ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

At the outset, I would like to express my gratitude to our respected

principle sir who has authorized to do the project work. And I would

also like to give a vote of thanks to my respected subject teacher who

has given all of us a wonderful opportunity to work into this project

based on the topic “GENERAL RULE OF SUCCESION AS PER THE

HINDU SUCCESSIO ACT 1955”, which according to me is a very

fascinating and most interesting chapter and moreover it helped me to

do a lot of research and I came to know much about this particular

topic. I am really very much thankful to them. I, personally and

honestly would like to thank my subject teacher who assisted me in

completing my work in a limited time period. I am extremely grateful

to you for providing such a nice support and guidance though you had

a busy schedule.

Secondly, I would like to give a very vote of thanks to our college

librarian who guided me with such a good and relevant books, which

resulted in completion of my project work very soon. Though he was

very busy with the others works during his duty but yet he managed to

find out those important and relevant books for my work. It is such an

honour to have a librarian like him in our institution. Technologically, I

would like to thank some social networking sites through which I got

my notes for my work. We are very much blessed to have these kind of

social sites in today´s world, which genuinely makes our work very

comfortable and exact.

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Lastly, I heartily thank my parents, friends, and colleagues. Without

the support of these people I would not be able to complete my project

work fluently. It is all because of their assistance I have completed my

tiring project work. I am fortunate enough to get support and guidance

from these people and I hope they keep supporting in coming times.

CONTENT

.INTRODUCTION

.THE HINDU SUCCESSION ACT

.APPLICABILITY OF THE ACT

.DEFINATION AND INTERPRETATION

.IN CASE OF TRIBE

.IN CASE OF MALE

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.IN CASE OF FEMALE

.PREFERENTIAL RIGHT TO INHERIT PROPERTY IN CERTAIN CASES

.AMENDMENT

.CONCLUSION

.BIBLIOGRAPHY

INTRODUCTION

Hindu law has a historical term, refers to the code of laws applied

to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs in British India. Hindu law, in

modern scholarship, also refers to the legal theory, jurisprudence and

philosophical reflections on the nature of law found in ancient and

medieval era Indian texts. It is one of the oldest known jurisprudence

theories in the world.

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Hindu tradition, in its surviving ancient texts, does not express the law

in the canonical sense of ius or of lex. The ancient term in Indian texts

is Dharma, which means more than a code of law.

The term "Hindu law" is a colonial construction, and emerged

after the colonial rule arrived in South Asia, and when in 1772 it was

decided by British colonial officials, that European common law

system would not be implemented in India, that Hindus of India would

be ruled under their "Hindu law" and Muslims of India would be ruled

under "Muslim law" (Sharia).

Prior to the British colonial rule, Muslim law was codified as Fatawa-i

Alamgiri, but laws for non-Muslims – such as Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs,

Jains, Parsis – were not codified during the 600 years of Islamic

rule. The substance of Hindu law implemented by the British was

derived from a Dharmaśāstra named Manusmriti, one of the many

treatises (śāstra) on Dharma. The British, however, mistook the

Dharmaśāstra as codes of law and failed to recognise that these

Sanskrit texts were not used as statements of positive law until the

British colonial officials chose to do so. Rather, Dharmaśāstra

contained jurisprudence commentary, i.e., a theoretical reflection

upon practical law, but not a statement of the law of the land as such.

Scholars have also questioned the authenticity and the corruption in

the Manusmriti manuscript used to derive the colonial era Hindu law.

In colonial history context, the construction and implementation of

Hindu law and Islamic law was an attempt at "legal pluralism" during

the British colonial era, where people in the same region were

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subjected to different civil and criminal laws based on the religion of

the plaintiff and defendant. Legal scholars state that this divided the

Indian society, and that Indian law and politics have ever since

vacillated between "legal pluralism - the notion that religion is the

basic unit of society and different religions must have different legal

rights and obligations" and "legal universalism – the notion that

individuals are the basic unit of society and all citizens must have

uniform legal rights and obligations".In modern India, Hindus and other

non-Muslims in India favor legal universalism that is based not on any

Hindu text but on parliamentary laws, however Muslims favor legal

pluralism with sharia as the source of marriage, divorce and

inheritance laws for Muslims in India.

The Hindu Succession Act, 1956

Hindu Succession Act is an Act of the Parliament of India enacted to

amend and codify the law relating to intestate or unwilled succession,

among Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs. The Act lays down a

uniform and comprehensive system of inheritance and succession into

one Act. The Hindu woman's limited estate is abolished by the Act.

