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Class 12 Student Expected to Understand Legal Principles? What Delhi HC says about CLAT Legal Reasoning
One of the most controversial points in the CLAT UG hearing was around the legal reasoning section. Petitioners had argued that the CLAT legal reasoning questions contained questions that required the candidates to have prior knowledge of law, which was unfair to the candidates. The HC judgement on the matter is yet to come out as the court has reserved the verdict. In this article, find out what the HC said on the matter and whether legal knowledge is required in the Common Law Admission Test for the legal reasoning section.
What is the Consortium’s View About Legal Knowledge for CLAT Legal Reasoning?
The Consortium of National Law Universities explicitly mentions on its official website that candidates do not need any prior knowledge of law to attempt questions in the legal reasoning section of CLAT. However, it further mentions that candidates will benefit from a general awareness of legal and moral issues, which will enable them to apply these principles to fact scenarios given in the passage.
Questions Under Scanner in the CLAT 2025 Legal Reasoning
Some of the legal reasoning questions in CLAT 2025 that were flagged by the petitioners as being outside the syllabus and requiring prior knowledge of law are given below. As per the petition, these questions cannot be answered merely based on the information given in the passage.
Controversial Questions Under CLAT Legal Reasoning
Q. no (Set A) | Questions | Options |
67 | An agreement made by an adult but involving a minor child where the signatory is a minor child himself, this agreement would be: |
|
68 | Which of the following scenarios would most likely result in a void agreement? |
|
69 | An agreement made without consideration is generally: |
|
75 | A Bill becomes an Act only when |
|
What the Delhi HC Said About Controversial Questions in CLAT Legal Reasoning?
Taking cognisance of the candidate’s objections, the court had remarked about the ability of candidates to answer the above questions without prior knowledge of law.
On a question involving “consideration”, the Chief Justice had remarked that the consortium is testing the legal understanding of a Class 12th student, who would not know what consideration is. He wondered whether a class 12 student would know what consideration means under the Contract Law, but said it is for the experts to decide that.
The judges also remarked on the question involving the void and voidable contracts and expressed doubts about whether a class 12 student with no knowledge of law will be able to tell the difference between a void and a voidable contract.
Due to a sizeable number of objections received, the court had also advised the Consortium of NLUs to revisit the paper setting process. It asked the Consortium to hire better question paper setters for the next time.
What’s the Impact on Candidates?
The CLAT 2025 judgement is yet to come. It remains to be seen whether the court sides with the candidates or the Consortium. If the court deems the questions to be out of the syllabus, then the questions are likely to be withdrawn, which will again have a significant impact on the CLAT 2025 results. A further revision of the answers is likely to prolong the legal process as candidates or the consortium of NLUs can further challenge the verdict.
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Yes, you can switch from one college to another to a CLAT college through the entrance test. However, it is important to note that you will have to start from year 1 rather than transferring directly into the second or third year. Some of the top
CLAT participating colleges
here.
Here you can check out the top
NLUs offering admission into 3-year LLB
with and without CLAT exam:
1. NLSIU Bengaluru for LLB programme through NLSAT.
2. NLU Odisha and NLU Visakhapatnam offer admission into the 3-year LLB course through their own admission process.
3. CNLU Patna
Yes, for CLAT preparation, building a reading habit daily is a good approach. You can read the daily newspapers like The Hindu and The Indian Express. While going for Animal Farm by George Orwell, Word power Made Easy by Norma Lewis for novel comprehension.
Yes, you can elevate your law entrance journey with Careers360’s CLAT mock test PDF free download link given below:
https://law.careers360.com/articles/clat-mock-test
The CLAT 2027 application form will open in the first week of August 2026. While the exam will be held on the first or second Sunday of December 2026.
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