KSLU Solved Question Papers
Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 7
2018 Dec Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 7 Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System 2018 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 21 October 2026.
Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.
Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
Passages from this volume may be quoted, in print, online or by an AI system, with credit: name munotes.in and link to this volume's page. The volume may not be reproduced as a whole. Full terms at munotes.in/content-license.
munotes.in is an independent study resource for students of Karnataka State Law University. It is not affiliated with Karnataka State Law University, and is not endorsed by it.
The University does not publish an official answer key for this paper. The answers in this volume are model answers, written to show how a full-mark answer is built. They are a study aid, not an authority on what an examiner marked.
The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2018 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2018 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2018 Dec 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 2½ hours · Total marks 80 · 13 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.
Q1Discuss about the legal profession and its responsibilities.[12]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what makes law a profession and not a trade; how the Advocates Act 1961 and the Bar Council of India Rules organise it; the advocate's responsibilities to the court, the client, the opponent and colleagues, the public and the profession, each with its rule numbers; three decided cases with facts and holding (V.C. Rangadurai v. D. Gopalan, Ex-Capt. Harish Uppal v. Union of India, In Re: Sanjiv Datta); what follows when a responsibility is broken (section 35).
Law is a profession, not a trade
A profession is an occupation that needs special learning and is practised to serve others. A trade aims mainly at profit. The legal profession sits firmly on the first side of that line.
Three features mark it out.
- Special learning. Only a person qualified under section 24 of the Advocates Act 1961 can be enrolled. He must hold a recognised law degree.
- A monopoly given by law. Section 29 recognises one class of persons entitled to practise law: advocates. Section 33 says no one else may practise in any court. Section 45 punishes a person who practises illegally.
- A code of conduct enforced by the profession itself. The Bar Council of India lays down standards of conduct under section 7(1)(b) and section 49(1)(c). Breach is misconduct under section 35.
Because the law gives advocates a monopoly, it also demands a higher standard from them. The Preamble to Part VI Chapter II of the Bar Council of India Rules says the advocate is "an officer of the Court". It adds that what is lawful and moral for others "may still be improper for an advocate".
The leading statement of the profession's character
In Re: Sanjiv Datta, (1995) 3 SCC 619, arose from contempt proceedings. A Deputy Secretary in a Union Ministry filed an affidavit saying the Supreme Court had acted "with undue haste" and was "making a mockery" of Government policy. The Court held this to be criminal contempt and fined him Rs 2,000. It also issued notice to the advocates through whose hands the affidavit passed.
At the end of the judgment the Court spoke to the whole profession. It called the legal profession "a solemn and serious occupation" and "a noble calling". It said lawyers must keep its honour by their conduct in and outside court. It explained why: what lawyers do affects the administration of justice. If people lose confidence in the profession, justice itself suffers.
This is the root of every responsibility discussed below.
Responsibility to the court
The advocate's first duty is to the court, because the court relies on what he says. Rules 1 to 10 of Part VI Chapter II set out this duty.
- Act with dignity and self-respect, and never be servile. A serious complaint against a judicial officer goes to the proper authority (rule 1).
- Keep a respectful attitude towards the court (rule 2).
- Never influence a decision by improper means, and never communicate privately with a judge about a pending case (rule 3).
- Restrain the client from sharp or unfair practices, and refuse to act if he persists. The advocate is not "a mere mouth-piece of the client" (rule 4).
- Appear only in the prescribed dress (rule 5).
- Do not appear before a court where a close relation sits as judge (rule 6).
- Do not act in a matter in which he has a money interest (rule 9).
- Do not stand surety, or certify a surety, for a client (rule 10).
The duty to the court comes first. An advocate who misleads the court to help a client breaks his oath, whatever the client wants.
Responsibility to the client
Rules 11 to 33 deal with the client. An advocate must accept a brief in a court where he practises, at a proper fee (rule 11). He must not withdraw without sufficient cause and notice (rule 12). He must uphold the client's interests "fearlessly" by fair and honourable means (rule 15). He must keep the client's confidences (rule 17, which points to the privilege now in section 132 of the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam 2023). He must keep proper accounts of the client's money (rules 25 to 30). He must never act for the other side in the same matter (rule 33).
