Judicial Services Exam (PCS-J) Family Law and Personal Laws Syllabus

Family Law and Personal Laws syllabus — full chapter and topic list

Expand any chapter to see its topics and sub-topics. This is the whole examinable outline for Family Law and Personal Laws in Judicial Services Exam (PCS-J), not a summary of it.

1. 1

   Hindu Law - Marriage and Matrimonial Remedies

   4 topics

   • Sources and Schools of Hindu Law
   • Conditions and Ceremonies of Marriage
     • Void and voidable marriages
   • Matrimonial Remedies
     • Restitution of conjugal rights and judicial separation
     • Divorce - grounds and theories
   • Maintenance and Alimony
2. 2

   Hindu Law - Succession, Joint Family and Adoption

   4 topics

   • Joint Hindu Family and Coparcenary
     • Mitakshara and Dayabhaga systems
     • Coparcenary rights of daughters after 2005 amendment
   • Partition and Reunion
   • Hindu Succession
     • Succession to property of a male Hindu
     • Succession to property of a female Hindu
   • Adoption, Minority and Guardianship
3. 3

   Muslim Law

   5 topics

   • Sources and Schools of Muslim Law
   • Marriage (Nikah) and Dower (Mahr)
     • Essentials, kinds and effects of marriage
   • Dissolution of Marriage
     • Talaq and its forms
     • Khula, mubarat and judicial dissolution
   • Maintenance, Gift (Hiba) and Wakf
   • Inheritance and Wills under Muslim Law
4. 4

   Secular and Allied Family Legislation

   4 topics

   • Special Marriage Act - Inter-faith and Civil Marriage
   • Maintenance of Women and Domestic Violence
     • Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005
   • Guardianship and Welfare of the Child
   • Dowry Prohibition and Allied Offences

Family Law and Personal Laws flashcards for Judicial Services Exam (PCS-J)

23 of 59 cards from the Family Law and Personal Laws deck — real questions with worked answers.

1. What are the modern sources of Hindu law?

   Modern sources are: (1) Legislation (statutes/enacted law, the most authoritative modern source), (2) Judicial precedents (court decisions), (3) Justice, equity and good conscience, and (4) Custom (when recognized).

2. Name the two principal schools of Hindu law and the key text each is based on.

   The Mitakshara school (based on Vijnaneswara's commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti) and the Dayabhaga school (based on Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga treatise, prevalent in Bengal and Assam).

3. How does the Dayabhaga school differ from the Mitakshara school on the right to property at birth?

   Under Mitakshara, a son acquires a right in coparcenary property by birth (right by birth). Under Dayabhaga, the son acquires no right by birth; his right arises only on the death of the father (right by succession).

4. What are the four sub-schools of the Mitakshara school?

   Banaras, Mithila, Maharashtra (Bombay), and Dravida (Madras) schools.

5. What are the conditions for a valid Hindu marriage under Section 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955?

   (1) Neither party has a living spouse (monogamy); (2) neither is incapable of consent due to unsoundness of mind/mental disorder; (3) the bridegroom has completed 21 years and the bride 18 years; (4) parties are not within prohibited degrees of relationship unless custom permits; (5) parties are not sapindas of each other unless custom permits.

6. Under the Hindu Marriage Act, which ceremony is the essential ritual that completes the marriage where saptapadi is part of the rites?

   Saptapadi (the taking of seven steps before the sacred fire). Under Section 7, where saptapadi is included, the marriage becomes complete and binding when the seventh step is taken.

7. What is the effect of a Hindu marriage that contravenes the age requirement (child marriage)?

   A marriage in breach of the age condition is neither void nor voidable under the Hindu Marriage Act; it is valid but the parties are liable to punishment under Section 18. (It may be voidable at the option of the child party under the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act.)

8. List the grounds for a void marriage under Section 11 of the Hindu Marriage Act.

   A marriage is void if it contravenes clauses (i) bigamy, (iv) prohibited degrees, or (v) sapinda relationship of Section 5. Such marriages are void ab initio (nullity).

9. List the grounds on which a Hindu marriage is voidable under Section 12.

   (a) Impotence/non-consummation; (b) party incapable of valid consent or suffering from mental disorder (contravening Sec 5(ii)); (c) consent obtained by force or fraud; (d) wife pregnant by someone other than the husband at the time of marriage.

