List of top Legal Studies Questions

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Acceptance must be communicated to the offeror to constitute a binding contract. Mere intention to accept, without communication does not lead to a contract.
Facts : J wanted to purchase her uncle T’s television. J wrote a letter to T indicating that she wished to purchase his television for ₹5,000. T was pleased with J’s offer and decided to call J to accept the offer. T called J twice, but J did not pick up her phone. The next day, T found a buyer for the television for ₹6,000 and sold the television to this buyer. J is alleging breach of contract.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : In relation to the law of contracts, in instances where both parties to an agreement are under a mistake about a matter of fact essential to the agreement, the agreement is void.
Facts : L agrees to sell to M a consignment of food grains which was supposed to be on a ship on its way from Africa to Mumbai. However, two days before the agreement was reached, the ship carrying the grains met with an accident and all the goods were lost. L’s agent had informed L about this on the day the accident happened. Is the agreement void because of a mistake as to a matter of fact ?

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Both parties to a contract are discharged from their respective outstanding obligations in situations where a supervening event significantly changes the nature of contractual rights and/or obligations from what the parties could have reasonably contemplated at the time of executing the contract.
The supervening event must not be a result of default by either party, nor should the contract make a provision for it.
Facts : In the city of Vortoria which is highly susceptible to public health crises, S (a supplier of raw food products) entered into a contract with H (a restaurant owner) for 2 years, whereby S would supply certain raw products to H at pre-determined prices. Their agreement also provided that – “In case of interruption of operations of H on account of epidemics, pandemics or any other public health crisis, the contract will be suspended until the crisis is declared to be over by the government and thereafter pending contractual obligations shall resume.”
Three months were left on the contract when there was a highly contagious virus outbreak in the city, which caused restaurant owners (including H) to suspend operations. Once the outbreak was declared to be over six months later, H refused to purchase raw materials from S arguing that he was discharged from obligations under the contract.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : When a defendant brings onto their land anything that is likely to do mischief in case it escapes, they must do so at their own peril. If such a thing does escape and causes foreseeable harm, then the defendant is liable for damage caused provided that the land from which escape occurs had been changed such that it would be considered a non-natural use of the land.
The defendant can avoid liability if they can show that the situation that caused damage was a result of an unforeseeable act of a stranger, which could not be controlled by the defendant.
Facts : M decided to keep a tiger as a pet and to that end, he brought a caged tiger to his house. Jealous of M’s pet, M’s neighbour S (whom M had never met) decided to break into M’s heavily guarded house while M was away and open the tiger’s cage. The tiger escaped and mauled pedestrians near the house. The pedestrians wish to sue M for damages.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Agreements, the meaning of which is not certain, or capable of being made certain, are void.
Facts : Ila Nayak wants to buy a motorbike to reduce her waiting time for her daily commute to work. She can pay up to ₹35,000 for a second hand motorbike. Dev Patnaik agrees to sell his recently purchased Honda motorbike to Ila for ₹31,000 or ₹30,000.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle 1 : A ‘bailment’ is the delivery of goods by one person to another for some purpose, upon a contract that they shall, when the purpose is accomplished, be returned. The person delivering the goods is called the ‘bailor’. The person to whom they are delivered is called the ‘bailee’.
Principle 2 : In all cases of bailment the bailee is bound to take as much care of the goods bailed to him/her as a person of ordinary prudence would, under similar circumstances, take of his/her own goods of the same bulk, quantity and value as the goods bailed.
Facts : Aparna entered into a contract with Gagan to keep her goods in his warehouse until she was able to find a suitable buyer for them. Gagan kept his own goods also at the same warehouse. One night, certain thieves entered the warehouse and stole the goods of both Gagan and Aparna. It was discovered that even though Gagan had locked the main door, he had carelessly left the windows open and that the thieves had entered through the open windows. Aparna sued Gagan for damages as Gagan had failed to take due care of her goods. Decide.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle 1 : There are four stages of commission of any offence- formation of intention, preparation, attempt and commission of offence. The first two stages are not punishable but the last two stages are punishable. The attempt to commit an offence is an offence in itself.
Principle 2 : In order to be designated as an attempt to commit an offence, the act or series of acts done must be sufficiently proximate to the accomplishment of the intended offence.