Any property possessed by a Hindu female is to be held by her

absolute property and she is given full power to deal with it and

dispose it of by will as she likes.

The Hindu Succession Act, 1956 has undergone a lot of change by

virtue of the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (39 of 2005).

The Section 6 of the said Act has been totally replaced by a new

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provision. This new provision has wide sweeping ramification on Hindu

Joint Family.

The Hindu Succession Act, 1956, bases its rules of succession on

the basic Mitakshara principle of propinquity, i.e., preference of heirs

on the basis of proximity of relationship. The Mitakshara limited the

effect of the principle by the twin rules of exclusion of females and of

agnatic preference. The rule of exclusion of females has been done

away with, while the rule of agnatic preference has been considerably

modified so far as it concerns the nearer relations. The Dayabhaga

principle of religious efficiency has been abrogated. The modern Hindu

Law of succession is essentially a secular law. Religious or spiritual

figure nowhere.

APPLICABILITY OF THIS ACT

This Act is applicable to the following:

 any person, who is a Hindu by religion in any of its forms or

developments including a Virashaiva, a Lingayat or follower of

the Brahmo, Prarthana or Arya Samaj;

 any person who is Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion; and

 to any other person who is not a Muslim, Christian, Parsi or Jew by

religion unless it is proved that the concerned person would not

have been governed by the Hindu Law or by any custom or usage as

part of that law in respect of any of the matters dealt with herein if

this Act had not been passed.

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Explanation as to who shall be considered as Hindus, Buddhists,

Jainas or Sikhs by religion has been provided in the section:

 any child, legitimate or illegitimate, both of whose parents are

Hindus, Buddhists, Jainas or Sikhs by religion;

 any child, legitimate or illegitimate, one of whose parents is a

Hindu, Buddhist, Jaina or Sikh by religion and who is brought up as

a member of the tribe, community, group or family to which such

parent belongs or belonged;

 any person who is convert or re-convert to the Hindu, Buddhist,

Jaina or Sikh religion.

A person shall be treated as a Hindu under the Act though he may not

be a Hindu by religion but is, nevertheless, a person to whom this Act

applies by virtue of the provisions contained in this section.

Definition and interpretation

In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires,—

(a) “agnate”—one person is said to be an “agnate” of another if the two

are related by blood or adoption wholly through males;

(b) “aliyasantana law” means the system of law applicable to persons

who, if this Act had not been passed, would have been governed by the

Madras Aliyasantana Act, 1949, or by the customary Aliyasantana law

with respect to the matter for which provision is made in this Act;

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(c) “cognate” — one person is said to be a cognate of another if the

two are related by blood or adoption but not wholly through males;

(d) the expression “custom” and “usage” signify any rule which having

been continuously and uniformly observed for a long time, has

obtained the force of law among Hindus in any local area, tribe,

community, group or family: Provided that the rule is certain and not

unreasonable or opposed to public policy; and Provided further that in

the case of a rule applicable only to a family it has not been

discontinued by the family;

(e) “full blood”, “half blood” and “uterine blood”—

(i) two persons are said to be related to each other by full blood when

they are descended from a common ancestor by the same wife, and by

half blood when they are descended from a common ancestor but; by

different wives;

(ii) two persons are said to be related to each other by uterine blood

when they are descended from a common ancestress but by different

husbands;

As per tribe

However it has been provided that not withstanding the religion of any

person as mentioned above, the Act shall not apply to the members of

any Scheduled Tribe within the meaning of clause (25) of article 366 of

the Constitution of India unless the Central Government, by

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notification in the Official Gazette, otherwise directs. Surajmani Stella

Kujur Vs. Durga Charan Hansdah-SC

IN CASE OF MALE

The property of a Hindu male dying intestate, or without a will, would

be given first to heirs within Class I. If there are no heirs categorized

as Class I, the property will be given to heirs within Class II. If there

are no heirs in Class II, the property will be given to the deceased's

agnates or relatives through male lineage. If there are no agnates or

relatives through the male’s lineage, then the property is given to the

cognates, or any relative through the lineage of males or females.

There are two classes of heirs that are delineated by the Act.

Class I heirs are sons,daughters, widows, mothers, sons of a pre-

deceased son, widows of a pre-deceased son, son of a, pre-deceased

sons of a predeceased son, and widows of a pre-deceased son of a

predeceased son.

If there is more than one widow, multiple surviving sons or multiples of

any of the other heirs listed above, each shall be granted one share of

the deceased’s property. Also if the widow of a pre-deceased son, the

widow of a pre-deceased son of a pre-deceased son or the widow of a

brother has remarried, she is not entitled to receive the inheritance.

