KSLU Solved Question Papers
Jurisprudence
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 5
2026 Jan (100 marks) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 5 Jurisprudence 2026 Jan (100 marks) 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 2026 Jan (100 marks) examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2026 Jan (100 marks) 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 · 13 questions answered
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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.
Q1Define Jurisprudence. Explain the nature, scope and significance of jurisprudence.[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the meaning of the word and the main definitions (Ulpian, Austin, Holland, Salmond, Pound, Stone); the nature of jurisprudence (a science in the wider sense, theoretical, general, with no fixed content); its scope (analytical, historical, ethical, sociological and realist; the narrow and the wide view, with a table); its significance, shown through three Indian decisions (Yogendra Nath Naskar, 1969; Ravinder Kaur Grewal, 2019; Vishaka, 1997); limits; a conclusion.
Meaning of the word
The word comes from Latin. Juris means "of law" and prudentia means knowledge or skill. So jurisprudentia means knowledge of law. In Rome the jurisprudentes were the learned jurists whose opinions carried authority.
The Roman jurist Ulpian defined it as "the knowledge of things divine and human, the science of the just and the unjust". That definition is far too wide for today, because it would include all of theology and ethics. It is quoted only to show how the word began.
Definitions
- Austin: jurisprudence is "the philosophy of positive law". By positive law he meant law as actually laid down by a political superior, not law as it ought to be.
- Holland: jurisprudence is "the formal science of positive law". It studies the form and structure of legal ideas, not the content of particular rules. He said jurisprudence is to law what grammar is to a language.
- Salmond: jurisprudence is "the science of the first principles of the civil law". Civil law here means the law of the land. Jurisprudence studies the foundations on which every branch of law stands.
- Roscoe Pound: jurisprudence is the science of law as social engineering, the ordering of human relations through a politically organised society.
- Julius Stone: jurisprudence is "the lawyer's extraversion". It is the lawyer looking at his own discipline in the light of history, ethics, economics and sociology.
Put simply, jurisprudence is the study of what law is, where it comes from, and what its basic ideas mean. It studies the concepts that every Act uses and no Act defines: right, duty, person, property, possession, ownership and obligation.
The nature of jurisprudence
Is it a science? It is a science in the older and wider sense of a systematic, reasoned body of knowledge. It analyses legal ideas, breaks them into elements and arranges them in a connected scheme. It is not a science in the experimental sense. It cannot be tested in a laboratory, and its conclusions depend partly on the values of the writer.
Is it an art? No. An art, like advocacy or drafting, teaches a skill in doing something. Jurisprudence teaches nothing to be done. It changes how a lawyer reasons.
Its main features are these.
- It is theoretical, not practical. No court applies jurisprudence as such, though courts reason with its ideas.
- It is general, not particular. It asks what is true of law as such, not only of Indian or English law.
- It has no fixed content. Salmond said it has no cultivated field of its own, because its subject is the whole of the law.
- It is growing. New schools arose because older ones failed to explain something. Feminist legal theory is one of the newest.
- It is often called the eye of law. An eye does not move the body, but the body cannot see without it.
The scope of jurisprudence
The scope of jurisprudence means how far it reaches. In principle it is unlimited. By convention it is divided into the following branches.
- Analytical jurisprudence studies the law as it is. It analyses legal concepts with precision. Bentham, Austin, Holland, Salmond, Hohfeld, Kelsen and Hart belong here.
- Historical jurisprudence studies the law as it has become: its origin and growth in the life of a people. Savigny, Puchta and Maine belong here.
- Ethical jurisprudence studies the law as it ought to be: its purposes and the standard of justice. Natural law thinkers belong here.
- Sociological jurisprudence studies law in its working in society: whose interests it serves and whether it is obeyed. Ihering, Ehrlich, Duguit and Pound belong here.
- Realist jurisprudence studies what courts actually do. Holmes, Gray, Frank and Llewellyn, and the Scandinavians, belong here.
These branches are not watertight. Hart is analytical but also writes on law and morality. Maine is historical but also comparative. A village custom can be studied in all five ways. We may ask whether it meets the legal tests and how it grew. We may ask whether it is just, whom it serves, and what courts have done with it.
Writers differ on how wide the scope is.
| Point | Narrow view (Austin, Holland) | Wide view (Salmond, Pound, Stone) |
|---|---|---|
| Studies | Positive law as it is | Law as it is, as it grew, and as it ought to be |
| Morality | Outside the subject | Inside it |
| History and sociology | Outside the subject | Inside it |
| Point | Narrow view (Austin, Holland) | Wide view (Salmond, Pound, Stone) |
|---|---|---|
| Strength | Precise and clear | Explains why rules exist and whether they work |
| Weakness | Cannot explain change or purpose | So wide that little is excluded |
The modern view is the wide one. A legal system that nobody obeys, or that nobody can justify, is a real problem for lawyers. A subject that cannot discuss it is of little use.
The significance of jurisprudence
- It supplies the vocabulary of all law. Every Act uses words like right, person and property. Jurisprudence is where they are explained.
- It trains the legal mind to analyse ideas and to reason when no rule fits.
- It helps the legislator draft clear provisions and avoid confusing a right with a power.
- It gives standards of criticism, so that a lawyer can judge whether a law is just or works well.
- It helps judges decide new questions where the statute is silent.
- It makes comparison of legal systems possible.
- It has cultural value, showing law as part of a society's history and thought.
Significance shown in Indian decisions
Legal personality. In Yogendra Nath Naskar v. Commissioner of Income-tax, Calcutta, 1969 AIR 1089, the Income-tax Officer assessed two Hindu deities, through their shebaits, as "individuals". The question was whether a deity could be taxed at all. The Supreme Court held that a Hindu idol is a juristic entity capable of holding property. It falls within the word "individual" in the Income-tax Act and can be assessed through its shebaits. The answer came from the jurisprudential idea of legal personality, not from any section that defined a deity.
Possession. In Ravinder Kaur Grewal v. Manjit Kaur, AIR 2019 SC 3827, three judges asked whether a person who has completed title by adverse possession may himself sue on it. Earlier decisions had said adverse possession was only a defence. The Court held that once twelve years pass, the owner's right to eject is lost. The possessor acquires the owner's right, title and interest, and may use it as a sword as well as a shield. The reasoning came from the nature of possession, which jurisprudence teaches.
Filling a gap with principle. In Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan, AIR 1997 SC 3011, there was no law against sexual harassment at the workplace. The Supreme Court held that harassment violates articles 14, 15 and 21, and read international conventions into the fundamental rights. It laid down guidelines to be treated as law under article 141 until Parliament acted. Here ideas from ethical and sociological jurisprudence, about the purpose of law and its working in society, shaped a binding rule.
Limits
Jurisprudence does not replace knowledge of the statutes. A student who can discuss Kelsen but cannot find the limitation period is of no use to a client. It also does not give final answers. Different schools reach different conclusions on the same question, which is a strength of the subject and a source of frustration to students.
Conclusion. Jurisprudence is the science of the first principles of law. It studies what law is, where it comes from and what its basic ideas mean. In nature it is theoretical, general and systematic. In scope it covers law as it is, as it has grown and as it ought to be. It now also studies law at work in society and in the courts. Its significance lies in supplying the concepts every branch of law uses, as Naskar, Ravinder Kaur Grewal and Vishaka show. It also trains the reasoning a lawyer needs when the rules run out.
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