14 September, 2025 22:15 IST
The UPSC Civil Services Mains Examination is designed to test more than memory it assesses conceptual clarity, analytical reasoning, and the ability to apply law in real-life constitutional and international contexts. The 2025 Law Paper I once again reflected this spirit by covering both constitutional law and international law in a balanced manner and by ensuring that aspirants demonstrate not only knowledge of statutes and cases but also critical evaluation skills.
The UPSC Law Optional Paper I (2025) reflects the Commission’s consistent approach of testing not just the knowledge of bare constitutional and international law but also the analytical depth, comprehension of case law, and ability to critically examine doctrines in light of practical governance challenges. The paper was divided into two clear sections — Section A (Constitutional and Administrative Law) and Section B (International Law) — with each carrying a balanced number of questions, thereby compelling aspirants to prepare holistically rather than selectively. Questions 1 and 5, composed of short-answer questions of 150 words each, were compulsory, ensuring that every candidate demonstrates command over both constitutional and international domains before attempting essays and case-analysis-based questions of their own preference.
In Section A, the questions targeted the heart of constitutional interpretation and its doctrinal tensions. Candidates were asked to deal with the distribution of executive power in matters under the Concurrent List, the continuing relevance of administrative tribunals after L. Chandra Kumar v. Union of India (1997), and the scope of the President’s consultative powers with the Supreme Court. Questions delved deeply into Article 21 by asking whether a right to live also includes the right not to live, and pushed aspirants to evaluate the real-world application of separation of powers. Longer essay-type questions required discussion of key themes like parliamentary privileges, the implementation of Directive Principles through statutory frameworks, and the limiting effect of the basic structure doctrine on constitutional amendments. Other questions tested practical governance dimensions such as judicial review of administrative action, Parliament’s exceptional authority over State List items, access to justice through the Legal Services Authorities Act, the Governor’s pardoning powers, the 44th Constitutional Amendment’s role in preventing abuse of Emergency provisions, and the role of the Lokpal and Lokayukta in ensuring transparency and accountability. The clear intention was to link theoretical constitutional design with modern governance problems and recent reforms.
Turning to Section B, the focus shifted to international law in both its classical foundations and its modern complexities. Question 5 obligated aspirants to answer short conceptual queries on areas ranging from anticipatory self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, limitations of the UN General Assembly, theories of state succession, the Rome Statute’s definition of crimes against humanity, and India’s position regarding the contiguous zone in maritime law. The essay-style questions that followed tested analytical capacity in areas such as the structural flaws of the UN Security Council, the doctrine of innocent passage under the Law of the Sea, and acquisition of territorial sovereignty by newly emerging states. Conceptual clarity was equally vital in questions dealing with nationality versus citizenship, treaty reservations under the Vienna Convention of 1969 and their legal consequences, and the principles of Most Favoured Nation and National Treatment under the WTO, together with dispute settlement procedures. The paper further required critical evaluation of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (2017), doctrines and types of asylum, and a comparative judgment on the efficacy of negotiations versus mediation in peaceful settlement of disputes.
Structure of the Paper
The paper was divided into two sections:
Section A: Constitutional Law and Administrative Law
Section B: International Law
A total of eight questions were asked, out of which candidates had to attempt five- Question 1 and 5 were compulsory (short-answer questions), and three additional questions needed to be chosen from each section. This forced candidates to demonstrate versatility across both constitutional and international law, preventing an over-reliance on selective study.
Key Themes in Constitutional & Administrative Law
The Section A questions revealed UPSC’s continued emphasis on constitutional fundamentals and contemporary judicial developments.
Q1 included short-answer questions on Concurrent List executive powers, L. Chandra Kumar and administrative tribunals, President’s consultative powers with the Supreme Court, right to live versus right not to live under Article 21, and separation of powers. Clearly, these were testing precise constitutional interpretation along with landmark judgments. Importantly, aspirants had to analyze doctrine versus practice—showing depth over rote knowledge.
Q2 revolved around the powers and privileges of Parliament, the implementation of Directive Principles through legislations, and the Doctrine of Basic Structure versus amendment power. These linked constitutional theory with parliamentary practice, requiring illustrative references to case law like Keshavananda Bharati and legislations implementing DPSPs (e.g., labor laws, environment protection statutes).
