The Two Law Courses, and Who May Join Them
Chapter Seventeen
Syllabus topic 1, "Objective of Legal Education"
Pages 63 to 66 of 543
In one line
There are two law courses in India and no third: a three year course for people who already hold a degree and a five year integrated course entered after school, and the Rules fix who may join each, what marks they need, that they may not be doing another regular course at the same time, and that they may not enter or leave part way.
In the wording a student can write in an exam: rule 4 of the Rules of Legal Education 2008 recognises the three year and the five year integrated law courses; rule 5 prescribes the eligibility for admission to each; rule 6 prohibits a student from registering for two regular courses of study at the same time; rule 7 prescribes the minimum marks in the qualifying examination; rule 9 governs the process and manner of running an integrated course; and rule 13 prohibits lateral entry into and exit from a law course.
Rule 4: the two courses
The three year course leads to the LL.B. and is open to a person who already holds a bachelor's degree in any discipline. It is the course most students at MU affiliated colleges take.
The five year integrated course combines a first degree with the law degree and is entered after the higher secondary stage, yielding a joint degree such as B.A. LL.B. or B.B.A. LL.B. Chapter 90 compares the two.
There is no third route to the degree, and this is worth stating plainly, because a student sometimes asks about part-time or distance law degrees. The Rules do not provide for them.
Rule 5: eligibility
For the three year course, a graduate degree from a recognised university.
For the integrated course, the higher secondary examination or its equivalent, taken after the prescribed years of schooling.
Rule 5 is where a Centre's admission notice gets its terms, and a student should read the Rule rather than the notice, because the notice is a summary and the Rule is the requirement.
Rule 7: minimum marks
Rule 7 prescribes minimum marks in the qualifying examination for admission to a law course. The Rule sets a floor for the general category and lower floors for candidates of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and other categories to whom the Rule applies.
Two points about it. First, it is a floor and not a ceiling: a university or a State may prescribe higher requirements, and many do, so a student must check both. Second, the marks are in the qualifying examination, that is, the degree for the three year course and the higher secondary examination for the integrated one.
And a caution about writing the figures. The percentages have been amended, and a candidate who quotes a figure should say which version of the Rule they are quoting. Where a paper simply asks about eligibility, describing the structure of the rule, a general floor with relaxations for reserved categories set in the Rule itself, is safer and more accurate than a recalled number.
The Two Law Courses, and Who May Join Them
Rule 6: no two regular courses at once
Rule 6 prohibits a student from registering for two regular courses of study at the same time.
Why it exists. A law degree under the Rules is a full time course with attendance requirements, a semester system and clinical work. A student simultaneously enrolled in another regular course cannot satisfy both sets of requirements honestly, and the practice was widespread when law was an evening add-on.
The effect is to make law a full time occupation, which is a direct answer to the criticism the 14th Report made in 1958 and which chapter 60 traces.
Note the word regular. The prohibition is on two regular courses; it is not a prohibition on employment, nor on a course that is not a regular course of study.
Rule 9: running an integrated course
Rule 9 deals with the process and manner of running an integrated course, which needs its own rule because the institution is teaching two degrees at once.
It governs how the liberal discipline and the law components are combined, and it works together with Schedule II, which fixes the number of subjects in the liberal discipline in the integrated stream and the number of law papers to be offered in both streams.
The purpose is that integration should be real. Without a rule, an integrated course could become a first degree followed by a law degree in the same building, which is not what the model was for.
Rule 13: no lateral entry or exit
Rule 13 prohibits lateral entry into a law course and lateral exit from it.
Lateral entry would mean joining an integrated course in, say, the third year on the strength of a first degree or of study elsewhere. Lateral exit would mean leaving after two or three years with a certificate or a first degree alone.
Why the prohibition is defensible. A professional qualification is not divisible. A person who has done three years of a five year law course is not three fifths of a lawyer, and a certificate saying so would either mean nothing or mislead an employer and a client.
And why it is now contested. The National Education Policy 2020 proposes multiple entry and exit across higher education, and rule 13 stands directly against it for law. Chapter 100 sets out that tension, and it is one of the better essay questions available on this topic.
The Two Law Courses, and Who May Join Them
A worked example
Ishita has a B.Sc. and works in a laboratory. She wants to study law.
Her route is the three year course under rule 4, since she already holds a degree, and her eligibility is rule 5 with the minimum marks in rule 7 measured on her B.Sc.
She is also thinking of enrolling in a regular postgraduate science course at the same time. Rule 6 forbids it. She may keep her job, since employment is not a course of study, but she may not be a regular student on two courses.
Her cousin Aditya has just finished the higher secondary stage and joins a five year integrated course. Rule 5's second limb is his eligibility and rule 9 governs how his college runs the course.
In his third year Aditya wants to leave with the B.A. alone and join a management course. Rule 13 forbids the exit. He must complete the integrated course or leave with nothing from it, which is harsh and is precisely the point the National Education Policy's multiple exit proposal is aimed at.
Quick revision
Rule 4: two courses, the three year course for graduates and the five year integrated course after the higher secondary stage. No third route.
Rule 5: eligibility for each. Rule 7: minimum marks in the qualifying examination, a floor with relaxations, which a university or State may raise but not lower.
Rule 6: no registration for two regular courses of study at the same time; employment is not a course of study.
Rule 9: the process and manner of running an integrated course, working with Schedule II's numbers.
Rule 13: no lateral entry and no lateral exit, because a professional qualification is not divisible. This is the rule that collides with the National Education Policy 2020.
Test yourself
1. Which rule recognises the two law courses and what are they? Rule 4: the three year course, open to a person who already holds a bachelor's degree, and the five year integrated course, entered after the higher secondary stage.
2. What does rule 6 prohibit, and what does it not prohibit? It prohibits a student from registering for two regular courses of study at the same time. It does not prohibit employment, nor enrolment in something that is not a regular course of study.
3. Explain rule 13 and give the best argument for and against it. It prohibits lateral entry into and exit from a law course. For it: a professional qualification is not divisible, and a certificate for part of a law course would either mean nothing or mislead. Against it: the National Education Policy 2020 proposes multiple entry and exit across higher education, and a student who must abandon three years of study with nothing to show bears a heavy cost.
The Two Law Courses, and Who May Join Them
4. A candidate quotes a precise percentage as the minimum marks under rule 7. What caution should they take? That the figures have been amended, so the version being quoted must be identified, and that the rule sets a floor which a university or State may raise, so the applicable requirement may be higher than the Rule's.
The rest of this subject
These notes are cut from the University's printed syllabus. Open the syllabus itself, or the past papers, for the same subject.