Family Law Questions and Answers

Answer: A

The correct matching is a-1, b-3, c-2, d-4.

• The Yajnavalkya Smriti is linked with Vijnaneshwara, whose commentary on it, the Mitakshara, is the foundation of the Mitakshara school.
• The Viramitrodaya is by Mitra Misra, an authority of the Benares school.
• The Vivada Chintamani is by Vachaspati Misra, the leading authority of the Mithila school.
• The Smriti Chandrika is by Devanna Bhatta, an authority of the Dravida (Madras) school.

Only the first code gives all four pairs; the others swap Mitra Misra and Vachaspati Misra or attach Vijnaneshwara to a later digest.

Answer: C

The authoritative text for the Dayabhaga school among those listed is Dattaka Chandrika.

The Dayabhaga school prevails in Bengal and Assam. Its principal work is Jimutavahana's Dayabhaga, and on adoption the Dattaka Chandrika is treated as authoritative in Bengal, as the Dattaka Mimamsa is elsewhere.

The Vyavahara Mayukha and the Nirnaya Sindhu (printed 'Nirnay Sindhu') are authorities of the Bombay sub-school of the Mitakshara, and the Vivada Tandava likewise belongs to the Mitakshara tradition, not to Dayabhaga.

Answer: B

The key's answer is (a)-(4), (b)-(1), (c)-(2), (d)-(3).

Three pairs are certain. Chhanda (prosody) is one of the six Vedangas. The Viramitrodaya is the digest of Mitra Misra, written in the seventeenth century and a leading authority of the Benares school. The Vivada Ratnakara of Chandeshwara is a principal authority of the Mithila school.

That leaves item (2) for Halhed's Code. Halhed's A Code of Gentoo Laws (1776) was a general digest prepared for Warren Hastings rather than a treatise on adoption, so this last pairing is loose, but no other code gets the three certain pairs right: options A, C and D each misplace the Vedanga or Mitra Misra.

Answer: A

The answer is Statement (I) is incorrect and (II), (III) are correct.

Statement I is wrong. Children, legitimate or illegitimate, one of whose parents is a Hindu and who are brought up as Hindus are Hindus, so the uncodified Hindu law does apply to them.

Statement II is right: section 2 of the Hindu codifying Acts treats as Hindu a child, legitimate or illegitimate, one of whose parents is a Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh and who is brought up as a member of the tribe, community or group to which that parent belongs. Statement III is right: the same section expressly includes followers of the Brahmo, Prarthana and Arya Samaj.

Answer: D

The one not a Dharmashastra author is Medhatithi.

Medhatithi (about the 9th century) was a commentator. His Manubhashya is the oldest surviving commentary on the Manusmriti, which puts him among the authors of commentaries and digests, not of smritis.

Brihaspati, Katyayana and Narada (printed 'Narad') are credited with smritis, the Dharmashastra texts themselves, and their works are among the most important later smritis on law and procedure.

Answer: A

The key gives Punjab and Bengal.

Before codification, the Mitakshara school of Hindu law, based on Vijnaneshwara's commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti, governed most of India. In Bengal the Dayabhaga school of Jimutavahana prevailed instead, and in Punjab customary law largely displaced the Mitakshara, so these two regions were the exceptions.

Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, Maharashtra and Goa, and Rajasthan and Gujarat all followed sub-schools of the Mitakshara (Dravida, Maharashtra or Bombay, and Benares schools), so they are not exceptions.

Answer: A

Joint ownership by birth is recognised by the Mitakshara school.

The Mitakshara, Vijnaneshwara's commentary on the Yajnavalkya Smriti, holds that sons acquire an interest in ancestral property by birth, giving rise to the coparcenary.

The Dayabhaga school, prevailing in Bengal, does not recognise right by birth: sons take only on the father's death. Yajnavalkya is the author of the Smriti on which the Mitakshara comments, and Medhatithi was a commentator on Manu, not a school of Hindu law.

Answer: C

Sruti, the revealed texts of the Vedas, is the ancient source of Hindu law and is not a modern source, so (C) is correct. The ancient sources are Sruti, Smriti, custom and the commentaries and digests. The modern sources are equity, justice and good conscience (option A), precedent, that is judicial decisions (option B), and legislation (option D). The question asks which is not modern, and Sruti is the oldest of all.

Answer: D

All three propositions are correct, option D. Under Section 2 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, the Act applies to a person who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms, to a Buddhist, Jain or Sikh by religion, and to any person who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by religion, unless it is shown that he would not be governed by Hindu law. The three statements describe those three classes, so none can be called incorrect, and options A, B and C each reject one of them.