
LLB Subjects Semester-Wise: The Full List
Search "llb subjects semester wise" on Google and you will find twenty lists that all look slightly different. Most of them are copy-paste jobs that mix up the 5-year BA LLB with the 3-year LLB, or take one college's list and present it as the national syllabus.
This post is only about the 3-year LLB, the degree you do after graduation. I built this llb subjects semester wise list from real university schemes: Kurukshetra University, GGSIPU Delhi, Rizvi Law College Mumbai, and Geeta Law College. The core subjects stay the same everywhere. Only the order changes.
Why no two colleges list the subjects in the same order
The Bar Council of India sets the compulsory-paper framework for legal education, and each university arranges the semesters and adds its own electives inside that frame. That is why Rizvi Mumbai puts Labour Law in semester 1 while Kurukshetra starts with Jurisprudence. The knowledge you must cover is the same, and the sequence is a local decision. That is also why no llb subjects semester wise list looks identical across colleges: treat the order below as the typical pattern and match it against your own university's scheme.
One more thing worth knowing before you scroll further: the 3-year LLB is only for graduates. If you are coming straight out of class 12, your route is the 5-year BA LLB, which covers the same law subjects plus humanities papers in the first two years. Both degrees lead to the same Bar Council enrolment, and after either one you must clear the All India Bar Exam (AIBE) to earn your Certificate of Practice.
LLB subjects semester wise: first year (semesters 1 and 2)
The first year builds your foundation. Across the schemes I checked, semester 1 usually has Contract Law I, Constitutional Law I, Family Law I, Law of Torts, and either Legal Methods or Legal Language. Semester 2 follows with Contract II (Special Contracts), Constitutional Law II, Family Law II, Law of Crimes I, and Administrative Law or Public International Law, depending on the college.
First year still feels like school in one way: heavy reading, xerox-shop notes, and professors who love saying "read the full case, not the headnote". Contract and Constitution taught me more about how to read a legal text than any other subject. Do not sleep through them.
Second year: this is where the subjects start feeling like a lawyer's life
Semesters 3 and 4 bring the papers that working lawyers reach for every day. Law of Evidence, Jurisprudence, Company Law, the Civil Procedure Code and Limitation Act, Property Law (Transfer of Property and Easements), Law of Crimes II (criminal procedure), Labour and Industrial Law I, Environmental Law, Public International Law, and Interpretation of Statutes. Some colleges also slot the first practical papers in here: Professional Ethics, and Drafting, Pleading and Conveyancing.
Second year changes how you study. The subjects stop rewarding memorisation and start rewarding argument. If your college runs moot court selections in second year, take them seriously. I have watched average students turn into placement favourites on the strength of one good moot court season.
A practical tip from the library crowd: Evidence and the CPC are the two subjects where reading the bare act pays off directly. Students who only read guidebooks keep mixing up sections. Students who read the bare act with a highlighter finish faster and write sharper answers in the exam hall.
Third year: procedure, practical papers, and your first real choices
By semesters 5 and 6, the remaining core papers finish up: the Civil Procedure Code if your college placed it late, criminal procedure papers, Land Laws, Principles of Taxation, and Public International Law and Human Rights. Then come the four practical papers the Bar Council framework requires everywhere: Professional Ethics and Professional Accounting System, Alternate Dispute Resolution, Drafting Pleading and Conveyancing, and the Moot Court Exercise with Internship.
The practical papers are the most underrated part of the degree. In moot court you argue a made-up case in a made-up courtroom, which sounds silly until an interviewer spends twenty minutes asking you about it. In drafting you learn to write plaints, agreements, and notices, which is what a junior advocate does all day in the first year of practice.
The full 3-year LLB runs about 28 papers across 6 semesters: roughly 20 core law subjects, 4 practical papers, and the rest optional papers that your college chooses.
On top of this, every college offers optional papers, usually 2 of them in the final year. The common choices are Intellectual Property Law, Cyber Law, Banking and Insurance Law, Taxation Law, Criminology and Penology, Human Rights Law, Competition Law, and Conflict of Laws (Private International Law). These are the only subjects you get to choose, so choose them for the field you want, not the field your friends want.
One update you cannot ignore: the IPC, CrPC and Evidence Act are gone
This is the biggest syllabus change in decades, and older lists on the internet have not caught up. With effect from 1 July 2024, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) replaced the Indian Penal Code, the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) replaced the Code of Criminal Procedure, and the Bharatiya Sakshya Adhiniyam (BSA) replaced the Indian Evidence Act. The BNS cut the old 511 IPC sections down to 358 and added new offences like organised crime and mob lynching.
For new batches, "Law of Crimes" now means the BNS, not the IPC. Your seniors' notes still explain concepts well, but do not quote old section numbers in exams or interviews. And if a college website still shows "IPC" in its scheme, read it as the BNS paper wearing an outdated name.
Which subjects shape your career
The core subjects (Constitution, Contract, CPC, Evidence, criminal law) decide judiciary and litigation exams. The optional papers signal your interest area to internship recruiters. The practical papers decide how confident you sound in interviews. Everything else is background you need but nobody will quiz you on.
Corporate law aspirants should look at IPR or Competition Law. Litigation aspirants should look at Criminology or Human Rights. It is a small choice that sits on your resume for years.
Use this llb subjects semester wise list to plan your semesters, then confirm the exact order against your university's official scheme. Three years sounds long when you are filling the admission form. It passes fast. Spend your moot court semester like a lawyer instead of a student, and remember that everyone studies the same subjects. What you do with them is the actual degree.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the LLB syllabus the same in every college in India?
Mostly, yes. The compulsory papers follow the Bar Council of India's framework, so the core subjects are the same everywhere. The semester order, the optional papers, and the exact paper names differ between universities. Always check your own university's official scheme for the final word.
What is the difference between 3-year LLB and 5-year BA LLB subjects?
The law subjects are largely the same. The BA LLB adds humanities subjects like political science, economics, history, sociology, and English in the first two years, and stretches the whole course over 10 semesters instead of 6.
How many subjects are there in LLB in total?
About 28 papers across 6 semesters in the 3-year course, including the 4 practical papers. Some universities list 28 and some list 30, because optional and practical papers sit in different semesters. The count matters less than covering the core subjects well.
Which LLB subject is the toughest?
Most students say Jurisprudence, because it reads like philosophy in a lawyer's coat, or the Civil Procedure Code, because it is long, technical, and packed with sections. Start both early in the semester and neither will scare you.
Do I need to study the new criminal laws?
Yes. The BNS, BNSS, and BSA replaced the IPC, CrPC, and the Indian Evidence Act on 1 July 2024, and new batches study the new laws. Old IPC-based notes still explain concepts well, but learn the new section numbers for your exams.
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