Family Law Lectures: Family Law II 3rd Edition

• Deals with laws relating to property and succession, which have tremendous practical importance as they form the subject of a substantial portion of the litigation in Indian courts
• Covers all major aspects of the law of succession relating to Hindus, Muslims, Christians and Parsis
• Examines, in particular, fundamental concepts dealing with the joint family, coparcenary, partition, interstate succession as well as the law relating to gifts, wills, and inheritance
• The author analyses major judgments of the Supreme Court and the various High Courts on issues such as the rights of a daughter with respect to coparcenary property, and the applicability of the laws of inheritance for apportionment of ex gratia payment
• Also examines certain contradictions between the provisions of Central and State legislations post the 2005 Amendment Act The book is essential for LLB students, professors teaching in law schools, students and scholars of gender studies, and will be a valuable asset to law and social science libraries

PART I
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................ 3
LAWS OF INTESTATE AND TESTAMENTARY SUCCESSION IN INDIA
Multiplicity of Succession Laws ........................................................ 3
Applicability Criterion........................................................................ 5
Laws relating to Intestate Succession ............................................. 5
Hindu Law .......................................................................................... 5
The Hindu Succession Act, 1956............................................ 5
Marumakkattayam and Aliyasantana Laws........................... 6
Laws relating to Hindus of Goa, Daman and Diu ................. 7
Muslim Law........................................................................................ 8
Parsi Law ............................................................................................ 9
Christian Law...................................................................................... 10
Christians in Goa, Daman and Diu ....................................... 10
Jews .................................................................................................... 12
Effect of marriage on the laws of succession.................................. 12
xiv Contents
Relevance of sex of an intestate for laws of inheritance.................. 12
General principles of inheritance.................................................... 13
Hindu Law .......................................................................................... 13
Hindu Succession Act, 1956................................................... 13
Marumakkattayam and Aliyasantana Laws........................... 16
Hindus in the State of Goa, and Union Territories of Daman and Diu ......................................................... 16
Hindus of Daman ................................................................... 17
Hindus in the Union Territory of Diu .................................... 18
Muslim Law........................................................................................ 18
Parsi Law ............................................................................................ 20
The Indian Succession Act, 1925 ....................................................... 21
Christians in the State of Goa and Union Territories of Daman and Diu.......................................................................................... 22
Law relating to Renocants of Pondicherry ......................................... 22
The French Civil Code, 1804................................................. 22
Laws of Testamentary Succession................................................... 23
Introduction......................................................................................... 23
Rules of Testamentary Succession ..................................................... 24
PART II
HINDU LAW
CHAPTER 1
SOURCES OF HINDU LAW
Introduction......................................................................................... 27
Shrutis ................................................................................................ 28
Smritis ................................................................................................ 30
Manu Smriti ........................................................................... 31
Yajnavalkya Smriti ................................................................. 32
Narada Smriti......................................................................... 32
Commentaries..................................................................................... 33
Medhatithi ........................................................................... 34
Mitakshara ........................................................................... 34
Contents xv
The Mitakshara System .......................................................... 35
Dayabhaga ........................................................................... 37
Mitakshara and Dayabhaga: Difference ............................... 37
Matriarchal System of Inheritance ........................................ 38
Custom................................................................................................ 39
Essential Attributes of Custom............................................... 40
Rules of Equity, Justice and Good Conscience .................................. 41
Judicial Precedents.............................................................................. 42
Legislations......................................................................................... 44
The Caste Disabilities Removal Act, 1850............................. 44
The Hindu Widows’ Remarriage Act, 1856 ........................... 45
The Indian Succession Act, 1865 ........................................... 45
The Parsi Intestate Succession Act, 1865 .............................. 46
The Hindu Wills Act, 1870 ..................................................... 46
The Special Marriage Act, 1872 ............................................ 46
The Hindu Disposition of Property Act, 1916 ....................... 47
The Hindu Inheritance (Removal of Disabilities) Act, 1928. 47 Hindu Law as administered by British Judges in the colonial era ..... 48
Modern Legislations ........................................................................... 50
Problems faced in defining the term ‘Hindu’ ..................................... 51
Hindus under Codified law................................................................. 52
CHAPTER 2
HINDU JOINT FAMILY
Introduction......................................................................................... ........... 53
Composition of Hindu Joint Family : Classical Concept ................... ........... 53
Ouster of a member from the joint family.......................................... ........... 54
Coparcenary........................................................................................ ........... 55
Incidents of Hindu Joint Family ......................................................... ........... 56
Presumption of Jointness ....................................................... 58
Commissioner of Income Tax v. Gomedalli Lakshminarayan, AIR 1935 Bom 412 ..................................... 59