Facts : Sachin bought a matchbox and lit a match near a haystack. He was about to light the haystack on fire and commit the offence of arson. However, before he could do the same, he realized that someone was secretly recording a video of him. Fearing that he would be easily caught, he extinguished the match. Sachin is prosecuted for the attempt to commit arson.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Double jeopardy : No person shall be prosecuted and punished for the same offence more than once.
Facts : Arun was a Government Employee working in the examination and admissions department of Indian Institute of Science and Technology (IIST), the best engineering college in India. Arun was accused of having leaked the entrance examination paper to Kamlesh for a hefty bribe. Disciplinary proceedings were initiated against Kamlesh by IIST wherein he was found guilty and as a penalty, he was removed from employment. Thereafter, a criminal case was registered against him for having committed the offence of cheating by leaking the entrance paper. Arun takes the defence that the criminal prosecution is not permitted by the principle of double jeopardy. Decide.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Nuisance shall be defined as use of land in a manner that causes unreasonable interference with another’s enjoyment of their land.
It is no defence to a claim of nuisance to say that the plaintiff(s) knew of the interference that would be caused.
Facts : The village of Xandiapur has a centuries old cricket ground which is owned by Xandiapur Cricket Club and hosts matches between local teams every week. It is the only sports ground in the village and serves as a critical source of recreation for the villagers. Mr. and Mrs. XYZ purchased a home right on the edge of the cricket ground’s boundary. Balls from cricket matches frequently fall into their residence’s garden and have caused severe damage to their windows. They have unsuccessfully tried to request the Cricket Club to install nets around the part of the boundary that is adjacent to their home. They seek to claim nuisance against the Xandiapur Cricket Club.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Any invasion of private property, howsoever minor, is a trespass unless it is expressly authorised by the law. Police personnel may enter and/or search private property only on express authorisation from a Judicial Officer.
Facts : Ms. A, a vocal critic of certain policies of the Queen of Asgardia, was due to lead a protest against prevailing government policies. Solely on the instructions of the Queen, a Police Officer secretly entered Ms. A residence to search through her computer and discover her plan for the protest. However, Ms. A’s laptop was at the repair shop and the Police Officer was forced to exit Ms. A’s house after a few seconds. Ms. A seeks to sue for trespass.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : The doctrine of privity mandates that only a party to a contract can claim upon it.
Facts : P started the business of manufacturing table lamps which he sold to a distributor (“Q”) who in turn sold the lamps to a store owner (“R”) in the city. P entered into an agreement with Q which mandated that Q can only sell the lamps to store owners at a minimum retail price of ₹50, failing which Q would have to pay P ₹5 for each lamp sold below ₹50. Q entered into an identical contract with R, mandating that R can only sell the lamps to customers for ₹50, failing which R would have to pay Q ₹5 for each lamp sold below ₹50. R sold a lamp to a customer for ₹40 and P seeks to claim against R.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Whoever enters into or upon property in the possession of another with intent to commit an offence in relation to that property or to intimidate, insult or annoy any person in possession of such property is said to commit criminal trespass.
Facts : H entered his friend L’s property because it was adjoining C’s home. From L’s garden, H shouted insults and tried to intimidate C. C seeks to sue for criminal trespass.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Whoever gives a gratification to any person with the object of inducing him or any other person to exercise any electoral right or of rewarding any person for having exercised any such right commits the offence of bribery.
Facts: Mr. T, a candidate for elections, decided to visit rural households as part of an election campaign. He visited a household where an elderly man ‘A’ required an immediate but extremely expensive life-saving medical procedure. Mr. T gave money to the family for the operation. While leaving, he drew the family’s attention towards his party’s symbol in light of the upcoming elections. Has Mr. T committed the offence of bribery ?

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Whoever causes death by doing an act with the intention of causing death, or with the intention of causing such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, or with the knowledge that he is likely by such act to cause death, commits the offence of culpable homicide.
Facts : P was hunting in a small forested area which he knew to be inhabited by villagers and frequented by other hunters in large numbers. His friends did not know that other persons were likely to be present in the area. P wagered with his friends that he could hunt without using his visual senses. P put on a blindfold and on hearing some rustling leaves, shot multiple times, killing three people in the process. Has P committed culpable homicide ?

