Uttar Pradesh Judiciary — Previous-Year Papers

Every Uttar Pradesh Judiciary paper we have, free to read and download. 2 prelims and 2 mains papers — each one also available as a clean, branded PDF.

← Full Uttar Pradesh Judiciary exam guide, pattern & syllabus

U.P. Judiciary · Prelims

What the U.P. PCS(J) prelims actually tests

The heaviest judiciary screen on record — two objective papers, 450 marks: Paper-I General Knowledge (150 marks) and Paper-II Law (300 marks), each 2 hours, with one-third negative marking. Qualifying only — prelims marks never reach the final merit list (a 1:10 screen to Mains). Bars below show the mix within the Law paper (the GK paper is in the note below), built from 284 classified law questions across the only two papers on record (2018 & 2023) — so shares are indicative and each sparkline is a single 2-point slope (read it as steady/up/down, not a trend).

Civil Procedure Code (CPC) 13%

The single largest law subject (18 → 19) — dead steady. Jurisdiction, decree/order definitions, execution, commissions, res judicata, pleadings, Order-Rule matching. The most stable counts on the paper; old PYQs revise perfectly. Top priority.

Indian Evidence Act 13%

Grew sharply (16 → 20). Confession/admission, dying declaration, expert opinion, burden of proof, and — new in 2023 — electronic evidence (Ss. 65A/65B, 85A–85C, 47A). The modernising subject; the new BSA carries this forward.

Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) 12%

Strong and rising (15 → 20). Arrest, bail, charge, cognizance, court jurisdiction, magistrates’ sentencing powers, FIR/investigation case-law. Top priority alongside CPC and Evidence.

Indian Penal Code (IPC) 12%

The heaviest substantive subject, trending up (15 → 19). Offences against property (theft, extortion, CBT), offences against women (rape, voyeurism, victim-identity), general exceptions, and joint/constructive liability recur every year.

International Law & OrganisationsUP signature 12%

UP’s distinctive heavy block (15 → 20) — tested like a procedural code, where most states barely touch it. UN Charter articles, ICJ advisory opinions & equity, organs of the UN, sources of international law (Art. 38). A guaranteed, high-yield block; do not skip.

Law of Contract 10%

Steady (15 → 14). Formation, consideration, free consent, void/voidable/wager agreements, frustration, and leading English cases (Tweddle v. Atkinson, Taylor v. Caldwell). Reliable, illustration-friendly marks.

Transfer of Property Act 10%

Identical both years (14 → 14). Lis pendens, part performance, election, subrogation, vested/contingent interest, lease/mortgage/gift. Heavily match-the-list — among the most predictable scoring subjects.

Indian Constitution 9%

Dropped notably (16 → 10) but remains core. Fundamental Rights (esp. Article 21), DPSP, amendment-driven topics (103rd Amendment, GST Council), constitutional offices. Still a must-do; just lighter in the recent paper.

Jurisprudence 8%

Dipped (14 → 10). Schools of law, theories of possession/ownership, jurists (Austin, Kelsen, Salmond, Pound, Ehrlich), maxims and quotations. Memory-heavy but predictable — bankable for the disciplined.

Breadth beats big bets — and don’t mis-prep the famous UP local laws. The UP Law paper is the flattest anywhere: nine subjects all land between 8% and 13%, none droppable, and International Law sits level with the procedural codes. The trap runs the other way too: UP’s signature statutes — the Revenue Code 2006, Urban Buildings (Rent) Act 1972, Tenancy Act 2021, Panchayat Raj, Consolidation of Holdings — feel like UP and tempt prelims prep, but they are Mains-only (Law Paper-III) and appear in neither prelims paper. Save them for the Mains.

A whole GK paper rides alongside the law — and the codes are switching. Paper-I is a full 150-mark General Knowledge paper (History, Geography, Polity, Economy, Science & Tech, plus named social-welfare statutes — POCSO, DV Act, Dowry Prohibition, PCPNDT). The 2023 source captured only the Law paper, so it is under-represented above — treat GK as a real, separate 150-mark block, not an afterthought. And every criminal-law question here is on the old IPC / CrPC / Evidence Act (no BNS / BNSS / BSA appears in either paper); future papers test the new codes, so use these PYQs for concepts and re-map each section onto its BNS / BNSS / BSA equivalent.

Prelims papers 2

2023 Prelims

146 questions · answers + solutions

Open paper

2018 Prelims

147 questions · answers + solutions

Open paper

Mains papers 2

2023 Mains

30 descriptive questions

Open paper

2018 Mains

30 descriptive questions

Open paper

What the U.P. PCS(J) prelims actually tests

Prelims papers 2

Mains papers 2

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