No Presumption that the Hindu Joint Family possesses Joint Property or any Property at all ........................ 60
Position when there is only One Male Member..................... 61
xvi Contents
Continuation of a Joint Family at the Instance of Only Female Members ....................................................... 62
Continuation of Joint Family at the Instance of only Daughters .................................................................. 63
Formation of a Joint Hindu Family by Women Alone........... 64
Position when there are only Husband and Wife................... 65
Conclusion ............................................................................. 68
Whether ‘Hindu Undivided Family’ and ‘Joint Hindu Family’ is same........................................................................................ 71
Law Applicable to Matriarchal Families ............................................ 72
Composite Families ............................................................................ 73
Rights of Members of Joint Hindu Family......................................... 74
Legislative Inroads into the Concept of Joint Family ....................... 74
The Kerala Joint Hindu Family (Abolition) Act, 1975 ...................... 75
CHAPTER 3
COPARCENARY
Introduction......................................................................................... 77
Concept : Under Classical Law .......................................................... 77
Formation of Mitakshara coparcenary................................................ 78
Coparcenary not limited to four generations from the common ancestor .................................................................................. 79
Sole surviving coparcener .................................................................. 81
Why is Coparcenary Limited.............................................................. 82
Women as coparceners ....................................................................... 82
Women as Coparceners Under the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 ................................................................................ 82
Illegitimate Sons ................................................................................ 83
Sane and insane person....................................................................... 83
Ouster from coparcenary .................................................................... 83
Coparcenary between a Hindu Man and his Son Born of a Non- Hindu Wife............................................................................. 84
Rosie Marie v. CWT ............................................................... 84
Coparcenary within a coparcenary ..................................................... 85
Coparcenary property ......................................................................... 86
Ownership of Coparcenary Property..................................... 86
Incidents of coparcenary..................................................................... 86
(i) Four Generation Rule................................................ 86
Contents xvii
(ii) Creation of Law......................................................... 86
(iii) Only Males................................................................. 87
(iv) Acquisition of Interest by Birth.................................. 87
(v) Unity of Possession and Community of Interest........ 87
(vi) Fluctuating and not a Specific Interest ..................... 87
(vii) Collective Enjoyment................................................. 88
(viii) Doctrine of Survivorship ........................................... 88
(ix) Right to Ask for Partition .......................................... 88
(x) Alienation of Undivided Interest ............................... 88
Distinction between a joint family and coparcenary .......................... 88
Rights of Coparceners ........................................................................ 90
(i) Right by Birth in the Property ................................... 90
(ii) Right of Common Ownership .................................... 90
(iii) Right of Common Enjoyment of the Coparcenary Property ..................................................................... 90
(iv) Right of Survivorship................................................. 91
(v) Right to Accounts....................................................... 92
(vi) Right to Make Acquisitions........................................ 92
(vii) Right to ask for Partition........................................... 93
(viii) Right to Renounce his Interest................................... 94
(ix) Right to Restrain Improper Acts................................ 96
(x) Right of Alienation..................................................... 96
(xi) Right to Challenge an Unauthorised Alienation ....... 97
CHAPTER 4
DAYABHAGA JOINT FAMILY
Introduction......................................................................................... 99
Distinction Between Mitakshara Coparcenary and Dayabhaga Coparcenary ........................................................................... 100
(i) Formation of Coparcenary........................................ 100
(ii) Commencement of Coparcenary ............................... 100
(iii) Coparcenary between two Generations of Male Members .................................................................... 100
(iv) Absolute Powers of Disposal of Shares..................... 101
(v) Unity of Possession and Partition under the Dayabhaga Law......................................................... 101
(vi) Females as Representing Coparceners (Pre-1937) .. 102
xviii Contents
Enjoyment of Coparcenary Property .................................................. 102
CHAPTER 5 CATEGORISATION OF PROPERTIES
CHAPTER 6
KARTA
CHAPTER 7
TRADING FAMILIES
CHAPTER 8
ALIENATION OF JOINT FAMILY PROPERTY
CHAPTER 9
SON’S LIABILITY TO PAY FATHER’S DEBTS
CHAPTER 10
PARTITION
CHAPTER 11
FEMALES AS COPARCENERS GRADUAL CHANGES INTRODUCED BY THE LEGISLATURE IN THE HINDU JOINT FAMILY AND THE COPARCENARY
III. FULL OWNERSHIP IN PROPERTY FOR HINDU FEMALES
IV. SUCCESSION TO THE PROPERTY OF A FEMALE INTESTATE
V. DEVOLUTION OF INTEREST IN MITAKSHARA COPARCENARY PROPERTY
VI. DEVOLUTION OF COPARCENARY INTEREST HELD BY A FEMALE COPARCENER
VII. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF INHERITANCE
VIII. DISQUALIFICATIONS
IX. SPECIAL RULES RELATING TO DWELLING HOUSE
PART III
MUSLIM LAW
CHAPTER 13
MUSLIM LAW
CHAPTER 14
GIFTS
CHAPTER 15
WILLS (WASIYAT)
CHAPTER 16
GIFTS MADE DURING MARZ-UL-MAUT
CHAPTER 17
INHERITANCE
DISQUALIFICATIONS
LAW OF INHERITANCE: SUNNI LAW
SHIA LAW OF INHERITANCE
ANNEXURES
PART IV
ANNEXURES

Dr Poonam Pradhan Saxena
Professor, Faculty of Law,
University of Delhi
Dr Poonam Pradhan Saxena is a professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Delhi, and has been teaching law for the last thirty years. She is a senior Fulbright scholar, and a visiting faculty at the University of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. she is a Shastri, Indo-Canadian fellow, and has delivered lectures in eleven different universities across Cananda. She is the author of Property Law (2006), a LexisNexis Butterworths publication. She has also contributed to four volumes of the Halsbury's Laws of India, viz, 'Property and Easements' [Volume 29(2)]. Her articles have been published in more than fifty leading Indian and foreign law journals and books.