Mumbai University Solved Question Papers
Public International Law and Human Rights
Previous Year Question Paper with Solution
BLS LLB 5 Years · Sem 9
Jun 2023 - 60/40 Examination
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BLS LLB 5 Years Sem 9 Public International Law and Human Rights Jun 2023 - 60/40 Question Paper with Solutions
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First published on munotes.in on 28 September 2026.
This edition revised 7 October 2026.
Published by munotes.in, Mumbai.
Model answers written and edited by the munotes.in editorial desk.
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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 the University of Mumbai at the Jun 2023 - 60/40 examination.
The answers in this volume state the law as it stands today, not as it stood when the paper was set, and in this subject three changes matter. The Protection of Human Rights (Amendment) Act, 2019 allows a Judge of the Supreme Court, and not only a former Chief Justice of India, to chair the National Human Rights Commission, and cut the term from five years to three. The Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure were replaced on 1 July 2024 by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, so sedition is now section 152 with its own saving for criticism of the government, and the provisions on arrest, rape and legal aid carry new numbers. And on 21 March 2024 the Supreme Court recognised a right against the adverse effects of climate change under Articles 14 and 21. Where a question turns on a provision since replaced, the answer gives it as it then stood and the present position, and says which is which.
Contents
The questions below are the paper as the University of Mumbai set it at the Jun 2023 - 60/40 examination, in the order it was set.
MarksPage
MarksPage
The Paper as Set
The questions in this volume are the questions asked at the Jun 2023 - 60/40 examination, reproduced as the University of Mumbai set them, in the order it set them. Nothing has been reworded, added or left out. Only the answers are ours. See the original question paper.
Duration 2 hours · Total marks 60 · 22 questions answered
Instructions printed on the paper
- N.B: 1. All questions are compulsory. 2. Figures to the right indicate full marks. 3. Give case-law/ reasons wherever necessary.
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.
Q. 1
Q.1: Answer the following in not more than 2 sentences
any 6 · (12 Marks)
(1)What is Rebus Sic Stantibus?[2]
Answer
Rebus sic stantibus means "things standing thus". It is short for the maxim conventio omnis intelligitur rebus sic stantibus. The rule is that a treaty is binding only so long as the circumstances in which it was made continue. A fundamental change of circumstances may therefore be a ground for ending a treaty or withdrawing from it.
Where it is found. The doctrine is codified in Article 62 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, 1969. The Article is drafted in the negative, which shows how narrow the rule is. A change may not be invoked unless two conditions are both satisfied. First, the circumstances that changed must have formed an essential basis of the consent of the parties. Second, the effect of the change must be radically to transform the extent of obligations still to be performed.
Two treaties are excluded by Article 62(2). A treaty that establishes a boundary can never be ended on this ground. Nor can a party rely on a change that its own breach of the treaty produced.
The cases. In Fisheries Jurisdiction (United Kingdom v. Iceland), 1973 I.C.J. Rep. 3, the Court accepted that Article 62 states customary law, but held that Iceland had not met its conditions. In Gabcikovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary v. Slovakia), 1997 I.C.J. Rep. 7, the plea failed again.
Why it is kept narrow. It is the exception to pacta sunt servanda, the rule that treaties must be kept. If it were applied loosely, every inconvenient treaty could be abandoned.
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