The author, Ritu Rajkumari is an advocate practicing as Litigation Attorney primarily in Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), High Court of Delhi and Supreme Court of India.
The difference lies in the number of subject papers and number of hours studied under both courses.
Number of Subjects Papers
Bar Council of India in its 'Rules of Legal Education 2008′ prescribes the minimum no. of subjects papers for a law course with or without honours and with or without specialization
For Integrated degree, Part 4 of the 'Rules of Legal Education 2008′ says that for an honours degree in law a minimum of 36 subjects has to be studied for the course be called honours degree.
36 Papers = 18 compulsory papers + 4 clinical papers + 6 optional papers + 8 papers honours course in any Group as stipulated in the Schedule II of the 'Rules of Legal Education 2008
Please note this is a ‘honours in law’ without any specialisation. Hence the name ‘Bachelor of Laws (Honours)’.
Similarly an integrated degree of B.A + LL.B can also be designed by the University (as they have been empowered by BCI to do so after fulfilling certain basic criterias) [14 BA subjects + 28 law subjects]
Here B.A. subjects would be governed by UGC Rules whereas law subjects papers will be governed by rules of BCI.
So. B.A.,LL.B (Hons.) Degree is in essence a First degree in Bachelor of Arts - Pass-course – 14 subjects as per UGC and Second Degree - Bachelor of Law (Honours) - 36 subjects including 18 compulsory papers as per BCI's Schedule II.
Part 3 of the Schedule II talks about ‘Honours in Law’ as well as the freedom of the University to design a course with minimum prescribed criteria.
For a pass-course, that is B.A. LL.B, one has to study 14 subjects of B.A. component and 28 subjects of law papers.
As per the schedule II of the rules, minimum number of subjects papers in the following combination.
B.A., LL.B = 14 Papers of B.A. subjects + 28 Papers of LL.B subjects = 42 Papers
B.A. (Hons.), LL.B = 20 Papers of B.A. (Hons.) + 28 Papers of LL.B subjects = 48 Papers
B.A., LL.B (Hons.) = 14 Papers of B.A subjects + 36 Papers of LL.B (Hons) subjects = 50 Papers
B.A. (Hons.), LL.B (Hons.) = 20 Papers of B.A.(Hons.) subjects + 36 Papers of LL.B (Hons) subjects = 56 Papers
Number of hours prescribed:
For just the LL.B component of the B.A., LL.B:
Point 10 prescribes that not less than 18 weeks per semester with not less than 30 class hours per week (including moot seminars etc) with a minimum of 24 lecture hours per week.
For LL.B (Hons) component of B.A.,LL.B (Hons.):
It has been provided that not less than 36 class hours per week (including seminar, moot court, tutorial classes with a minimum of 30 lecture hours per week.
It is the freedom of the University to design the course as per their facilities.
This freedom has been given by BCI Rules and Schedule 2 of BCI Rules of Legal Education, 2008.
Rules on Specialisation are separate. A degree may have a component of specialisation for example. LL.B (Hons.) in Energy Laws. Here the specialisation is in the field of energy laws. For the purpose of the specialization, the student has to study 8 papers in a specific group as provided in the Schedule II. So a student has to study 8 papers in the field of Energy Laws, for that student to get ‘B.A., LL.B (Hons.)’ with specialization in ‘Energy Laws.’
An integrated degree may be designed First Degree (which maybe B.A./B.BA) + Second Degree (which is LL.B) + Honours in general or with Specialization.
Example: B.Sc., LL.B (Hons.) in International Law.
