CA Foundation is the first time when a CA student is introduced to the world of Law. Apart from learning and understanding the key concepts and provisions, one of the major factors to score good marks in the Law paper is the presentation and style of writing answers in the exam. This post aims to cover this aspect. Read on...
Types of Questions
The questions asked in the Law paper can be broadly grouped into 2 major categories:
Theoretical provision-based questions
Practical case-study based questions
The approach of answering both these categories of questions is different. Let us discuss this in detail.
How to answer Theoretical Provision-based Questions
Let us pick up an example as to what kinds of questions fall within this category.
Q. What are the exceptions to the Doctrine of Consideration as per the Indian Contract Act, 1872?
The moment you read this question, you should observe the following:
It is a straight-forward theoretical question.
There are no twists or tricks
The main ask of the question is to detail out the situations when a contract without consideration would not be void.
These are easy marks on offer.
These questions do not require any special preparation but require a set approach to writing answers. Here are my suggestions for approaching theoretical provision based questions like the one above:
Take 30 to 60 seconds to recollect the provisions of the Act. If you can remember Section 25, it is excellent.
Try to recollect all the situations (ideally 5-6 as this question would either be for 4 marks or for 6 marks) where you can highlight the exceptions.
Try to form certain scenarios or examples wherever needed for better explanation
Start the answer by quoting the relevant provisions of the Act. At the Foundation stage, a student is not expected to memorize the Section numbers. But it is a good habit to memorize and reproduce Section numbers in the answers. Needless to say, refrain from quoting wrong section numbers. Remember --> no Section numbers in the answers is better than wrong Section numbers.
The language is crucial in such answers. It is always advisable to write answers in your own words, instead of vomiting whatever you might have mugged up from the books. As long as the meaning of the provisions comes out clear in your answers in a crisp manner, it is fine.
When writing definitions, make sure that you are able to reproduce at least 90% of what and how the definition is written in the books. Do you remember how you had no choice but to mug up the Physics Laws? Same is the case in Law.
Try to remember the major keywords of the answers. Examiners only look for specific keywords in the answers and award marks. So always try to use professional technical language wherever required and highlight the main keywords in your answer script.
There is no harm in trying out some creativity in the exam hall when it comes to the representation of answers (not the content). Your answer will stand out from the rest if you can judiciously insert graphs, charts, tables or diagrams wherever required for driving home your points and arguments.
How to answer Practical Case Study-based Questions
Let us pick up another question and discuss how to answer it. This one is a question from one of the past papers:
X, Y and Z are partners in a firm. They jointly promised to pay Rs. 3,00,000 to D. Y becomes insolvent and his private assets are sufficient to pay only 1/5 of his share of debts. X is compelled to pay the whole amount to D. Examining the provisions of The Indian Contract Act, 1872, decide the extent to which X can recover the amount from Z.
The major observations after reading the question are;
It is the case-based question, not a plain-vanilla theoretical question.
The case mentions certain facts, mentions the requirement and the relevant Act which needs to be applied to the case.
It is important to note that the requirement of the question is not just amount of money X can recover from Z, but the rationale also.
These types of questions require a special approach - let us see how to answer such questions:
It is of utmost importance to read and understand the question clearly.
Clearly identify the requirement of the question and try to map which topic or topics the case tries to cover.
Try to recollect all the relevant provisions you may need to touch upon to explain the rationale behind your final recommendation on the case study
Once you have all the ingredients in your mind, try to think of the flow in which you would want to present your answer. Answering case study questions demand you to have a logical flow with crisp arguments backed by legal provisions.
Break your answer into the following 3 parts:
1. Facts of the case: A quick brief about the facts of the case is a good starting for a case-based answer. You are not required to state the facts verbatim. For instance, for the question above, you can write -->
X, Y and Z are partners who jointly promised to pay Rs. 3,00,000 to D. Y became insolvent and only 1/5th of the share of the debts could be recovered from his assets.
2. Provisions of the law: This section will build the rationale for whatever your final recommendation is. So here, you need to write the main provisions, put in your arguments and build a smooth storyline to get to the recommendation. Many students make a mistake here of writing what they personally feel about the case. No, this is absolutely wrong. What you need to mention here is what the provisions of the relevant Act state. Refrain from stating any facts here, because they have already been covered in the first part. Explain the provisions in a crisp manner. It is great if you can recollect the Section number or the relevant case law (if any). But please refrain from quoting wrong Section numbers and wrong case laws. So a standard drafting of this portion could be as follows:
As per the provisions of the Indian Contract Act, 1872, in case where the performance of the promise is to be done by the joint promisors, the liability shall be joint and several. In case any of the joint promisor becomes insolvent, his estate shall be liable for the debt. The loss of insolvent promisor shall be borne by the solvent promisors.
3. Conclusion: The final conclusion or recommendation will be drawn from the provisions of the law. However, you do not need to mention the provisions here again. What you need to do here is to capture the recommendation in the light of whatever provisions have already been discussed. The conclusion is not the place of introducting any new arguments or provisions. So in the example above, the conclusion can be drafted as follows:
Y’s share was Rs.1,00,000 out of which only Rs. 20,000 were recovered from his property. The loss of Rs.80,000 will be divided equally between X and Z. Hence, the liability of X comes to Rs 1,40,000. If now X pays entire Rs.3,00,000 then he can recover Rs.1,40,000 from Z.
The question asked me to explain what X could recover from Z and on what basis. So what I have done across the 3 parts of the answer is - explain the facts briefly, analyse the facts in the eyes of the law and then apply the provisions to do the calculation and arrive at the final conclusion.
Conclusion
I hope this post was able to handhold you on how to write answers in the Law paper. As you would realize, there is no rocket science here. It is just the presentation and style of writing answers. Remember that these are just suggestions from my experience. You are free to tweak the representation of your answers, provided that all the major points are covered.
Practising writing answers for case-based questions will keep you in good stead in the exams.
In case of any feedback, queries, comments or suggestions, please feel free to write to me.
Thanks for reading :)
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