10. What is the difference between judicial separation and divorce under the Hindu Marriage Act?

    Judicial separation (Sec 10) suspends the duty to cohabit but the marriage subsists, so parties cannot remarry; reconciliation/resumption is possible. Divorce (Sec 13) dissolves the marriage entirely, leaving parties free to remarry.

11. State the main fault grounds for divorce available to either spouse under Section 13(1) of the Hindu Marriage Act.

    Adultery, cruelty, desertion (for at least 2 years), conversion to another religion, incurable unsoundness of mind/mental disorder, virulent and incurable leprosy (now omitted), venereal disease, renunciation of the world, and presumption of death (not heard of for 7 years).

12. What additional grounds for divorce are available only to a wife under Section 13(2) of the Hindu Marriage Act?

    (1) Husband had another living wife from a pre-Act marriage; (2) husband guilty of rape, sodomy or bestiality; (3) non-resumption of cohabitation for one year after a maintenance order/decree in her favour; (4) she was married before 15 and repudiated the marriage before 18 (option of puberty).

13. What is the requirement for divorce by mutual consent under Section 13B of the Hindu Marriage Act?

    Parties must have lived separately for one year or more, must mutually agree to dissolve, and file a joint petition; a motion is moved after a waiting period of 6 to 18 months (the 6-month period being waivable by the court per Amardeep Singh v. Harveen Kaur).

14. What is the remedy of restitution of conjugal rights and where is it provided in the Hindu Marriage Act?

    Section 9 provides restitution of conjugal rights: where a spouse has, without reasonable excuse, withdrawn from the society of the other, the aggrieved party may petition the court for a decree directing the resumption of cohabitation.

15. Under Section 24 of the Hindu Marriage Act, what is the scope of maintenance pendente lite?

    Section 24 allows either spouse (husband or wife) who has no independent income sufficient for support to claim maintenance during the pendency of proceedings, plus expenses of the proceedings (litigation expenses).

16. What is permanent alimony under Section 25 of the Hindu Marriage Act, and can it be varied?

    Section 25 allows the court, at the time of or after any decree, to order the respondent to pay periodic or lump-sum maintenance for the applicant's lifetime. It can be varied, modified or rescinded on changed circumstances, including the recipient's remarriage or unchastity.

17. Who can claim maintenance and from whom under the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, 1956?

    A wife can claim from her husband; aged/infirm parents and unmarried daughters from children; and dependants (Sec 21-22) from the heirs of the deceased out of the estate inherited. A widowed daughter-in-law can claim from her father-in-law in certain conditions.

18. Define a Hindu Joint Family (Hindu Undivided Family).

    A Hindu Joint Family consists of all persons lineally descended from a common ancestor, including their wives and unmarried daughters. It is a creation of law, presumed joint in food, worship and estate, and a person becomes a member by birth or marriage.

19. Define coparcenary and explain how it differs from a joint family.

    A coparcenary is the narrower body within a joint family consisting of those who acquire an interest in the joint property by birth. Traditionally it included the propositus and three lineal male descendants (4 generations). A joint family is wider, including females and members beyond coparcenary; only coparceners can demand partition.

20. What change did the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 make to coparcenary?

    It made a daughter a coparcener by birth in her own right, on the same footing as a son, with the same rights and liabilities in coparcenary property, including the right to demand partition. (Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma held this right exists regardless of whether the father was alive on 9-9-2005.)

21. What is the doctrine of survivorship in Mitakshara coparcenary, and what happened to it after 2005?

    Under survivorship, on a coparcener's death his interest devolved on the surviving coparceners (not by succession). The 2005 amendment abolished survivorship; a coparcener's interest now devolves by testamentary or intestate succession under the Act.

22. Who is a Karta and what are his key powers?

    The Karta is the manager of a Hindu joint family (usually the senior-most member). His powers include managing family affairs and property, representing the family, contracting debts for family/legal necessity, and alienating joint property for legal necessity, benefit of estate, or religious/pious obligation.

23. On what three grounds may a Karta validly alienate joint family property?

    (1) Legal necessity (apatkale), (2) benefit of the estate (kutumbarthe), and (3) discharge of indispensable religious or pious obligations (dharmarthe).

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