Q3 shifted towards judicial review of administrative action (asking why it is central to democracy), Parliament’s ability to legislate on State List subjects, and access to justice under the Legal Services Authorities Act, 1987. Here the intent was to test awareness of the Indian administrative framework while linking it to constitutional ideals such as equality and access to justice.
Q4 focused on Governor’s pardoning powers, the impact of the 44th Amendment on Emergency provisions, and the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act, 2013 in promoting accountability. These were questions connecting constitutional foundations with present governance challenges and reforms.
International Law
For Section B, UPSC tested the candidate’s grasp on evolving international law doctrines, real-world application of treaties, and institutional mechanisms.
Q5 (the compulsory short answers) included anticipatory self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the limitations of the UN General Assembly, theories of State succession, definition of crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute, and the concept of contiguous zones in maritime law. This ensured a spread of contemporary issues and traditional doctrinal content.
Q6 looked at the failures of the UN Security Council due to imbalanced power dynamics, the doctrine of innocent passage in the Law of the Sea, and sovereignty acquisition by new states all pressing contemporary international matters tied to classical law principles.
Q7 returned to nationality versus citizenship, the Vienna Convention on treaty reservations, and WTO principles of MFN and national treatment reflecting the growing weightage of globalization and international trade law for civil services.
Q8 pushed aspirants into evaluative territory: it involved critical review of nuclear weapon prohibition treaties (TPNW 2017), theories of asylum and its types, and comparative evaluation of negotiation versus mediation** as means of dispute settlement. These questions tested higher-order critical thinking and the ability to form reasoned arguments beyond black-letter law.
What UPSC Intends to Test
1. Conceptual Clarity: Rather than asking for definitions alone, questions demanded judicial interpretations, examples of legislations, and constitutional doctrines in action.
2. Analytical Skills: Many were phrased as “Critically evaluate” or “Discuss with examples”, requiring candidates to argue both sides before reaching a conclusion.
3. Integration with Current Developments: Questions on Lokpal, WTO tariffs, nuclear weapons, and Rome Statute show UPSC’s stress on applying legal principles to modern governance and international relations.
4. Balance between Constitutional and International Law: The compulsory nature of Q1 and Q5 ensures that aspirants prepare broadly, gaining competence across domains instead of relying solely on comfort areas.
5. Judicial Awareness: Landmark cases such as L. Chandra Kumar, Keshavananda Bharati, and ADM Jabalpur type debates continue to dominate, meaning aspirants must stay updated on constitutional case law.
The 2025 paper demonstrates that success in UPSC Law optional depends not just on remembering sections but on thinking like a jurist. Candidates must:
Master Constitutional Law and its evolution through case law, especially doctrines like separation of powers, basic structure, emergency powers, and judicial review.
Stay updated with international developments, especially in trade law, environmental law, security, and human rights.
Practice concise writing under word limits, structuring answers with an introduction, legal principle, case law/illustration, and conclusion.
Develop a critical lens UPSC is not looking for flowery descriptions but for logical, balanced reasoning backed by authority.
The overall structure of this paper shows how UPSC intends to test aspirants. It expects a firm grasp of core doctrines of constitutional law and administrative law, but also awareness of contemporary debates in international trade, human rights, and global security law. Questions were predominantly analytical, emphasizing words such as “critically examine,” “discuss,” “illustrate,” and “elucidate.” This indicates that the examiner is not seeking rote recall of statutory provisions but rather the candidate’s ability to apply legal knowledge, weigh different sides of an argument, and arrive at reasoned conclusions supported by case laws, examples, or doctrines. For aspirants, this means preparation must strike a balance between landmark judgments (e.g., Keshavananda Bharati, ADM Jabalpur, L. Chandra Kumar), statutory provisions, and global treaties together with their real-world operation.
By framing questions that blend theory, case law, and contemporary affairs, UPSC is signaling that future administrators must not merely know the law, but must be able to apply and critique it in governance, diplomacy, and policy-making. Aspirants preparing for upcoming cycles should adopt this holistic approach to score well in the Law optional, making constitutional interpretation and international law not just subjects but tools of statecraft.