Declaratory Decrees — MCQs

All questions with answers and explanations

Read the full set here, or use the practice card above to test yourself one question at a time.

1. Under Section 34, a person entitled to a legal character or property right may sue a person who:

   • Agrees with his claim
   • Denies, or is interested in denying, that character or right (correct answer)
   • Is a minor
   • Lives in another state

   Explanation. Section 34 allows a suit against a person denying, or interested in denying, the plaintiff's legal character or property right.

2. A declaration under Section 34 is granted:

   • As a matter of right, automatically
   • At the discretion of the court (correct answer)
   • Only if the defendant consents
   • Only in family disputes

   Explanation. Section 34 makes a declaration a discretionary remedy — the court "may" declare the entitlement, not "shall."

3. Under the proviso to Section 34, a court will refuse even a bare declaration where:

   • The plaintiff also seeks an injunction
   • The plaintiff could have sought further relief but omitted to do so (correct answer)
   • The defendant is a company
   • The suit is filed in a Special Court

   Explanation. The proviso bars a declaration where the plaintiff, being able to seek further relief, simply chose not to ask for it.

4. A plaintiff seeking a declaration under Section 34 must, if further relief is genuinely available:

   • Claim it in the same suit (correct answer)
   • File it as a separate suit years later
   • Ignore it entirely
   • Ask the court to decide informally

   Explanation. The plaintiff must claim any genuinely available further relief in the same suit, or risk the proviso barring the declaration itself.

5. Under Section 35, a declaration made under Chapter VI binds:

   • The whole world
   • Only the parties to the suit and those claiming through them (correct answer)
   • Only the Government
   • No one at all

   Explanation. A declaratory decree is a judgment in personam — it binds only the actual litigants and those claiming through them, not the whole world.

6. According to the Explanation to Section 34, a trustee is treated as a "person interested to deny" a title adverse to:

   • A person who is currently in possession
   • A person not yet in existence, for whom the trustee would hold if that person came into existence (correct answer)
   • The settlor of the trust
   • The court itself

   Explanation. The Explanation covers a not-yet-existing beneficiary — the trustee is a proper party interested to deny a title adverse to that future beneficiary.

7. A declaratory suit under Section 34 is most appropriate when:

   • The plaintiff has already lost possession of the property
   • No one has yet taken concrete adverse action, but the plaintiff's status/right is being doubted or denied (correct answer)
   • The plaintiff wants only monetary compensation
   • An injunction has already been granted

   Explanation. A bare declaration suits a situation where the doubt itself is the problem — no concrete adverse action or dispossession has yet occurred.

8. A declaratory decree is best described as a judgment:

   • In rem, binding the whole world
   • In personam, binding only the parties and those claiming through them (correct answer)
   • That has no binding effect on anyone
   • That automatically transfers property

   Explanation. Section 35 confirms a declaration is a judgment in personam, not in rem.