KSLU Solved Question Papers
Jurisprudence
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2021 Mar Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Jurisprudence 2021 Mar 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 2021 Mar examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2021 Mar examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2021 Mar 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
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
(a)Discuss the nature and value of jurisprudence.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: jurisprudence defined, with definitions arranged in a table by the aspect each stresses (Ulpian, Austin, Holland, Salmond, Pound, Llewellyn); its nature in four points (a study of the general and not the particular; theory that serves practice; both analysis and evaluation; a growing subject); its value grouped as practical, educational, critical, social and cultural, each with an example; two decisions showing its practical value (State of Orissa v. Sudhansu Sekhar Misra, 1967, on what binds as precedent; Mohori Bibee v. Dharmodas Ghose, 1903, on capacity and the void agreement); a conclusion.
Definition
The word jurisprudence comes from the Latin juris prudentia, knowledge of law. Writers define it differently because each stresses a different aspect of law.
| Writer | Definition | What it stresses |
|---|---|---|
| Ulpian | Knowledge of things divine and human; the science of the just and unjust | Justice (too wide for today) |
| Austin | The philosophy of positive law | Law as laid down by the State |
| Writer | Definition | What it stresses |
|---|---|---|
| Holland | The formal science of positive law | The form of legal relations |
| Salmond | The science of the first principles of the civil law | Basic legal ideas |
| Pound | The science of law as social engineering | Law's work in society |
| Llewellyn | The study of what officials do about disputes | Law in action |
A working definition combines them: jurisprudence is the study of the general nature of law, its sources, its basic concepts and its purposes.
Its nature
- General, not particular. It does not study the rules of one Act. It studies ideas found throughout the law, such as right, duty, person and property.
- Theory that serves practice. It is theoretical, yet its conclusions decide real cases, whenever a court must ask what a legal idea means.
- Analysis and evaluation. It analyses the law as it is, and also asks whether the law is just and effective.
- A growing subject. New schools and new problems keep extending it, from realism to feminist and environmental thought.
Its value
1. Practical value. It tells the lawyer what actually binds. With the theory of precedent, he can separate the ratio of a case from its obiter dicta. He then knows which statements a court must follow.
2. Educational value. It trains the mind to define terms exactly, to classify, and to reason from principle. A student who understands the elements of a right can analyse any new statute.
3. Critical value. It supplies standards, such as justice and social welfare, by which laws can be criticised and reformed.
4. Social value. It shows law as a tool for meeting social needs and balancing interests, which guides legislators and judges in making law that works.
5. Cultural value. It connects the law of today with its history and with the thought of other societies, from dharma and natural law to modern theory. A lawyer who knows this background sees his own legal system as one answer among many, which makes him a wiser critic of it.
The objection answered
Some students say jurisprudence is too abstract to be useful, since no client asks about Austin or Savigny. The objection mistakes the form of the subject for its use. A client may never ask about Austin. But his case may turn on whether a company is a person, whether a custom is valid, or whether a decision binds. Those questions belong to jurisprudence. A lawyer who has studied it can answer them from principle when the statute and the reports run out. That is its real value.
Two decisions showing its practical value
Knowing what binds. In State of Orissa v. Sudhansu Sekhar Misra, 1968 AIR 647, the dispute concerned appointments to the Orissa judicial service and the High Court's "control" under article 235. The High Court relied on observations in two earlier Supreme Court decisions. The Supreme Court allowed the appeals. It held that a decision is an authority only for what it actually decides, and that its ratio, not every observation in it, is binding. That is the theory of precedent, taught by jurisprudence, applied to a live dispute.
Capacity and the void agreement. In Mohori Bibee v. Dharmodas Ghose, (1903) 30 IA 114, a minor mortgaged his property to a moneylender for a loan, and the lender's agent knew he was a minor. The Privy Council held that a minor's agreement is absolutely void. The lender acquired no right against the minor, and the mortgage was set aside. The case rests on the jurisprudential ideas of legal capacity and of an obligation that never came into existence.
Conclusion. Jurisprudence is the study of the general nature of law, its sources, concepts and purposes. Its definitions differ because each writer stresses a different aspect. In nature it is general, theoretical yet practical, analytical and evaluative, and always growing. Its value is practical, educational, critical, social and cultural. Sudhansu Sekhar Misra and Mohori Bibee show that its concepts decide real cases.
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