The All India Bar Examination is widely treated as an open-book test for statute text: recent Bar Council of India cycles have allowed candidates to carry printed Bare Acts without handwritten notes, underlining that amounts to commentary, or sticky notes with written content. Guide books, digests, solved papers and annotated commentaries are not a substitute for clean Bare Acts and are typically barred.
The exact list and stamping rules appear in each AIBE notification and centre instructions. What follows is the durable practice pattern candidates and coaching materials describe for recent cycles, organised for preparation rather than as a substitute for the brochure of your year.
What “without notes” usually means
| Generally allowed | Generally not allowed |
|---|---|
| Printed Bare Act volumes / sets | Handwritten notes in margins |
| Publisher texts with only section text and official schedules | Short notes, comments, case summaries printed as “guide Bare Acts” if treated as notes |
| Multiple Acts if they remain unmarked | Textbooks, digests, previous-year books |
| Clean tabs or flags if the centre permits non-written indexing | Mobile phones, electronic Bare Acts (unless a future notification expressly allows devices) |
If a page has printed “short notes” from the publisher, some centres have treated those volumes as non-compliant. When in doubt, carry the plain statutory text edition used for court work.
Priority Bare Acts for the 100-mark paper
Weightage on the AIBE syllabus is uneven. A practical stack for the hall concentrates on statutes that map to high-question subjects:
Tier 1 — open first
- Constitution of India
- Code of Civil Procedure, 1908
- Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (criminal procedure; CrPC still appears on transitional syllabi)
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (substantive crime; IPC on transitional syllabi)
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 (evidence)
These five areas alone account for roughly half of a typical paper when Constitution (10), CPC (10), BNSS/CrPC (10), BNS/IPC (8) and BSA/Evidence (8) are added.
Tier 2 — family, contract and ethics
- Hindu Marriage Act / succession materials as tested under family law
- Indian Contract Act, 1872, Specific Relief Act, Transfer of Property Act, Negotiable Instruments Act
- Advocates Act themes and BCI Rules on professional standards (professional ethics questions)
Tier 3 — lower weight but still on the syllabus
Arbitration and Conciliation Act overview, Companies Act themes, environmental statutes, IT Act cyber basics, labour statutes outline, Consumer Protection and Motor Vehicles themes, tax basics, land acquisition, intellectual property statutes—each often contributes only two to four questions. Carry them if your set is light; do not let them displace Tier 1 navigation practice.
New criminal laws and dual naming
Recent AIBE syllabi list both older codes (IPC, CrPC, Evidence Act) and the 2023 laws (BNS, BNSS, BSA). In the hall you need:
- updated Bare Acts for BNS / BNSS / BSA;
- enough familiarity to answer a question framed in either nomenclature;
- section mapping for high-traffic offences (for example murder punishment under BNS is not “section 302”—see the BNS–IPC series).
Open-book technique that actually scores
Carrying Bare Acts without a system wastes time.
- Index before the exam. Know the chapter map of CPC (jurisdiction, pleadings, appeals, execution), BNSS (FIR, arrest, bail, charge, trial, appeal) and Constitution (fundamental rights, directive principles, judiciary, emergency, amendment).
- Tab only anchors. Tabs for “bail”, “order VII”, “Article 21”, “res judicata” beat highlighting every page.
- Read the question stem for the statute name first, then open that Act—do not start from a commentary memory that may be outdated.
- Provisos and explanations are classic MCQ traps; open-book helps only if you read the full section.
- Ethics and PIL questions may not sit in a single thin Act—revise them from BCI materials and standard notes before exam day.
Related reading
Primary sources
- AIBE / BCI instructions on materials permitted in the examination hall for your cycle
- Official syllabus PDF (subject list and dual naming of criminal codes)