FL201 | Family Law I

Family Law I is a core course mandated by the Bar Council. The course deals with marriage & divorce, adoption, guardianship and custody, maintenance, social legislation which have a bearing on family law and the working of family courts.

Family Law is taught in two courses, as suggested by the Bar Council of India, and Family Law II covers succession, testamentary and intestate succession, gifts, and religious endowments. As such this has been excluded from the present course.

The course shall examine the role played by statute law, as well as law made by judges, by engaging primarily with case law, and selected secondary materials.

The pedagogical methods that will be followed are primarily: lectures, practical classroom exercises, film/documentary screening, and problem solving.

The course is divided into 4 modules. The first module consists of a general introduction to family law, and the matrimonial laws of the Hindu community. Module 2 deals with matrimonial laws of Muslims, as well as the Christians and the Parsis, with a reference to the Special Marriage Act, 1954, as well. Module 3 covers the law related to Adoption, Guardianship and Custody under the different personal laws in India. Module 4 examines the judicial responses to the emerging debates in family law and the functioning of the family courts.