V.C. Rangadurai v. D. Gopalan, AIR 1979 SC 281, shows what this trust means. An old deaf man of seventy and his wife gave the advocate two promissory notes, for Rs 15,000 and Rs 5,000, to file suits. He never filed them. He told them the suits were pending, gave them false dates, and later said decrees had been passed. The clients even sent a legal notice to the debtor on the faith of these lies.
The State Bar Council suspended him for six years. The Bar Council of India reduced it to one year. The Supreme Court upheld the finding of gross misconduct. It treated the relation between advocate and client as one of trust. It said the monopoly given to lawyers is meant for service to the people, not for assured income. It added a reformative condition: he had to pay Rs 2,500 to the victims and do free legal aid work for a year.
Responsibility to the opponent and to colleagues
Rule 34 forbids an advocate to negotiate directly with a party who has a lawyer. Rule 35 requires him to keep every legitimate promise to the other side, even if it is not in writing.
Towards colleagues, rule 36 forbids soliciting work or advertising. Rule 38 forbids undercutting the fee. Rule 39 forbids appearing where another advocate already holds a vakalat, without his consent or the court's permission. In Bar Council of Maharashtra v. M.V. Dabholkar, AIR 1976 SC 242, advocates rushed at litigants at the court gate to snatch briefs and undercut fees. The Supreme Court held that rule 36 states broad canons of ethics. It must not be split into technical elements to let such conduct escape.
Responsibility to the public and society
The profession owes a duty to people who cannot pay. Rule 46 says free legal help to "the indigent and oppressed" is "one of the highest obligations an advocate owes to society". Article 39A of the Constitution and the Legal Services Authorities Act 1987 give this duty a legal frame.
The public also has a right to working courts. Ex-Capt. Harish Uppal v. Union of India, AIR 2003 SC 739, dealt with strikes and boycotts called by Bar associations. A Bench of four judges held that lawyers have no right to go on strike, not even a token strike. A lawyer holding a vakalat cannot stay away from court because of a strike call. Courts need not adjourn cases because lawyers are absent. The Court allowed protest by press statements, placards or peaceful marches away from court.
The Supreme Court repeated this in District Bar Association Dehradun v. Ishwar Shandilya, AIR 2020 SC 1412. In 2023 it asked every High Court to set up grievance committees, so that lawyers can raise genuine complaints without striking.
Responsibility to the profession itself
An advocate must protect the good name of the Bar. He must not do business personally (rule 47) or take full-time salaried employment while practising (rule 49). He must not lend his name to unauthorised practice (rule 37). His private conduct also matters: section 35 covers "professional or other misconduct".
What happens when a responsibility is broken
A complaint goes to the State Bar Council. If it has reason to believe the advocate is guilty, it refers the case to its disciplinary committee under section 35(1). The committee may dismiss the complaint, reprimand the advocate, suspend him, or remove his name from the roll under section 35(3). Appeals lie to the Bar Council of India under section 37 and then to the Supreme Court under section 38.
Conclusion. The legal profession is a monopoly given by Parliament, and the Advocates Act and the Bar Council of India Rules make that monopoly carry duties. An advocate answers first to the court, then to his client, and also to his opponent, his colleagues, the public and the profession. Sanjiv Datta calls it a noble calling, V.C. Rangadurai makes the client relationship one of trust, and Harish Uppal forbids lawyers to shut the courts. Section 35 is the sanction that turns these responsibilities into law.
The rest of the answers
The first answer is free. The rest come with the KSLU B.A. LL.B. Semester 7 solved papers.
You have read the question paper and its first answer in full. Buy the solved papers once and you can read every answer of every solved paper in this semester.
Solved papers: ₹499 Already bought it? Sign in
The question paper itself stays free.
Found an error in this volume? Report it and we will check it against the paper.