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Fraud includes the suggestion, as a fact, of that which is not true, by one who does not believe it to be true or the active concealment of a fact by one having knowledge or belief of the fact, with intent to deceive another party or her agent to enter into the contract.
Facts : Wind-on Ltd. is a leading manufacturer of wind turbines to harness wind energy to produce electricity. It is based out of Nagaland in India and has been manufacturing wind turbines since the early 1990s with national and international fame. Z Infrastructures Ltd. is a leading infrastructure firm with a proven track record in building energy installations and highways across India. Z Infrastructures wanted to expand its portfolio and operate a wind energy park to supply clean electricity. Representatives from Wind-on and Z Infrastructures carried out extensive negotiations, advised by leading law firms and commercial advisory firms on both sides, for the latter to establish a wind park in Odisha. Z Infrastructure wanted Wind-on to guarantee that the turbines will generate 54 lakhs Kwh of energy per turbine annually. Wind-on’s stated position was that generation of energy is dependent on availability of wind and they could not guarantee it. However, they provided an “estimate” in the contract for supply of turbines that the turbines will be able to generate around 50 lakhs Kwh per turbine annually. The turbines were supplied by Wind-on and operated by Z Infrastructure in Odisha for over 2 years. During this period, Z Infrastructure found that the average energy generation of each turbine came to around 35 lakhs Kwh annually. They were frustrated as the actual generation of each turbine was significantly lower than the generation estimate provided by Wind-on. They reached out to Lal & Co., a leading dispute resolution law firm to understand if they could initiate action against Wind-on for fraudulently representing the generation estimate of each turbine.
You are a lawyer at Lal & Co., and were asked if Wind-on had committed fraud by providing an inflated energy generation estimate

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : No tenant of immovable property shall, during the continuance of the tenancy, be permitted to deny that the landlord of such tenant had, at the beginning of the tenancy, a title to such immovable property.
Facts : Aishwarya rented a flat from Nidhi for 2 years. She signed a rent agreement and regularly paid the monthly rent to Nidhi for 6 months. In the seventh month, Ashish approached Aishwarya and told her that he is the real owner of the property and that Nidhi is defrauding Aishwarya as well as Ashish. Ashish showed Aishwarya the original property papers which showed him to be the real owner. Satisfied that the papers were genuine and that Ashish is the actual owner, Aishwarya stopped paying the rent to Nidhi and started paying the same to Ashish. Nidhi filed a suit against Aishwarya for the recovery of rent arrears. Aishwarya took the defence that Nidhi was never the real owner of the flat and that she will pay the rent to the real owner i.e. Ashish. Decide.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : A person who suffers an injury caused as a result of a risk to which they consented, cannot complain of the consequent damage. The defendant must have the capacity to give consent to risks involved, have complete knowledge of the extent as well as nature of risks and agree to the risk voluntarily.
Facts: Q urged his older brother Z to allow him to ride Z’s motorbike. Q had recently obtained a motorbike driving license and was eager to ride Z’s motorbike. The motorbike had a complex operation mechanism, which Q did not understand. Z did not bother to explain this to Q and let him ride the bike. Q met with an accident and is suing Z for the injuries caused. Z contends that Q consented to the risk. Decide.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : An employer is liable for the acts of their employee if a tort is committed by the employee in the course of employment.
To determine whether an act falls within the course of employment, one must look at the functions/work that the employee was tasked with and then evaluate if there was a close connection between the employee’s job function and the wrongful act in question.
Facts : G was employed as a security guard by a restaurant. He was tasked with maintaining security around the restaurant and escorting guests inside. One night after G’s shift, a group of unruly passers-by initiated an altercation with G near the restaurant. Greatly upset by the altercation, G went home and got into an inebriated state. In this state, he negligently caused a fire in his home. G’s family members wish to make the restaurant liable.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : An employer is liable for the acts of their employee if a tort is committed by the employee in the course of employment.
To determine whether an act falls within the course of employment, one must look at the functions/work that the employee was tasked with and then evaluate if there was a close connection between the employee’s job function and the wrongful act in question.
Facts : G was employed as a security guard by a restaurant. He was tasked with maintaining security in and around the restaurant as well as escorting guests inside. One night a group of unruly guests got into a verbal altercation with G in the restaurant. G, being short-tempered, got irritated and ended up hitting one of the guests. The guests wish to make the restaurant liable.