Class II heirs are categorized as follows and are given the property of

the deceased in the following order:

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 1. Father

2. Son's daughter's son

3. Son's daughter's daughter

4. Brother

5. Sister

6. Daughter's son's son

7. Daughter's son's daughter

8. Daughter's daughter's son

9. Daughter's daughter's daughter

IN CASE OF FEMALES

(a) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother

shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter of the deceased

(including the children of any pre-deceased son or daughter) not upon

the other heirs referred to in sub-section (1) in the order specified

therein, but upon the heirs of the father; and

(b) any property inherited by a female Hindu from her husband or from

her father-in-law shall devolve, in the absence of any son or daughter

of the deceased (including the children of any pre-deceased son or

daughter) not upon the other heirs referred to in sub-section (1) in the

order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the husband.

Order of succession and manner of distribution among heirs of a

female Hindu.—The order of succession among the heirs referred to in

section 15 shall be, and the distribution of the intestates property

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among those heirs shall take place according to the following rules,

namely:— Rule 1.—Among the heirs specified in sub-section

(1) of section 15, those in one entry shall be preferred to those in any

succeeding entry and those included in the same entry shall take

simultaneously.

Rule 2.—If any son or daughter of the intestate had pre-deceased the

intestate leaving his or her own children alive at the time of the

intestate’s death, the children of such son or daughter shall take

between them the share which such son or daughter would have taken

if living at the intestate’s death.

Rule 3.—The devolution of the property of the intestate on the heirs

shall be in the same order and according to the same rules as would

have applied if the property had been the father’s or the mother’s or

the husband’s as the case may be, and such person had died intestate

in respect thereof immediately after the intestate’s death.

Mode of succession of two or more heirs

If two or more heirs succeed together to the property of an intestate,

they shall take the property,—

(a) save as otherwise expressly provided in this Act, per capita and

not per stirpes; and

(b) as tenants-in-common and not as joint tenants

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 CERTAIN EXCEPTION

Any person who commits murder is disqualified from receiving any

form of inheritance from the victim.

If a relative converts from Hinduism, he or she is still eligible for

inheritance. The descendants of that converted relative, however, are

disqualified from receiving inheritance from their Hindu relatives,

unless they have converted back to Hinduism before the death of the

relative.

Preferential right to acquire property in certain cases

(1) Where, after the commencement of this Act, interest in any

immovable property of an intestate, or in any business carried on by

him or her, whether solely or in conjunction with others, devolve upon

to two or more heirs specified in class I of the Schedule, and any one

of such heirs proposes to transfer his or her interest in the property or

business, the other heirs shall have a preferential right to acquire the

interest proposed to be transferred.

(2) The consideration for which any interest in the property of the

deceased may be transferred under this section shall, in the absence

of any agreement between the parties, be determined by the court on

application being made to it in this behalf, and if any person proposing

to acquire the interest is not willing to acquire it for the consideration

so determined, such person shall be liable to pay all costs of or

incident to the application.

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(3) If there are two or more heirs specified in class I of the Schedule

proposing to acquire any interest under this section, that heir who

offers the highest consideration for the transfer shall be preferred.

Explanation : In this section, "court" means the court within the limits

of whose jurisdiction the immovable property is situate or the business

is carried on, and includes any other court which the State

Government may, by notification in the Official Gazette.

AMENDEMNT

The Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005,[2] amended Section 4,

Section 6, Section 23, Section 24 and Section 30 of the Hindu

Succession Act, 1956. It revised rules on coparcenary property, giving

daughters of the deceased equal rights with sons, and subjecting them

to the same liabilities and disabilities. The amendment essentially

furthers equal rights between males and females in the legal system.

Conclusion

Gender equality demands non-discrimination on the basis of gender.

The ancient patriarchal tradition denied economic independence in

order to keep women under the control of father/husband/son. They

were never allowed an independent life at any stage of their life. This

tradition is perpetuated since the British regime adopted the policy of

non-interference with the personal laws of Hindus and Muslims. This

policy was continued even after the commencement of the

Constitution except in the case of Hindus.

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 The main reason behind the amendment of this Act was

basically to bring about the equality to both men and women. Even

though there have been some improvement in regard to inheritance by

women but there still is some places in India where women do not

inherate the property.

Annexure

Bibliography

Diwan,Paras., “Modern Hindu Law”,. Allahabad Law Agency,.22 nd

edition.,2013

Webliography

www.mightylaws.in/878/succession-hindu-law-analysis-hindu-

succession-act-1956

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindu_Succession_Act,_1956

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