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Law examinations in India

KanoonGPT

India administers a large set of examinations that either admit students to law programmes or select law graduates for judicial office, prosecution, academic eligibility, regulatory legal posts and professional qualifications. This page is a structured directory of those examinations, grouped by purpose, with links to individual syllabus articles on this site.

Many selection processes share a statute core: the Constitution of India, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023, the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam, 2023, the Code of Civil Procedure, 1908 and the Indian Contract Act, 1872. Undergraduate entrance tests rely more on reading and reasoning than on full code mastery; judicial service, AIBE and prosecution examinations reverse that balance.

By career goal

Goal Principal examinations
Five-year LL.B. at National Law Universities CLAT UG, AILET UG
State law colleges MH CET Law, TS LAWCET, AP LAWCET, KLEE
Right to practise as an advocate AIBE
Civil Judge (Junior Division) State judicial service articles in the table below
Prosecution career APO / APP overview
LL.M. at NLUs CLAT PG, AILET PG
Teaching / JRF eligibility UGC NET Law
Regulatory or bank legal posts SEBI Grade A Legal, RBI Legal Officer, IBPS SO Law
Defence legal service JAG entry
Civil Services with Law optional UPSC CSE Law optional

Bar and practice

Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
All India Bar Examination (AIBE) Article Very high

The AIBE, under the Bar Council of India, is the principal national certification examination built around bare-Act subjects including constitutional law, criminal codes, civil procedure and evidence.

Judicial service (Civil Judge)

State judicial service examinations recruit Civil Judges for the subordinate judiciary. National codes form the shared core; language papers and local laws differ by state.

Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
Delhi Judicial Service Article Very high
Uttar Pradesh Judicial Service (PCS-J) Article Very high
Bihar Judicial Service Article Very high
Madhya Pradesh Civil Judge Examination Article Very high
Rajasthan Judicial Service Article Very high
Haryana Civil Judge Examination Article Very high
Punjab Civil Judge Examination Article Very high
Himachal Pradesh Judicial Service Article Very high
Uttarakhand Judicial Service Article Very high
Jharkhand Judicial Service Article Very high
Chhattisgarh Judicial Service Article Very high
Odisha Judicial Service Article Very high
West Bengal Judicial Service Article Very high
Assam Judicial Service Article Very high
Manipur Judicial Service Article Very high
Meghalaya Judicial Service Article Very high
Tripura Judicial Service Article Very high
Mizoram Judicial Service Article Very high
Nagaland Judicial Service Article Very high
Arunachal Pradesh Judicial Service Article Very high
Sikkim Judicial Service Article Very high
Maharashtra Judicial Service Article Very high
Gujarat Judicial Service Article Very high
Goa Judicial Service Article Very high
Karnataka Judicial Service Article Very high
Kerala Judicial Service Article Very high
Tamil Nadu Judicial Service Article Very high
Andhra Pradesh Judicial Service Article Very high
Telangana Judicial Service Article Very high
Jammu and Kashmir Civil Judge Examination Article Very high
Puducherry Judicial Service Article Very high

Prosecution

Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
Assistant Prosecution Officer and Additional Public Prosecutor examinations Article High (criminal)
Uttar Pradesh Assistant Prosecution Officer Examination Article High (criminal)
Bihar Assistant Prosecution Officer Examination Article High (criminal)
Madhya Pradesh Assistant Prosecution Officer Examination Article High (criminal)
Rajasthan Assistant Prosecution Officer / APP Examination Article High (criminal)
Haryana Assistant Prosecution Officer Examination Article High (criminal)
Delhi prosecution / Additional Public Prosecutor recruitment Article High (criminal)

Academic and LL.M. admission

Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
UGC National Eligibility Test (Law) Article Medium–high
Common Law Admission Test (Postgraduate) Article Medium–high
All India Law Entrance Test (Postgraduate) Article Medium–high
CUET (PG) Law / central university LL.M. pathway Article Medium–high

Undergraduate and three-year LL.B. entrances

Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
Common Law Admission Test (Undergraduate) Article Low–medium
All India Law Entrance Test (Undergraduate) Article Low–medium
Symbiosis Law Admission Test Article Low–medium
LSAT—India Article Low–medium
Maharashtra Common Entrance Test for Law Article Low–medium
Telangana State Law Common Entrance Test Article Low–medium
Andhra Pradesh Law Common Entrance Test Article Low–medium
Kerala Law Entrance Examination Article Low–medium
University of Delhi LL.B. admission Article Low–medium
Banaras Hindu University LL.B. admission Article Low–medium
National Law School Admission Test Article Low–medium
Panjab University LL.B. entrance Article Low–medium

Defence legal entry

Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
Judge Advocate General (JAG) entry Article High
Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
SEBI Grade A (Legal Stream) Article High (commercial/regulatory)
Reserve Bank of India Legal Officer recruitment Article High (commercial/regulatory)
IBPS Specialist Officer (Law Officer) Article High (commercial/regulatory)
State Bank of India Law Officer recruitment Article High (commercial/regulatory)
NABARD legal specialist recruitment Article High (commercial/regulatory)
IRDAI legal officer recruitment Article High (commercial/regulatory)
EPFO and social-security legal posts Article High (commercial/regulatory)
Public Sector Undertaking Legal Officer / Legal Advisor posts Article High (commercial/regulatory)
Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
UPSC Civil Services Examination — Law optional Article High (role-dependent)
Indian Legal Service Article High (role-dependent)
State Public Service Commission examinations with law or legal posts Article High (role-dependent)

Allied professional courses

Examination Syllabus Statute intensity
Company Secretary programme (ICSI) Article High (corporate statutes)
Cost and Management Accountant programme — law papers Article High (corporate statutes)

Shared statute core

  • 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
  • State and local Acts named in the official syllabus (land revenue, rent control, tenancy, court fees, stamp, and similar statutes)

From 2024 onward, competitive examinations have increasingly adopted BNS, BNSS and BSA nomenclature. Parallel reading of older IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act materials remains useful during the transition; a topic-wise comparison is available in the BNS vs IPC series.

How the directory is organised

Each linked article describes the administering body, stages of selection, subject map and principal statutes for one examination or examination family. Paper marks and age limits change by notification; the articles record the durable structure of each process rather than a single year’s vacancy calendar.

Full-text statute reading for the codes named above is available in the Kanoon Library.

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