KSLU Solved Question Papers
Family Law I (Hindu Law)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2025 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Family Law I (Hindu Law) 2025 Jan Question Paper with Solutions
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 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/ problems 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)Briefly enumerate the sources of Hindu Law with special reference to 'Smritis'.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the sources in outline (ancient: Sruti, Smriti, commentaries and digests, custom; modern: equity, precedent, legislation); the Smritis in detail: meaning, the two stages (Dharmasutras in prose, Dharmashastras in verse), the leading Smritis (Manu, Yajnavalkya, Narada, Brihaspati, Katyayana, Parashara) and what each is known for, their three subjects (achara, vyavahara, prayaschitta), their authority against the Sruti and against custom (Collector of Madura), how conflicts were resolved by the commentaries; the Smritis today; Narayana Deekshitulu and Saraswathi Ammal; a conclusion.
The sources in outline
Hindu law has ancient and modern sources.
- Ancient sources. Sruti (the Vedas), Smriti, the commentaries and digests, and custom.
- Modern sources. Justice, equity and good conscience; judicial precedent; and legislation.
Of the ancient sources, the Smritis are the main written source of the rules of Hindu law. The Sruti holds very few legal rules. Custom is strong but must be proved in each case. So the Smritis are where most of the classical law is found.
What the Smritis are
Smriti means "that which is remembered". The Smritis are the texts composed by the sages, believed to record what they remembered of the revealed law. They are distinguished from the Sruti, "that which is heard", the Vedas themselves.
They grew in two stages.
- The Dharmasutras, in prose, are the earlier works. The best known are those of Gautama, Baudhayana, Apastamba and Vasishtha.
- The Dharmashastras, in verse, came later and are more systematic. They are the Smritis in the narrow sense.
The leading Smritis
- Manusmriti. The most famous and the most authoritative. It covers the duties of the varnas and the stages of life, the king's duties, and the law. Later Smritis treated Manu as the highest authority.
- Yajnavalkya Smriti. Shorter, clearer and better arranged than Manu. Its importance is that Vijnaneswara wrote the Mitakshara as a commentary on it. Through the Mitakshara it became the basis of the law in most of India, including Karnataka.
- Narada Smriti. It deals almost wholly with law and procedure, not ritual. It sets out the titles of law in detail.
- Brihaspati and Katyayana. They are known chiefly for their rules on procedure, evidence and women's property.
- Parashara Smriti. It was regarded as the Smriti suited to the present age, the Kali Yuga.
What the Smritis deal with
The Smritis divide their subject into three parts.
- Achara, the rules of conduct, rites and ceremonies.
- Vyavahara, the civil and criminal law and procedure. The Smritis list eighteen titles of law, such as debts, deposits, partition, inheritance and the relations of husband and wife.
- Prayaschitta, the rules of penance.
Only vyavahara was applied by the king's courts. That is the part of the Smritis that became Hindu law in the modern sense.
The Supreme Court described the meaning of dharma in these texts in A.S. Narayana Deekshitulu v. State of Andhra Pradesh, AIR 1996 SC 1765. Hereditary temple priests challenged a 1987 Andhra Pradesh law ending hereditary rights, and the Court upheld it. It adopted Justice M. Rama Jois's explanation. Dharma covers rules for every aspect of life, and "Dharma regulates the mutual obligations of individual and the society". In the context of the State it means law, so "Dharmarajya means Rule of Law". The vyavahara part of the Smritis is dharma in this legal sense.
The authority of the Smritis
- Against the Sruti. In theory the Sruti is higher. Where a Smriti conflicts with the Sruti, the Sruti prevails. In practice conflicts rarely arose, because the Sruti has few legal rules.
- Among themselves. The Smritis often differ. Where they conflicted, the later writers tried to reconcile them. Where reconciliation failed, the commentator chose the rule he thought better reasoned or more widely followed.
- Against custom. A proved custom prevails over a Smriti text. In Collector of Madura v. Moottoo Ramalinga Sathupathy, (1868) 12 MIA 397, a widow adopted a boy with the consent of her husband's sapindas. The Privy Council upheld the adoption. It said that, under the Hindu system of law, clear proof of usage will outweigh the written text of the law. So the Smritis were never a closed code.
The commentaries built on the Smritis
The Smritis reached the courts mainly through the commentaries. The Mitakshara, on the Yajnavalkya Smriti, gave rise to the Mitakshara school. The Dayabhaga of Jimutavahana, a digest of many Smritis, gave rise to the Dayabhaga school of Bengal. So the two schools of Hindu law are two ways of reading the Smritis.
When the texts are silent
Where neither a Smriti, a commentary nor a custom gave a rule, the courts used justice, equity and good conscience. In Saraswathi Ammal v. Jagadambal, AIR 1953 SC 201, a dasi of Tanjore died leaving three daughters. A custom favouring one daughter was set up but not proved. The Supreme Court applied the rule of nearness of relationship as justice, equity and good conscience, and the daughters took equally.
The Smritis today
Much of the law of the Smritis has now been replaced by statute. The Hindu Marriage Act 1955 and the three Acts of 1956 override the old texts on the matters they cover. Section 4 of the Marriage Act and of the Succession Act says so. But the Smritis still matter in three ways. They govern the joint family, partition and religious endowments, where the Acts are silent. They explain the origin of rules the Acts have kept. And they remain the key to reading the commentaries on which the old case law rests.
Conclusion. The sources of Hindu law are Sruti, Smriti, the commentaries, custom, and today equity, precedent and legislation. The Smritis, from the Dharmasutras to the Dharmashastras of Manu, Yajnavalkya and Narada, were the main written source. Their vyavahara part became the law the courts applied, chiefly through the Mitakshara and the Dayabhaga. They yielded to the Sruti in theory and to proved custom in practice, as Collector of Madura shows. Legislation has now replaced most of them, but they still govern the joint family and explain the law that remains.
The rest of the answers
The first answer is free. The rest come with the KSLU B.A. LL.B. Semester 5 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.
Found an error in this volume? Report it and we will check it against the paper.