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Legal Methods
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B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2023 Mar (70 marks) Examination
munotes.in
Mumbai
B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Legal Methods 2023 Mar (70 marks) Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 2 November 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2023 Mar (70 marks) examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2023 Mar (70 marks) examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2023 Mar (70 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 2½ hours · Total marks 70 · 12 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.
Q1What is law according to social contract philosophers ?[10]
Answer
For full marks, cover: what the social contract theory is; the state of nature and the contract; Hobbes (Leviathan, 1651): human nature, the contract, the sovereign, law as the sovereign's command; Locke: natural rights, limited government, law as protection of life, liberty and property; Rousseau (The Social Contract, 1762): the general will, law as the act of the general will, civil liberty; a comparison table; their influence on the Indian Constitution, with Maneka Gandhi; criticism; a conclusion.
The social contract theory
The social contract theory explains the origin of the State and of law by an imagined agreement among people. Before the State, people lived in a state of nature, with no government and no law made by man. To escape its dangers or inconveniences, they agreed with one another to form a political society and to obey its law. Law, on this view, rests on the consent of the people.
Three philosophers gave the classic accounts: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. They agreed on the method but differed on human nature, on the terms of the contract and so on the nature of law.
Thomas Hobbes: law as the command of an absolute sovereign
Human nature. Hobbes, writing Leviathan (1651) after the English civil war, saw people as selfish and driven by fear and the desire for power.
The state of nature. Without a common power, life is a "warre of every man against every man", and, in his famous words, "solitary, poore, nasty, brutish, and short". There is no industry, no property and no justice, because there is no law.
The contract. To escape this, people agree to give up their natural freedom to a sovereign, a single person or an assembly, and to obey it. The sovereign is not a party to the contract and is not bound by it.
What law is. For Hobbes, law is the command of the sovereign. Whatever the sovereign commands is law, and there is no right of rebellion. Any government is better than a return to the state of nature. Law exists to keep peace and order.
John Locke: law as protection of natural rights
Human nature. Locke had a kinder view. In the state of nature people are reasonable and live under the law of nature. It teaches that no one should harm another in his life, health, liberty or possessions.
Why a contract is needed. The state of nature lacks three things: a settled, known law; an impartial judge; and a power to enforce judgments. So people consent to form a government.
The contract. People give up only the right to judge and punish for themselves. They keep their natural rights to life, liberty and property. Government holds power on trust and must protect those rights.
What law is. For Locke, law is made by the legislature with the consent of the people, and its purpose is to protect natural rights. He wrote that "where there is no law, there is no freedom". A government that violates the trust may be resisted and replaced.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau: law as the act of the general will
Human nature. Rousseau opened The Social Contract (1762) with the words: "Man is born free; and everywhere he is in chains." He believed people are good by nature and are corrupted by society and inequality.
The contract. Each person places himself under the direction of the general will, the common will of the community aimed at the common good. Sovereignty belongs to the people as a whole and cannot be given away.
What law is. Rousseau wrote that laws "are acts of the general will", and that "Laws are, properly speaking, only the conditions of civil association. The people, being subject to the laws, ought to be their author." By the contract a person loses natural liberty but gains civil liberty, "which is limited by the general will".
The three compared
| Point | Hobbes | Locke | Rousseau |
|---|---|---|---|
| Human nature | Selfish, fearful | Reasonable | Good, corrupted by society |
| State of nature | War of all against all | Peaceful but inconvenient | Free and simple |
| Who is sovereign | An absolute ruler | Limited government on trust | The people (general will) |
| What law is | Command of the sovereign | Protection of life, liberty and property | Act of the general will |
| Point | Hobbes | Locke | Rousseau |
|---|---|---|---|
| Right to resist | None | Yes, if trust is broken | People are always sovereign |
| Leads to | Absolutism | Liberal, limited government | Popular sovereignty, democracy |
Influence on the Indian Constitution
- Popular sovereignty. The Preamble begins "We, the people of India", echoing Rousseau's idea that the people are the authors of law.
- Natural rights and limited government. The Fundamental Rights to life, liberty and equality reflect Locke. Article 13 makes laws that take away these rights void to that extent.
- Order and authority. The State's power to keep public order and punish crime reflects Hobbes's concern with peace.
- Fair law. In Maneka Gandhi v. Union of India, (1978) 1 SCC 248, the Supreme Court held that the procedure under Article 21 must be "right and just and fair" and not arbitrary. Law must protect liberty, not merely command.
Criticism
- The contract never happened. No historical record shows people meeting to sign a contract. The theory is a hypothesis, not history.
- The State grew gradually, through kinship, religion, force and custom, as historians and sociologists show.
- Hobbes justifies tyranny, Locke's rights rest on a disputed law of nature, and Rousseau's general will is vague and could be claimed by a dictator.
Yet the theory remains valuable as a test of legitimacy: law is just when free and equal people could agree to it.
Conclusion. For the social contract philosophers, law arises from the agreement of people who leave the state of nature. For Hobbes, law is the command of an absolute sovereign, made to secure peace. For Locke, it is the act of a limited government that protects life, liberty and property, and may be resisted if it breaks its trust. For Rousseau, it is the act of the general will, by which a free people governs itself. Their ideas live on in the Preamble, the Fundamental Rights and Maneka Gandhi, even though the contract itself is a fiction.
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