Criminal Law is where TU law exams are won or lost — heavy marks, technical definitions, and offence-based questions that reward precise answers. This is the unit-wise list of the most important questions for the TU LL.B. Criminal Law paper (LAW 401), so you can revise the whole syllabus question by question.
Who is this for? TU LL.B. 2nd Year (Criminal Law, LAW 401) students — and B.A.LL.B. students of Criminal Law-I (LAW 5204) and Criminal Law-II (LAW 5301), whose units cover the same ground.
Unit-wise important questions
Unit 1: Meaning and Nature of Criminal Law
- Define crime and criminal law. Explain the nature and classification of crime. (15)
- Distinguish crime from tort and breach of contract. Can one act give rise to all three liabilities? (10)
- Explain the types of criminal liability with strict liability’s rationale and limits. (10)
- Explain the kinds of jurisdiction in criminal law with special attention to universal jurisdiction. (15)
- What is extradition? Discuss Nepal’s Extradition Act, 2046 and the principles of extradition law. (15)
Unit 2: Historical Evolution of Criminal Law in Nepal
- Trace the historical evolution of criminal law in Nepal from the pre-codification eras to the 2074 codes. (15)
- What was the significance of the Muluki Ain, 1910 B.S.? Discuss its dual character. (10)
- How did the Muluki Ain, 2020 B.S. reform the criminal law? (10)
- Introduce the criminal-law trilogy of 2074 (the Code, the Procedure Code, and the Sentencing Act). (10)
Unit 3: General Principles of Criminal Law
- Explain the principle of legality in criminal law with its four dimensions and the constitutional entrenchment. (15)
- “Ignorance of law is no excuse, but ignorance of fact may be.” Discuss. (10)
- Explain actus non facit reum nisi mens sit rea with the concurrence requirement. (10)
- Discuss the principle of double jeopardy under Article 20(6) with its anatomy and neighbours. (15)
- What is the effect of the accused’s death on criminal proceedings? (10)
Unit 4: Elements of Crime
- What is actus reus? When does an omission incur criminal liability? (15)
- Explain the degrees of mens rea and show how the Muluki Criminal Code, 2074 grades liability by mental state. (15)
- “Factual causation is necessary but not sufficient for liability.” Discuss with the doctrines of novus actus interveniens and the thin-skull rule. (15)
- Distinguish intention from recklessness and recklessness from negligence, with the Code’s corresponding homicide grades. (10)
- A strikes B with a stick intending to hurt; B, a haemophiliac, bleeds to death after a hospital’s negligent transfusion delay. Analyse B’s death’s causation. (10)
Unit 5: Stages of Crime and Inchoate Crimes
- Explain the stages of crime and the rule of punishability at each stage. Why are intention and preparation generally not punishable? (15)
- What is criminal attempt? Discuss the tests for “more than mere preparation” and the doctrine of impossibility. (15)
- Define criminal conspiracy. What makes the agreement itself criminal? Discuss with reference to Nepali law and Jasman Limbu v. Government of Nepal. (15)
- Explain abetment and its forms. When is the abettor liable although the person abetted is not? (10)
- “Inchoate offences punish the criminal will that has outgrown the mind.” Critically examine the rationale and limits of punishing incomplete crimes. (10)
Unit 6: Parties to the Crime
- What is meant by parties to a crime? Classify them and explain how Nepali law distributes liability between principal and secondary offenders. (15)
- Explain the doctrine of complicity: its actus and mens elements, and the limits of a secondary offender’s liability for the principal’s excesses. (10)
- Who is liable when an offence is committed through an innocent agent? Explain with illustrations. (10)
- “A corporation has no soul to damn and no body to kick.” Critically examine the development of corporate criminal liability and Nepal’s approach. (15)
- Distinguish accessories before, during and after the fact. Why is the accessory after the fact guilty of a separate offence? (10)
Unit 7: General Defences
- Distinguish justifications from excuses. Why does criminal law recognize general defences at all? (10)
- Explain the insanity defence with reference to the M’Naghten Rules and Nepali law, including the Tirtha Dangol case. (15)
- “Mistake of fact may be a defence; mistake of law is not.” Discuss with Nepali case law. (10)
