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
2025 Jan Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 6 Family Law II (Mohammedan Law and Indian Succession Act) 2025 Jan 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 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 one short note/problem is compulsory from each Unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answers 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)What are the essentials of a valid marriage ?[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: marriage (nikah) as a civil contract; the essentials one by one: proposal and acceptance at one meeting, capacity (puberty and sound mind, with the guardian and the option of puberty), free consent, witnesses under Sunni law, absence of prohibition, and dower; what happens when each fails (void, irregular, voidable); no ceremony or registration needed; the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 and Karnataka's section 3(1A); Abdul Kadir v. Salima and Chand Patel v. Bismillah Begum explained; a conclusion.
Marriage as a contract
Marriage (nikah) under Muslim law is a civil contract. Its purpose is to legalise sexual relations and the procreation of children. Because it is a contract, the law states the conditions on which it is formed. If a condition fails, the result depends on which condition failed.
The essentials
- Proposal and acceptance (ijab and qubul). One party, or someone on that party's behalf, makes a proposal. The other accepts it. Both must happen at the same meeting and must relate to the same marriage. The words should show a present marriage, not a promise to marry later. A proposal made one day and accepted a month later is not a marriage.
- Capacity. Each party must have reached puberty and be of sound mind. Puberty is presumed at fifteen years in the absence of evidence. A guardian may contract the marriage of a minor or a person of unsound mind. A minor married by a guardian may later repudiate the marriage on reaching puberty. This is the option of puberty (khiyar-ul-bulugh), now found in section 2(vii) of the Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act 1939.
- Free consent. The consent of each party must be free. A marriage brought about by force or fraud is not valid without the free consent of the party affected. Under Hanafi law a sane adult woman may contract her own marriage without a guardian.
- Witnesses. Under Sunni law there must be two adult, sane Muslim male witnesses, or one man and two women. Under Shia law witnesses are not required for the marriage itself.
- No legal prohibition. The parties must not fall within a forbidden relationship. Some bars are absolute, such as blood relationship (consanguinity), relationship by marriage (affinity) and fosterage. Others are relative or temporary. These include a fifth wife while four subsist, and a wife's sister while the wife is alive (unlawful conjunction). Marriage without witnesses, marriage with a non-scriptural woman and marriage with a woman undergoing iddat also fall here.
- Dower (mehr). Dower is an incident of every marriage. It need not be mentioned. If no amount is fixed, the law gives the wife proper dower (mehr-ul-misl).
What happens when an essential fails
| Defect | Result |
|---|---|
| No proposal and acceptance at one meeting | no marriage at all |
| Absolute prohibition (consanguinity, affinity, fosterage) | void (batil) |
| Relative prohibition, or want of witnesses | irregular (fasid), curable |
| Minor married by a guardian | valid, but the option of puberty is open |
| No dower fixed | valid; proper dower is payable |
A void marriage creates no rights at all. An irregular marriage has no legal effect before consummation. After consummation the wife is entitled to dower, she must observe iddat, and the children are legitimate. Neither spouse inherits from the other.
No ceremony and no registration
Muslim law prescribes no religious ceremony and no writing. A nikahnama is good evidence of the marriage but is not essential to it. Registration is required by some State laws, but want of registration does not make the marriage invalid.
The child marriage rule in Karnataka
The Prohibition of Child Marriage Act 2006 treats a girl under 18 and a boy under 21 as a child. Solemnising a child marriage is an offence under it. Karnataka added section 3(1A), which declares every child marriage solemnised after that amendment void from the start. A Karnataka student should state this beside the classical rule on puberty.
The leading cases
Abdul Kadir v. Salima (1886) ILR 8 All 149. A husband sued his wife for restitution of conjugal rights. She refused to live with him because her prompt dower was unpaid. The Allahabad Full Bench held that a Muslim marriage is a civil contract. Its pillars are declaration (ijab) and acceptance (qubul). The mention of dower is not essential to validity, and the law supplies dower where none is fixed. The case establishes the contractual nature of the marriage and its essentials.
Chand Patel v. Bismillah Begum, AIR 2008 SC 1915. A man married his wife's sister while the first marriage subsisted, with the first wife's consent. A daughter was born. The second wife claimed maintenance for herself and the child. The Supreme Court held that a marriage in breach of the rule against unlawful conjunction is irregular (fasid), not void. Under Hanafi law it subsists until it is lawfully ended. The wife and child were entitled to maintenance. The case shows how breach of a relative prohibition affects validity.
Shia and Sunni differences
- Witnesses are needed under Sunni law but not under Shia law.
- Shia law recognises temporary marriage (muta). Sunni law does not.
- Shia law does not recognise the irregular marriage. A marriage there is either valid or void.
Conclusion. A valid Muslim marriage needs proposal and acceptance at one meeting, competent parties, free consent, witnesses under Sunni law, freedom from prohibition, and dower. Abdul Kadir makes clear that the marriage is a contract, and Chand Patel shows that breach of a relative bar makes it irregular, not void. In Karnataka the child marriage law must also be satisfied.
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