TITLE OF THE PROJECT

Powers of Female Hindu in Case of Inheritance

BY
T. AKASH KUMAR VENKATA SAI
19LLB068
SEMESTER 3
5 YEAR INTEGRATED B.A., LLB (HONS.) COURSE

FAMILY LAW

UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF

Dr.P. Vara Lakshmi,
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, DSNLU

DAMODARAM SANJIVAYYA NATIONAL LAW UNIVERSITY

NYAYAPRASTHA, SABBAVARAM, VISAKHAPATNAM, ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA
PIN CODE -531035

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

I would like to put forward my heartfelt appreciation to our respected faculty of family law,
P. Vara Lakshmi, Assistant Professor for giving a golden opportunity to me to take up this
project regarding “Powers of Female Hindu in Case of Inheritance.”
I have tried my best to collect information about the project in various possible ways to depict
clear picture about the given topic. I would also like to express my gratitude towards my
parents & members of DSNLU for their kind co-operation and encouragement which help me
in completion of the dissertation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

2
ABSTRACT---------------------------------------------------------------------------------4
SYNOPSIS-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------5
WOMEN’S PROPERTY-------------------------------------------------------------------7
STRIDHAN AND WOMENS ESTATE-------------------------------------------------7
ENUMERATION OF WOMENS PROPERTY-----------------------------------------8
SUCCESSION TO THE PROPERTY OF A FEMALE INTESTATE----------------10
SECTION 15 APPLICABLE TO THE ABSOLUTE PROPERTY -------------------11
PROPERTIES INHERITED FROM THE FATHER------------------------------------13
INHERITED FROM HUSBAND OR FATHER-IN-LAW-----------------------------14
ANALYSING THE DECISION OF DHANISTHAKALITA V RAMAKANTAKALITA.14
RECENT CHANGES IN SUCCESION LAWS-----------------------------------------15
CONCLUSION------------------------------------------------------------------------------16
BIBLIOGRAPHY----------------------------------------------------------------------------16

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ABSTRACT

“Inheritance is the practice of transferring property, titles, debts, rights, and obligations to the

legal heir of a person upon the death of that person either by way of ‘Will’ or through the
prevalent laws of succession. The regulatory laws of inheritance differ among societies as per
their religion and have revolved over time.”
“There is no bigger pain than losing a loved one especially a family member, however, the
same can get miserably painful in case there is a family dispute with respect to the inheritance
of property. The same arises because of deficiency of legal knowledge on property
inheritance in India. According to reports, deficiency in legal knowledge is the principal
reason for family partition and therefore, it is critical to recognise the prevalent property
inheritance rights of legal heirs to minimise the pain of loss of a loved one.
Considering how priceless real estate assets are currently, it is quite naturally important for
legal heirs to safeguard the property asset after the death of the person in whose name the
property was registered. Legal heirs must go through legal formalities to acquire the
ownership of that property.”
“Legal formalities to get the property transferred may differ depending upon the nature of the
property, legal heirs rights over the property, the number of legal heirs and many others etc.
In this project researcher explains about the powers of a female Hindu in the case of
inheritance.”
In this project the researcher explains the powers of a hindu female in case of inheritance.
The researcher also explains about the section 15 in regard to inheritance. The inheritance
from father-in – law was also detailed in the project. The recent changes made in the laws of
inheritance are also mentioned in the project.

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SYNOPSIS:
INTRODUCTION:
“The Indian civilization is one of the oldest civilizations in the world and the Hindus form the
majority of this civilization. Trying to trace the original source of this religion is difficult as
this means going back to the time when written material was unavailable and most of the
communication was oral. There was no distinction between religion, law and morality during
the early days, and they were referred cumulatively as ‘Dharma’.
The Hindu Succession Act came into force on17th June, 1956, with an objective of providing
a comprehensive and uniform scheme of intestate succession for Hindus. Prior to 1956,
different communities within the Hindu religion were governed by different succession laws.
Succession to the property of a Hindu is now governed by the provisions in Chapter II of the
Hindu Succession Act, 1956.1 Sections 18 to 28 deal with the general provisions relating to
succession. Sections 23 and 24 of the Act dealing with Special provision respecting dwelling
houses and Certain widows remarrying may not inherit as widows respectively have been
omitted by the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (39 of 2005) Section 4 & 5
respectively (w.e.f 9-9-2005). The rules laid down in Sections 18 to 28 are supplementary to
the ones laid down in Sections 5 to 17. These rules however, are not merely explanatory, but
some of them lay down substantive rules involving legal principles.”
AIM OF THE PROJECT:
 To understand the powers of a female hindu in inheriting the property wither from
father or husband.
 To understand the concept of hindu succession law through various case laws and
implications of it.
 To know on what ground hindu female can inherit property.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT:
 This project helps to give some knowledge regarding the concept of Hindu succession
laws of women in inheriting the property
 This project could help the law students who are going to learn family law and it can
also benefit others who need relevant knowledge regarding the equal rights of female
in inheritance.

SCOPE OF THE PROJECT:

There are various succession laws to a hindu female to acquire or inherit property. The
1
Henceforth, The Act.

