UGC NET law syllabus: every unit of subject code 58

Paper pattern when law is your subject

The two papers share one slot, and you may divide the three hours between them as you like. You earn 2 for every correct choice with no deduction for errors, so no question should be left blank at the end. For the question paper medium, follow what the latest information bulletin says.

Our Paper 1 guide breaks down the shared paper, and the UGC NET overview explains the exam for all subjects.

UGC NET law syllabus, Units I to III: theory, Constitution, international law

Unit I: Jurisprudence

• Nature and sources of law
• Schools of jurisprudence: natural law, analytical positivism, historical, sociological and realist approaches
• Law and morality
• Rights and duties, persons, possession and ownership
• Concept of liability
• Law, poverty and development; global justice
• Modernism and post modernism in legal theory

Unit II: Constitutional and administrative law

• Preamble; Part III rights, Part IVA duties and the DPSPs
• Union and state executives and the links between them
• Parliament and state legislatures, distribution of legislative powers
• Judiciary and emergency provisions
• Temporary, transitional and special provisions for some states; the Election Commission
• Nature and scope of administrative law, audi alteram partem and the rule against bias, grounds for courts to review executive decisions

Unit III: Public international law and IHL

• Nature, basis and sources of international law
• Recognition of states and governments
• Nationality, refugees, migrants and internally displaced persons
• Extradition and asylum
• The United Nations and its organs; peaceful settlement of disputes
• The World Trade Organization
• Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, and the difficulties of enforcing IHL

Units IV to VII: crimes, torts, commercial and family law

Unit IV: Law of crimes

• General principles: actus reus and mens rea, joint and constructive liability
• Stages of crime; abetment, criminal conspiracy and attempt
• General exceptions
• Offences against the human body, the state (including terrorism), property, public tranquillity, and women and children
• Drug trafficking and counterfeiting
• Theories and kinds of punishment; compensation to victims

Unit V: Torts and consumer protection

• Nature of tort, general principles of liability and general defences
• Negligence, nuisance, trespass and defamation; remoteness of damage
• Strict and absolute liability; tortious liability of the state
• Consumer protection: definitions, consumer rights and redressal forums
• Motor Vehicles Act: no fault liability, third party insurance, claims tribunals
• Competition Act, 2002: anti competitive agreements, abuse of dominance, combinations

Unit VI: Commercial law

• Formation of contract, including e contracts; agreements that are void or voidable; frustration and remedies for breach
• Standard form contracts and quasi contracts
• Indemnity and guarantee, bailment and pledge, principal and agent
• Sale of Goods Act, 1930; partnership and LLP
• Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881
• Company law: incorporation, prospectus, shares, debentures, directors and meetings; corporate social responsibility

Unit VII: Family law

• Sources and schools of personal law
• Marriage, divorce and theories of divorce, matrimonial remedies
• Live in relationships and recognition of foreign decrees
• Maintenance, dower and stridhan
• Adoption, guardianship and acknowledgement
• Succession, inheritance, wills, gifts and waqf
• Uniform Civil Code

Units VIII to X: environment, IPR and comparative public law

Unit VIII: Environment and human rights law

• Environment and pollution; international environmental law and UN conferences
• Constitutional and statutory framework in India; environmental impact assessment and hazardous waste
• National Green Tribunal
• Concept and growth of human rights; universalism versus cultural relativism
• International Bill of Rights; rights of women, children, persons with disabilities, the elderly, minorities and weaker sections
• Human rights commissions and national commissions for women, minorities, SCs, STs and backward classes

Unit IX: IPR and IT law

• Concept and theories of intellectual property; international conventions
• Copyright and neighbouring rights; patents; trademarks and passing off; geographical indications
• Biodiversity and traditional knowledge
• Information technology law: digital and electronic signatures, e governance, electronic records, subscriber duties; cyber crimes, penalties and adjudication

Unit X: Comparative public law and systems of governance

• Comparative law: relevance, method and problems
• Presidential and parliamentary, unitary and federal forms; federalism in the USA, Canada and India
• Rule of law, formal and substantive
• Separation of powers in India, the UK, the USA and France
• Judicial independence, activism and accountability
• Constitutional review and amendment across India, the USA, Switzerland, France and South Africa
• Ombudsman in Sweden, the UK and India; open government and right to information

Older statutes in the syllabus and the new criminal codes

The unit list was drafted before some major legislative changes. It still names the Consumer Protection Act, 1986, which was replaced by a new Consumer Protection Act, and the crimes unit is framed around the Indian Penal Code structure, while three new codes have since taken over from the three colonial era criminal statutes: the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA).

The safe approach is to learn the principles, which the codes largely keep, and to know the new section numbers and the main changes for headline offences, alongside the old ones. Many questions test concepts such as mens rea or general exceptions rather than section numbers.

Splitting time across the ten law units

The notice gives the ten units no fixed weights, so treat every one of them as fair ground for questions. Units II, IV and VI reward existing LLB knowledge and are faster to revise; Units III, VIII, IX and X are where candidates lose marks, because they involve treaties, institutions and foreign constitutional systems that LLB courses touch only lightly.

• Build one page summaries of landmark Supreme Court cases for Units II, IV, V and VIII.
• Make a table of conventions with year, subject and India's position for Units III, VIII and IX.
• For Unit X, a comparison chart (country by country) of federalism, separation of powers, review and amendment saves a lot of rereading.
• Keep 30 to 40 percent of Paper 1 practice in the mix every week, because its 100 marks count equally per question.

Sixteen weeks to cover code 58

Work from bare acts, the text of the Constitution and the standard LLB and LLM textbooks for each unit. Old question papers, collected on our past papers guide, reveal which units get detailed, section level questions.

Eligibility and age for law candidates

You need a master's degree in law or an equivalent with at least 55 percent (50 percent for reserved categories and third gender candidates). Final year LLM students may apply. There is no upper age for Assistant Professor or PhD admission. For JRF, the general limit is 30, and LLM holders get a relaxation of 3 years, subject to the overall cap of 5 years of relaxation. For relaxation tables read our eligibility rules, and for past qualifying scores by category see the cut off guide.