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Whoever, takes any movable property out of the possession of any person without that person’s consent, moves that property in order to such taking, is said to commit theft.
Facts : W visits her friend B’s house for a party. She noticed that B possessed a rare gold ornament. Fearing search and detection if she took the ornament, W hid it in an air duct in the ceiling, where it was unlikely to be discovered by B. W intended on returning to B’s house at a future date to take the ornament. Has W committed theft ?

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : Whoever, intending to dishonestly take any movable property out of the possession of any person without that person’s consent, moves that property in order to such taking, is said to commit theft.
Facts : R owns an antique watch but is unsure of its value. She took it to a jeweller Y for a free valuation that was offered by Y. Y took the watch home instead of valuing it and does not provide any explanation. R enters Y’s home, pushes Y to one side, and retrieves her watch by force. Has R committed theft ?

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle 1 : A misrepresentation arises when a person makes a false statement of fact to another which induces the other party to enter into a contract, resulting in loss to that other party.
Principle 2 : When consent to an agreement is caused by misrepresentation, the agreement is a contract voidable at the option of the party whose consent was so caused.
Facts : It was Kritika’s mother’s 50^th birthday on 9th February 2021. Kritika decided to organise a lavish celebration to celebrate the event. Kritika’s mother used to play the piano before her marriage. However, after Kritika was born, she was unable to take out any time to pursue her interest in playing the instrument. Kritika learnt about this from her maternal grandmother a few days before her mother’s birthday. She decided to give her mother a piano on her 50^th birthday.
She visited Himanshu’s piano store for this purpose. Himanshu showed Kritika all the pianos available at his store and explained the features of each model. Kritika had no prior knowledge of pianos and hence relied upon Himanshu’s opinion. She saw a vintage piano and was immediately drawn to it. Being a shrewd businessman, Himanshu saw an opportunity to sell the piano and said “They don’t make them like this anymore. It’s got a fine tone and it’s really cheap at ` 50,000”.
Kritika purchased the piano and gifted the same to her mother. However, when her mother started playing it, she immediately realized that the piano was of an inferior quality and that the tone was not proper. Kritika and her mother approached Himanshu and asked him to either replace the piano or refund the money. Himanshu refused to do either. What would be the strongest argument that Himanshu could make ?

Apply the given legal principles to the facts provided in the following of the question and select the most appropriate answer.
Principle : No confession made to a Police Officer, shall be proved as against a person accused of any offence.
Facts : Ritu was accused of having murdered Akash over a property dispute. After arrest, Ritu made a confession to the Inspector that she had in fact murdered Akash. The confessional statement of Ritu was written on a paper and Ritu signed the same. The police carried on further investigation but were not able to find any other evidence to produce before the court. Can the confessional statement signed by Ritu be proved in court ?

Humans as well as the wildlife are completely dependent upon environment for their survival. Humans are completely dependent on the environment. Like humans, the wildlife is also dependent on the environment for its survival and also gets affected by the environment. The relationship between humans and animals can be understood by the food-chain and food-web. The wildlife is affected by several reasons such as population, deforestation, urbanisation, high number of industries, chemical effluents, unplanned land-use policies, and reckless use of natural resources, etc.
The Directive Principles of State Policy provide that protection and improvement of environment, safeguarding forest and wildlife have been duly enjoined upon the Government. Those principles have found statutory expression in various enactments i.e., the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 and the Environment Protection Act, 1986 etc. which have been enforced by the court in various decisions. The inaction of the State to constitutional and statutory duties cannot be permitted. The Court has to issue appropriate directions to fulfil the mandate. Article 51-A of the Constitution of India provides fundamental duty to protect and preserve environment, wildlife, etc.

It is a cardinal principle of the law of contract that acceptance of an offer must be absolute and it can give no room for doubt. The offer and acceptance must be founded on three components, viz., ‘certainty’, ‘commitment’ and ‘communication’. However, when the acceptor puts any new condition while accepting the proposal already signed by the proposer, the contract is not complete until the proposer accepts that condition, as held by the Court in Haridwar Singh v. Bagun Sumbrui,[(1973) 3 SCC 889]. An acceptance with a variation is no acceptance. It is, in effect and substance, simply a counter-proposal which must be accepted fully by the original proposer, before a contract is made.