KSLU Solved Question Papers
Property Law
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 Property Law 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 a short note is compulsory from each unit. (3) Figures to the right indicate marks. (4) Answer should be written completely either in English or in Kannada.
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)Define "Transfer of Property" and state the properties which cannot be transferred.[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: the definition in section 5 and its elements; the 1929 explanation that a "living person" includes a company; what is not a transfer (partition, V.N. Sarin); the general rule of section 6 that property of any kind may be transferred; each excepted class in clauses (a) to (i) with the reason for it; Jumma Masjid on spes successionis; other laws that also forbid transfer.
Transfer of property defined
Section 5 of the Transfer of Property Act 1882 defines "transfer of property" as "an act by which a living person conveys property, in present or in future, to one or more other living persons, or to himself and one or more other living persons". To transfer property is to perform such an act.
The definition has five elements.
- An act of the parties. A transfer is a voluntary act. Property may also pass by operation of law, such as by inheritance, an insolvency order or a court sale. That is not a transfer under the Act.
- Between living persons. The Act deals with transfers inter vivos, which means between living persons. A will speaks only on death, so it is governed by the Indian Succession Act 1925 and not by this Act.
- A living person includes a company. The paragraph added in 1929 says that a "living person" includes a company, an association or a body of individuals, whether incorporated or not.
- Conveyance of property. Something must pass from the transferor to the transferee: ownership in a sale or gift, or a lesser interest, as in a lease or mortgage.
- In present or in future. The interest may pass at once or at a later date, as with a vested interest whose enjoyment is postponed.
A person may also transfer to himself jointly with others. An owner may, for example, convey his land to himself and his brother as joint owners.
What is not a transfer
Because a transfer must convey something new, a partition is not a transfer. Each co-sharer already owns the whole property jointly; partition only fixes the part each will hold.
V.N. Sarin v. Major Ajit Kumar Poplai, AIR 1966 SC 432, decided on 9 August 1965, shows this. A Hindu undivided family's bungalow in Delhi was let to Sarin. In 1962 the family partitioned its property, and the let portion fell to Major Poplai. He sued to evict the tenant for his own use. The tenant argued that Poplai had acquired the premises "by transfer", which the Delhi Rent Control Act 1958 would bar. The Supreme Court rejected this. It held that by partition the "joint title is by partition transformed into separate titles of the individual co-parceners". Partition is not an acquisition by transfer.
The general rule: property of any kind may be transferred
Section 6 begins: "Property of any kind may be transferred, except as otherwise provided by this Act or by any other law for the time being in force." Transferability is the rule, and the exceptions must be found in a law. The section then lists the things that cannot be transferred.
Properties which cannot be transferred
- Spes successionis, clause (a). The chance of an heir-apparent succeeding to an estate cannot be transferred. Nor can the chance of a relation obtaining a legacy on a kinsman's death, or "any other mere possibility of a like nature". Spes successionis means a mere hope of succeeding. While the owner lives, nobody is his heir, so there is nothing to transfer.
- A mere right of re-entry, clause (b). A right to re-enter for breach of a condition subsequent can be transferred only to the owner of the property affected.
- An easement, clause (c). An easement, such as a right of way, cannot be transferred apart from the dominant heritage, which is the land it benefits.
- An interest restricted to the owner personally, clause (d). A right of residence given to one person, or a service tenure, is personal and cannot be transferred by him.
- A right to future maintenance, clause (dd). It cannot be transferred, "in whatsoever manner arising, secured or determined". Arrears already due are a debt and may be transferred.
- A mere right to sue, clause (e). A bare claim for damages, for example for defamation, cannot be sold. The law does not allow trading in litigation.
- A public office and the salary of a public officer, clause (f), whether before or after the salary has become payable.
- Pensions, clause (g). Stipends allowed to military, naval, air-force and civil pensioners of Government, and political pensions, cannot be transferred.
- Three general bars, clause (h). No transfer can be made in so far as it is opposed to the nature of the interest. None can be made for an unlawful object or consideration under section 23 of the Indian Contract Act 1872. None can be made to a person legally disqualified to be a transferee.
- Certain tenants and farmers, clause (i). A tenant with an untransferable right of occupancy cannot assign his interest. Nor can a farmer of an estate in default of revenue, or the lessee of an estate under a Court of Wards.
Other laws add more exceptions, which the opening words of section 6 preserve. Examples are land reform and tenancy laws that forbid the transfer of granted land without permission.
Spes successionis and section 43
The Jumma Masjid, Mercara v. Kodimaniandra Deviah, AIR 1962 SC 847, decided on 11 January 1962, explains clause (a). Three reversioners sold land to Ganapathi on 18 November 1920 for Rs 2,000. The deed said they were already entitled. In truth they then had only a spes successionis. They later became entitled. The Supreme Court held that the buyer could claim the land under section 43. Clause (a) forbids a transfer where both sides knowingly deal in a mere chance. It does not protect a transferor who falsely claimed a present interest and then acquired it.
Conclusion. Section 5 makes a transfer a voluntary conveyance of property between living persons, including companies, so a partition is not a transfer (V.N. Sarin). Section 6 makes every kind of property transferable unless the Act or another law forbids it. Clauses (a) to (i) list what cannot be transferred. They cover a mere hope of succession, personal and protective rights, a bare right to sue, public offices and pensions, and unlawful transfers. Jumma Masjid shows that the bar on spes successionis yields to section 43 where the transferor misrepresented his title.
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