary and over-broad, and contrary to dignity, privacy and equality. It held that constitutional morality, not popular morality, must govern.

Both provisions had been validly enacted in 1860. Their age did not save them. Judicial review worked as the safeguard against unjust law.

Conclusion. Law is a general rule of external conduct made or recognised by the State and enforced by sanctions, aiming at order and justice. A law may still be unjust when it is unequal, oppressive, unfair or imposed without a voice. The safeguards are written rights and judicial review, the basic structure, separation of powers, the rule of law and careful procedure. They also include elections, a free press and vigilant public opinion, and, as a last resort, civil disobedience and resistance. Mithu and Navtej Singh Johar show these safeguards working in India.

munotes.in 10

The rest of the answers

The first answer is free. The rest come with the KSLU B.A. LL.B. Semester 3 solved papers.

You have read the question paper and its first answer in full. Buy the solved papers once and you can read every answer of every solved paper in this semester.

Solved papers: ₹499 Already bought it? Sign in

The question paper itself stays free.

Issue

Found an error in this volume? Report it and we will check it against the paper.

Done!