KSLU Solved Question Papers
Family Law I (Hindu Law)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2022 Oct Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Family Law I (Hindu Law) 2022 Oct 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 2022 Oct examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
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 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/ 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)Explain 'Smriti' as a source of Hindu Law.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what Smriti means and its place among the sources (below Shruti in theory, below proved custom in practice); the Dharmasutras and the Dharmashastras in brief; why the Smritis were the main written source; the rules of present law that come from the Smritis, each traced: the son's right by birth (Sushil Kumar), the pious obligation (Luhar Amrit Lal Nagji), the forms and rites of marriage, stridhan (Pratibha Rani), adoption by giving and taking, the dedication of property to a deity (Ram Jankijee), and the duty to maintain; how far the Smritis bind today (section 4 of the 1955 and 1956 Acts); a table; a conclusion.
What Smriti means
Smriti means "that which is remembered". The sages were believed to have remembered the teaching of the Vedas and set it down as rules of conduct. Shruti, "that which is heard", is the Vedas themselves.
The Smritis came in two stages.
- The Dharmasutras, in prose, such as those of Gautama, Baudhayana, Apastamba and Vasishtha.
- The Dharmashastras, in verse, such as those of Manu, Yajnavalkya and Narada, followed by Brihaspati and Katyayana.
Its place among the sources
In theory the Smriti ranked below the Shruti, and a Smriti against a Vedic text gave way. In practice the Shruti had little law in it. So the Smritis were the main written source of the classical law. Commentaries such as the Mitakshara and the Dayabhaga then explained and reconciled them.
But a Smriti did not override a proved custom. Clear proof of usage outweighed the written text, as the Privy Council held in Collector of Madura v. Moottoo Ramalinga Sathupathy, (1868) 12 MIA 397.
Smriti rules that still shape the law
The best way to see the Smriti as a source is to trace its rules into the law courts apply today.
1. The son's right by birth. Yajnavalkya said that in land acquired by the grandfather, the ownership of father and son is equal. The Mitakshara built the coparcenary on this text. Sushil Kumar v. Ram Prakash, AIR 1988 SC 576, applied it. A karta agreed to sell the family house, and his sons sued for an injunction. The Supreme Court restated that a son acquires by birth an interest equal to his father's in ancestral property. It held, however, that the sons' remedy was to challenge the sale afterwards, not to stop it in advance.
2. The pious obligation. Smriti texts, such as those of Narada and Brihaspati, made it a son's religious duty to pay his father's debts. Debts for immoral or illegal purposes were excepted. Luhar Amrit Lal Nagji v. Doshi Jayantilal Jethalal, AIR 1960 SC 964, applied this rule. A father had lost money speculating in gold and silver and mortgaged family property. The sons had to prove both that the debt was immoral and that the creditor knew it. Section 6(4) of the Hindu Succession Act ended the pious obligation for debts contracted after the 2005 amendment.
3. The forms and rites of marriage. Manu listed eight forms of marriage: Brahma, Daiva, Arsha, Prajapatya, Asura, Gandharva, Rakshasa and Paisacha. The first four were approved and the last four disapproved. The forms have gone, but the Smriti rites remain. Section 7 of the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 requires the customary rites. Where saptapadi is one of them, the marriage is complete at the seventh step.
4. Stridhan. Manu named six kinds of a woman's property. Three are gifts before the nuptial fire, at the bridal procession and in token of love. The other three are gifts from her brother, her mother and her father. The Smritis allowed the husband to use it only in distress. Pratibha Rani v. Suraj Kumar, (1985) 2 SCC 370, applied this idea. A wife complained that her husband refused to return her stridhan. The Supreme Court held that she is its absolute owner. The husband may use it only in extreme distress, and refusing to return it is criminal breach of trust.
5. Adoption. The Smritis recognised the dattaka, a son given by his parents to another. The core of that rite, the actual giving and taking of the child, survives in section 11(vi) of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act 1956. The Act says the datta homam is not essential.
6. Dedication to a deity. Ram Jankijee Deities v. State of Bihar, (1999) 5 SCC 50, concerned two deeds of 1950 dedicating land to two deities. The Supreme Court held each deity a separate juristic person. It relied on the Shastras, which require sankalpa (the resolve) and utsarga (the giving up) for an effective dedication. So a Smriti rule still decides whether an endowment exists.
7. The duty to maintain. The Smritis made it a duty to maintain aged parents, a wife and young children. Sections 18 and 20 of the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act now enact that duty.
How far the Smritis bind today
The four Acts of 1955 and 1956 override the texts on every matter they deal with. Section 4 of the Hindu Marriage Act and section 4 of the Hindu Succession Act say so expressly. So no court today applies a Smriti against a statute.
The Smritis still decide matters the Acts leave alone. These include the joint family and the karta, partition, religious endowments and the pious obligation for older debts. Courts also read the Acts in the light of the ideas the Smritis gave them.
The Smriti in present law at a glance
| Smriti rule | Present law | Authority |
|---|---|---|
| Equal ownership of father and son | Coparcenary by birth (s.6 HSA) | Sushil Kumar |
| Son pays father's debts | Pious obligation, ended for new debts (s.6(4)) | Luhar Amrit Lal Nagji |
| Marriage rites, saptapadi | Section 7 HMA | Statute |
| Six kinds of stridhan | Wife's absolute property | Pratibha Rani |
| Giving and taking a son | Section 11(vi) HAMA | Statute |
| Sankalpa and utsarga | Dedication to a deity | Ram Jankijee |
| Duty to maintain | Sections 18 and 20 HAMA | Statute |
Conclusion. The Smritis were the main written source of classical Hindu law. They ranked below the Shruti in theory and below proved custom in practice, as Collector of Madura holds. Their rules still run through the law. The son's right by birth is one, restated in Sushil Kumar. The pious obligation, applied in Luhar Amrit Lal Nagji, is another, as are stridhan in Pratibha Rani and dedication in Ram Jankijee. Where the Acts of 1955 and 1956 speak, they override the Smritis. Where the Acts are silent, the Smriti still governs.
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