The All India Bar Examination (AIBE) is a national qualifying examination administered by the Bar Council of India (BCI). Advocates who pass the examination become eligible for a Certificate of Practice, which is required to appear and practise before courts in India under the Advocates Act framework and BCI rules.
Unlike entrance tests for law schools, AIBE does not produce a rank list for institutional admission. It is a certification examination: the candidate either meets the prescribed qualifying percentage or does not. Subject coverage is wide, and recent syllabi expressly include both the older criminal codes and the 2023 criminal laws—Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023—alongside Constitution of India and Code of Civil Procedure, 1908.
Related overview: Law examinations in India.
Administering authority
| Field | Detail |
|---|---|
| Examination | All India Bar Examination (AIBE) |
| Authority | Bar Council of India |
| Qualification conferred | Certificate of Practice (on success) |
| Character | Qualifying certification (not rank-based admission) |
| Official portals | BCI publications; allindiabarexamination.com for candidate services |
Eligibility
Eligibility is fixed by the notification for each AIBE cycle. In substance it has required:
- an LL.B. degree from an institution recognised for the purpose of enrolment;
- compliance with enrolment or documentation directions issued for that cycle (including any certificate upload rules);
- such other conditions as the BCI may prescribe for final-year students or special categories.
Age ceilings have not been the central restriction historically; documentation and enrolment status have been.
Scheme of examination
Recent AIBE cycles have used the following structure (confirm marks and duration in the brochure for the cycle you sit):
| Feature | Recent pattern |
|---|---|
| Mode | Offline OMR-based examination |
| Questions | 100 multiple-choice questions |
| Maximum marks | 100 |
| Duration | 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Negative marking | Generally not applied |
| Materials in hall | Bare Acts without notes or commentary, subject to the exact list and stamping rules for that cycle |
| Qualifying marks (indicative) | Around 45% for General/OBC and 40% for SC/ST in recent notifications |
Syllabus and subject-wise weightage
The BCI syllabus in circulation for recent cycles lists nineteen subjects totalling 100 questions. Constitutional Law, Criminal Procedure (CrPC/BNSS) and Civil Procedure each carry ten questions—the highest individual weights.
| No. | Subject | Questions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Constitutional Law | 10 |
| 2 | Indian Penal Code and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita | 8 |
| 3 | Code of Criminal Procedure and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita | 10 |
| 4 | Code of Civil Procedure | 10 |
| 5 | Indian Evidence Act and Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam | 8 |
| 6 | Alternative Dispute Resolution including the Arbitration Act | 4 |
| 7 | Family Law | 8 |
| 8 | Public Interest Litigation | 4 |
| 9 | Administrative Law | 3 |
| 10 | Professional Ethics and cases of professional misconduct under BCI Rules | 4 |
| 11 | Company Law | 2 |
| 12 | Environmental Law | 2 |
| 13 | Cyber Law | 2 |
| 14 | Labour and Industrial Laws | 4 |
| 15 | Law of Torts, including Motor Vehicles and Consumer Protection | 5 |
| 16 | Law relating to Taxation | 4 |
| 17 | Law of Contract, Specific Relief, Property Laws, Negotiable Instruments Act | 8 |
| 18 | Land Acquisition law | 2 |
| 19 | Intellectual Property Laws | 2 |
| Total | 100 |
Subject notes
Constitutional Law. Sources include the structure of the Union and States, fundamental rights and directive principles, the judiciary, emergency provisions, amendment, and centre–state relations. Reading the bare text of the Constitution of India remains central.
Criminal law and procedure. Substantive offences are examined under the IPC framework and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023. Procedure is examined under CrPC themes and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023—cognizable and non-cognizable offences, investigation, bail, charges, trial types, judgments and appeals.
Civil procedure. Jurisdiction, res judicata, pleadings, interim orders, decrees, appeals, reference, review and revision under the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 dominate this block.
Evidence. Relevancy, admissions, confessions, oral and documentary evidence, burden of proof and examination of witnesses appear under the Evidence Act and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023.
Contract and property cluster. Offer and acceptance, consideration, breach, specific relief, transfer of property principles and negotiable instruments form an eight-question block anchored by the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and allied Acts.
Professional ethics. Duties to court and client, advertising restrictions, and leading misconduct opinions under BCI Rules are examined as a distinct unit.
Principal statutes
- Constitution of India — fundamental rights, directive principles, federal structure, judiciary, emergency and amendment provisions
- Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 — substantive criminal offences (successor to the Indian Penal Code)
- Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 — investigation, trial and appellate criminal procedure (successor to the Code of Criminal Procedure)
- Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023 — relevancy, proof and examination of witnesses (successor to the Indian Evidence Act)
- Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 — institution of suits, jurisdiction, decrees, appeals, execution and interim relief
- Indian Contract Act, 1872 — formation, performance, breach and quasi-contract themes
- Specific Relief Act; Transfer of Property Act; Limitation Act; Negotiable Instruments Act
- Personal laws: Hindu law (marriage, succession, adoption, maintenance), Muslim law, and Special Marriage Act themes where listed
Additional statutes that regularly appear in AIBE reading lists include the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, Companies Act themes, Information Technology Act provisions on cyber offences, major labour statutes, Consumer Protection law, Motor Vehicles themes, tax basics, land acquisition legislation and core intellectual property statutes.
Role of bare Acts
AIBE is structured around statute literacy. Questions frequently turn on the location of a rule, the wording of a proviso, or the classification of a procedural step. Where bare Acts are permitted in the examination hall, navigation and clean (unannotated) texts matter as much as memory.
Transition questions comparing IPC/CrPC/Evidence numbering with BNS/BNSS/BSA numbering continue to appear while both nomenclatures remain on the syllabus. A section-wise comparison of substantive criminal law is maintained in the BNS vs IPC series.
See also
- AIBE exam pattern
- Bare Acts allowed in AIBE
- Certificate of Practice
- AIBE eligibility
- How to prepare for AIBE
- Law examinations in India
- BNS vs IPC series
References and primary sources
Syllabus tables and pattern details should be checked against the Bar Council of India’s published AIBE syllabus PDF and the candidate instructions on the official AIBE website for the relevant examination number (for example AIBE-XXI, AIBE-XXII).