- State the conditions of the right of private defence of body, chastity and property under Nepali criminal law. When does the right extend to causing death? (15)
- Compare necessity and duress. Why does the common law refuse duress as a defence to murder? (10)
Unit 8: Property Offences
- Define theft and explain its essential elements and aggravated forms under the Muluki Criminal Code, 2074. (15)
- What is cheating? Explain its ingredients, including cheating by personation, and distinguish it from breach of contract. (15)
- Define looting. How does it differ from theft, extortion and dacoity? (10)
- “The property offences are graded by the presence of consent, force and deception.” Discuss with reference to theft, cheating and looting. (10)
Unit 9: Offences against Person
- Define homicide and classify it. Explain the provisions relating to homicide under the Muluki Criminal Code, 2074, with leading cases. (15)
- “All murder is culpable homicide, but not all culpable homicide is murder.” Discuss with Nepali case law. (15)
- Explain the offence of human trafficking and transportation under the Act of 2064, distinguishing the two heads. (15)
- What is false imprisonment? Distinguish it from lawful arrest and from abduction. (10)
- Distinguish kidnapping from abduction with the elements of each. (10)
Unit 10: Sexual Offences
- Define rape and explain its essential elements with the consent doctrine and the aggravating circumstances under the Muluki Criminal Code, 2074. (15)
- Explain the offence of incest. Why is consent immaterial in incest? (10)
- Discuss the law of sexual harassment in Nepal — the general offence and the Sexual Harassment at Workplace (Prevention) Act, 2071. (15)
- “The unnatural-offences provision survives in text but is besieged in constitutional principle.” Discuss. (10)
- Define bigamy and explain its elements, statutory exceptions and leading case law. (15)
Unit 11: Socio-Economic Offences
- Define organized crime and explain its characteristics and the major organized criminal groups with the South Asian faces. (15)
- Explain the national and international mechanisms for combating organized crime. (15)
- Discuss the anti-corruption framework of Nepal with the CIAA’s constitutional position. (15)
- What is money laundering? Explain its stages and Nepal’s legal machinery against it. (15)
- Explain the offence family under the Banking Crimes and Punishment Act, 2064. (10)
Unit 12: Offences Relating to Documents
- Define forgery and explain its essential elements and aggravated forms, including electronic forgery. (15)
- What constitutes a “false document”? Explain with the classical categories of making. (10)
- Explain the offence of coercion (karkap)/criminal use of force and distinguish it from extortion. (10)
- Explain the offence relating to official secrets and its tension with the right to information. (15)
Unit 13: Prescribed Cases
- Discuss the facts, holding and principle of Indra Prasad Khanal v. Government of Nepal and its significance for the mens-rea categories in homicide. (15)
- Write short notes on any three of the prescribed cases, with citations as printed in the syllabus. (3×5)
- “The prescribed cases map the criminal law’s general part onto the modern docket.” Discuss with reference to the vehicular-homicide and organized-crime decisions of the course. (10)
- How should a law student brief a Supreme Court decision for the examination? Illustrate with the structure used in this unit. (10)
How to answer Criminal Law questions well
- State the ingredients. Every offence answer should open with the definition and each ingredient of the offence, then apply the facts to each ingredient in order.
- Cite the exact provision of the Muluki Criminal Code (or the Muluki Ain for older matters) — section numbers you are sure of, never guessed ones.
- Name the classification the question implies (against property, against person, kinds of liability) before diving into details.
- For problem questions: identify the offence → define it → apply each ingredient to the facts → conclude with liability.
Free resources before you buy anything
Start with the free Unit 1: Criminal Law Unit 1 — Meaning and Nature (free). Unit 1 of every subject is free on this site; when you want every unit, prescribed cases, exam focus boxes and model answers, see the complete notes packages (Rs 300 per semester/year, instant eSewa payment).