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Special English
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B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) · Sem 1
2016 Dec Examination
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Mumbai
B.B.A. LL.B. (Five Years) Sem 1 Special English 2016 Dec Question Paper with Solutions
First published on munotes.in on 1 November 2026.
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The question paper reproduced here is the paper as set by Karnataka State Law University at the 2016 Dec examination.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as Karnataka State Law University set it at the 2016 Dec examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the 2016 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 3 hours · Total marks 100 · 14 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 the advise given by Felix Frankfurter to a young man for the study of law ?[16]
Answer
For full marks, cover: who Frankfurter was and why his word carries weight; the occasion (a twelve-year-old boy asked how to start preparing for law); his main claim that a competent lawyer must be a cultivated man; forget technical preparation; be well read; command of language and clear thinking from a liberal education; cultivate the imagination through poetry, painting and music; stock the mind and widen the feelings; forget the future career; why each point helps a lawyer; a table; the limits of the advice.
Introduction
Felix Frankfurter was one of the best-known American judges of the twentieth century. He was born in Vienna in 1882 and reached the United States in 1894, at the age of twelve. He taught at Harvard Law School and then sat on the United States Supreme Court from 1939 to 1962. A twelve-year-old Virginia boy, Paul Claussen, Jr., once wrote to him. The boy wanted a career in law and asked how he could start preparing while still in junior high school. Frankfurter's short reply is now famous. Its message is surprising: do not prepare for the law by studying law.
1. A competent lawyer must be a cultivated man
The letter opens with its main idea. No one, Frankfurter says, can be "a truly competent lawyer unless he is a cultivated man". Competence here means real skill in the work, not merely a licence to practise. A cultivated person is one whose mind and taste have been developed by learning and the arts. So the first advice is about the kind of person a lawyer must become. Culture and character come before technique.
2. Forget technical preparation
Next he tells the boy that, in his place, he would forget about any technical preparation for the law. A boy of twelve might think of reading law books, learning legal terms or watching trials. Frankfurter discourages this. Legal rules and procedure will be taught in law school, at the proper time. Early cramming of technical material narrows the mind before it has grown. The advice protects a young person from becoming a narrow specialist too soon.
3. Be a well-read person
The positive advice follows: "The best way to prepare for the law is to be a well-read person." Wide reading gives knowledge of history, people, societies and ideas. Law deals with every side of human life, from families and trade to crime and government. A lawyer who has read widely understands the world in which disputes arise. In books, he also meets many kinds of people and situations he may later meet as clients.
4. Language and clear thinking through a liberal education
Frankfurter then explains why reading matters. Only in this way, he says, can one acquire the capacity to use the English language "on paper and in speech". Reading also builds the habits of clear thinking which "only a truly liberal education can give". A liberal education is a broad education in literature, history, philosophy and the sciences. It aims at the growth of the mind, not at training for a job. Language is the lawyer's main tool, because pleadings, contracts, arguments and judgments are all made of words. Clear thinking lets him find the real issue in a confused set of facts.
5. Cultivate the imagination
The letter then adds something few would expect from a judge. No less important for a lawyer, he says, is "the cultivation of the imaginative faculties". He names three ways: reading poetry, seeing great paintings, and listening to great music. The paintings may be seen in the original or in easily available reproductions. The point is practical. A lawyer must imagine how a contract may fail, how a witness may answer, or how a judge may see the case. Imagination also helps him enter into the feelings of a client or an opponent.
6. Stock the mind and widen the feelings
Frankfurter asks the boy to "stock your mind with the deposit of much good reading". Good reading leaves behind a store of ideas, examples and words to draw on later. He also asks him to widen and deepen his feelings by experiencing vicariously the wonderful mysteries of the universe. To experience something vicariously is to live it through others, for example through books and art. No lawyer can live every life, but through reading he can understand many.
7. Forget about your future career
The letter ends with striking advice: forget about your future career. Frankfurter does not mean that ambition is wrong. He means that a boy should not spend his youth worrying about a profession. If he grows into a cultivated and thoughtful person, the career will follow. Education should form the person first, and the professional later.
The advice at a glance
| Advice | What it builds | How it helps a lawyer |
|---|---|---|
| Be a cultivated man | Mind and taste | True competence, not mere technique |
| Forget technical preparation | Breadth before specialisation | Avoids a narrow mind |
| Be well read | Knowledge of people and society | Understands where disputes come from |
| Liberal education | Command of language, clear thinking | Better drafting, speaking and reasoning |
| Poetry, painting, music | Imagination | Foresees problems and sees the other side |
| Advice | What it builds | How it helps a lawyer |
|---|---|---|
| Experience life vicariously | Sympathy and feeling | Understands clients and witnesses |
| Forget the career | Freedom to grow | The career follows naturally |
Why the advice is sound
Frankfurter's own life supports his advice. He came to America as a twelve-year-old immigrant, the same age as the boy who wrote to him. Education, not family wealth, made him a great lawyer and judge. The advice also suits the nature of law. Law is not a closed set of rules. It changes with social and economic life. A lawyer who knows only rules applies them mechanically. A lawyer who knows people, history and language sees their purpose and can argue for justice.
Its limits
The advice is not a complete plan. Technical knowledge is still necessary, and no amount of poetry teaches the law of evidence. Frankfurter was writing to a child, so he could rightly leave technical study for later. A law student today must learn both. Some readers also feel the advice suits a privileged student with time for galleries and concerts. Frankfurter himself partly answered this by allowing reproductions in place of originals. Today public libraries and the internet put good books, art and music within easy reach.
Conclusion. Frankfurter advises a prospective lawyer to become a cultivated, well-read person before becoming a technician. Wide reading builds command of language and clear thinking, and only a liberal education gives these. Poetry, painting and music build imagination, and reading lets one live many lives through others. Technical training can wait, and the young person should not worry about a career. His central lesson is that a lawyer serves human beings, so he must first understand them.
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