Which of the following is/are source/sources of Law in India? 1. Constitution of India 2. Statutes 3. Customary Law 4. Case Law Select the correct answer using the code given below.
- (a)1 only
- (b)1, 2 and 4 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2, 3 and 4
Correct — D, 1, 2, 3 and 4. All four are recognised sources of law in India. The Constitution is the supreme source and the test of validity for everything below it; statutes are the law Parliament and the state legislatures enact; customary law is applied where a custom is ancient, certain, reasonable and not opposed to public policy, and much of Hindu and Muslim personal law and the tribal law of the Sixth Schedule areas rests on it; and case law binds through Article 141, which makes the law declared by the Supreme Court binding on all courts within India.
- (a)1 only — The Constitution alone would leave out the ordinary legislation that governs almost every dispute, and would deny the courts any law-declaring role at all.
- (b)1, 2 and 4 only — Drops the Constitution itself and judicial precedent — the first is the source that validates the second item on the list, so it cannot be excluded.
- (c)2 and 3 only — Keeps only statutes and custom. It leaves out the Constitution, which is the supreme source, and case law, which Article 141 makes binding.
Indian law is drawn from several streams at once. The Constitution sits above all of them; legislation flows from Parliament, the state legislatures and delegated rule-making; custom supplies rules the legislature has not displaced, chiefly in personal and tribal law; and judicial decisions both interpret the rest and, through the doctrine of precedent, make law of their own.
A four-item 'is/are' question with an all-of-these option is usually testing whether a candidate will second-guess an obviously correct list. Here each item can be tied to a specific anchor — Article 13 and Article 141 for the Constitution and case law, Article 245 for legislative competence, and the courts' long recognition of valid custom — so the whole list survives inspection.
- Article 141 makes the law declared by the Supreme Court binding on all courts within India.
- Article 13 voids any law inconsistent with the Fundamental Rights, and its definition of 'law' expressly includes custom and usage having the force of law.
- A custom must be ancient, certain, reasonable, continuous and not opposed to public policy or statute to be enforced.
- Subordinate or delegated legislation — rules, regulations, bye-laws — is made under authority conferred by a statute.
Every item on the list has its own constitutional footing, so the answer is all four.
- Rejecting an 'all of these' option on instinct.
- Treating custom as a historical curiosity rather than a live source in personal and Sixth Schedule law.
As an 'is/are correct' list, or through a single source — Article 141 and precedent being the favourite.
No directly related past PYQ was found.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which Article makes the law declared by the Supreme Court binding on all courts within the territory of India?
- (a)Article 32
- (b)Article 136
- (c)Article 141
- (d)Article 143
Answer(c) Article 141 — Article 136 is special leave to appeal and Article 143 the President's power to seek an advisory opinion.
- practice — not a real PYQ
For a custom to be enforced as law in India, it must be
- (a)recorded in a statute
- (b)ancient, certain, reasonable and not opposed to public policy
- (c)followed by a majority of the population
- (d)approved by the High Court of the State
Answer(b) ancient, certain, reasonable and not opposed to public policy — the tests the courts apply to a claimed custom.