KSLU Solved Question Papers
Family Law II (Mohammedan Law and Indian Succession Act)
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 6
2023 Mar Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 6 Family Law II (Mohammedan Law and Indian Succession Act) 2023 Mar 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 2023 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 2023 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
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 or in 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 different sources of Muslim Law.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what a source of law is; the classical division into the Quran, the Sunna, Ijma and Qiyas, with the ranking; each primary source in a short paragraph (meaning, kinds, place); custom as a secondary source and its displacement by section 2 of the Shariat Application Act 1937; the modern sources (legislation, judicial precedent, and equity, justice and good conscience); Shah Bano, Shayara Bano and Abdul Kadir v. Salima explained; the order an Indian court follows today; a conclusion.
What a source of law means
A source of law is the place from which a binding rule is taken. In Muslim law the sources are ranked. When two sources disagree, the higher one prevails.
The classical jurists divided the sources into two groups. The Quran and the Sunna are revealed sources. Ijma and Qiyas are sources derived by human reasoning. To these, Indian courts add custom and three modern sources.
The primary sources
- The Quran. It is the first and highest source. Muslims believe it is the word of God revealed to the Prophet. Only a small part of it is cast as legal rules. That part is concentrated in marriage, dower, divorce, maintenance and inheritance. No rule from any other source can stand against a clear text of the Quran.
- The Sunna. It is the practice of the Prophet: his words (sunnat ul qaul), his acts (sunnat ul fiil) and his tacit approvals (sunnat ul taqrir). It is known through reports called hadith. A hadith is graded by the strength of its chain of transmission. The Sunna explains and supplements the Quran, and ranks second.
- Ijma. It is the agreement of the qualified jurists (mujtahids) of one period on a question that the Quran and the Sunna do not settle. Once formed, it binds and closes the question. Much of the settled law of marriage, dower and divorce rests on it.
- Qiyas. It is reasoning by analogy. A rule settled for one case is extended to a new case that shares the same effective cause (illat). Its four elements are the original case, the rule, the effective cause and the new case. It is the weakest primary source. The Shia schools do not accept it and rely on reason (aql) instead.
The ranking is Quran, Sunna, Ijma, Qiyas. A lower source cannot override a clear text of a higher one.
Custom: a secondary source that statute has displaced
In classical law custom only filled gaps. In British India the courts went further and applied proved customs, many of which excluded daughters and widows from inheritance. Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 ended that.
Section 2 opens with the words "Notwithstanding any custom or usage to the contrary". It makes the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) the rule of decision in the subjects it lists. These are intestate succession, special property of females, marriage, dissolution of marriage, maintenance, dower, guardianship, gifts, trusts and wakfs. Questions about agricultural land are excluded. Adoption, wills and legacies come in only if a person files a declaration under section 3. Where custom can still be pleaded, it must be ancient, certain, reasonable and continuously observed, and the person setting it up must prove it.
The modern sources
- Legislation. An Act prevails over the personal law within its field. Examples are the Shariat Application Act 1937 and the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939. Others are the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986 and the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act 2019. The Waqf Act 1995 is another.
- Judicial precedent. Under Article 141 of the Constitution the law declared by the Supreme Court binds every court in India. Earlier decisions of the Privy Council and the High Courts settled most of the classical law that courts now apply.
- Equity, justice and good conscience. This is a residual source. A court uses it only where no statute, precedent or rule of personal law gives an answer.
The leading cases
Mohd. Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum, AIR 1985 SC 945. A wife of 62 was divorced after 43 years of marriage and claimed maintenance under section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The husband argued that personal law ended his liability after iddat. The Supreme Court held that section 125 applied to her. It also read ayats 241 and 242 of the Quran and held that the Quran itself obliges a husband to provide for a divorced wife. The case shows the Quran being used directly as a source by an Indian court.
Shayara Bano v. Union of India, AIR 2017 SC 4609. Wives challenged instant triple talaq (talaq-e-biddat). By a majority of three to two the practice was set aside. Justice Nariman wrote for himself and Justice Lalit. He held that section 2 of the 1937 Act is a "law in force" and is void to the extent it recognises triple talaq. Kurian Joseph J. reasoned that what is wrong in the Quran cannot be right in Shariat law. The case shows legislation, the Constitution and the Quran working together as sources.
Abdul Kadir v. Salima (1886) ILR 8 All 149. The Allahabad Full Bench held that a Muslim marriage is a civil contract and settled the law of prompt dower from the classical texts. The judgment repeated the Privy Council's warning that a judge must not decide by his own idea of natural justice in place of Muslim law. This marks the limit of equity as a source.
The order a court follows today
An Indian court first asks whether an Act covers the point. If not, it looks for binding precedent. Only then does it go to the classical law, and to equity last of all.
Conclusion. The Quran, the Sunna, Ijma and Qiyas are the classical sources, ranked in that order. Custom has largely been displaced by section 2 of the 1937 Act. Legislation, precedent and equity now decide how the classical law reaches an Indian court, as Shah Bano and Shayara Bano show.
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