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 scope of the project is limited to female rights to inherit property under Hindu succession
law. The scope is limited to case of time period and caselaws.
LITERATURE REVIEW:
Law of succession in India: Supinder Kaur
The text broadly covers the concept of and law on succession applicable in the Hindu,
Muslim, Christian and Parsi communities. From this book the researcher took the highlights
which are pros and cons of personal laws on succession.
Hindu Succession Act, 1956: Lawmann
From this book the researcher took information about intestate succession, general rules of
succession in the case of female hindus and special provisions respecting dwelling houses.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
The research methodology is doctrinal.
TYPE OF RESEARCH
The research is descriptive and analytical in nature.
RESEARCH QUESTION:
 Whether a female hindu can acquire property under hindu succession laws seeking
under section 15 of the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act 1929?

HYPOTHESIS:
 A female can inherit property from their father with men equally.
TABLE OF STATUTES:

Hindu Succession Act, 1956

Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act 1929,
Hindu Women's Right to Property Act 1937
Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005

WOMAN’S PROPERTY

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Introduction
“Section 14, Hindu Succession Act, 1956, has introduced fundamental changes in the
Hindu law of woman's property. Before 1956, the property of woman was divided into
two heads : (a) stridhan, and (b) woman's estate. The Hindu Woman's Right to Property
Act, 1937 conferred some new rights of inheritance on certain Hindu females which had
the effect of increasing the bulk of woman's estate, but apart from its side repercussions
on the joins family property, it did not alter the basic division of woman's property
insstridhanand woman's estate. Section 14, Hindu Succession Act, 1956 hai abolished
woman's estate and has virtually introduced Vijnaneshwarainterpretation of Stridhan”2.

STRIDHAN AND WOMAN'S ESTATE

“Literally, the word Stridhanmeans woman's property. But in Hindu law it has, all
along, been given a technical meaning. In the entire of Hindu law, woman's right to
hold and dispose of property has recognized. At no time whether as a maiden, wife or
widow, hasbeen denied the use of her property as an absolute owner (apart from
the husband's dominant position in respect of certain type of stridhan) 3. It is su-true that
at no time the quantum of her property has been anything meagre. The
Smritikarsdiffer from each other as to what items of property constitute her stridhan.
Gooroodass Banerjee very aptly said:”
“The difficulties besetting an enquiry into the question what constitutes stridhan,
arise from the fact that majority of sages and commentators give neither an exact
definition of stridhan, nor an exhaustive enumeration, and if the Mitakshara gives a
simple and intelligible definition, that definition Z-3L S been qualified and restricted in
its application by our courts, in consequence of its disagreement with the view of other
authorities.”4
“According to the Smritikars, the stridhanconstituted those properties which she
received by way of gift from relations which included mostly movable property (though
sometimes a house or a piece of land was also given in gift), such as ornaments,
jewellery and dresses. The gift made to her by strangers at the time of the ceremony of
marriage (before the nuptial fire), or at the time of bridal procession also constituted her
stridhan. Among the Commentators and Digest-writers, there is a divergence of opinion
2
Mitakshara, II, ix, 2
3
Mitakshara, II, ix, 2
4
Hindu Law of Marriage and Stridhan, (3rd Ed.), 280.

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as to what items of property constitute stridhanand what do not. Vijnaneshwara
commenting on the words and the like in Yajnavalkya's text expanded the meaning of
stridhanby including properties obtained by inheritance, purchase, partition, seizure
and finding. (This expansion was not accepted by the Privy Council which resulted in
the emergence of the concept of woman's estate). Jimutvahana gave a different
enumeration of stridhan, so did the sub-schools of the Mitakshara.”
“Whether the property is stridhanor woman's estate, mostly depends upon the
source from which it has been obtained.”

Enumeration of woman's property

1. Gift and bequests from, relation- From the early time this has been
“a recognized head of the stridhan. Such gifts may be made to woman, during
maidenhood, coverture or widowhood, by her parents and their relations, or by
the husband and his relations. Such gifts may be made inter vivosor by will. The
Dayabhagaschool does not recognize gifts of immovable property by husband as
stridhan. The property coming under this head was technically known as
stridhan 5.”
2. “Gifts and bequests from strangers.—Property given by gift inter
vivosor by will by trangers (i.e., other than relations) to a woman, during
maidenhood or widowhood, constitutes her stridhan. The same is the
position of gifts given to a woman by strangers before the nuptial fire or at the
bridal procession. Property given to a woman by a gift inter vivosor
bequeathed to her by strangers during coverture is stridhanaccording to the
Bombay, the Benares and the Madras schools, but not according to the
Mithila and the Dayabhaga schools. The position before 1956 was that the gifts
received from strangers during coverture were stridhan, but these were during
her husband's life time under the husband's control. On his death these
became her full fledged stridhan.”
3. “Property acquired by self-exertion and mechanical arts.-A woman
may acquire property at any stage of her life by her own self-exertion, such as by
manual labour, by employment, by singing, dancing, etc., or by any mechanical
art. According to all schools of Hindu law, the property thus acquired during
5
For details, see Banerjee, Hindu Law of Marriage and Stridhan, 321

8
 widowhood or maidenhood is her stridhan. But the property thus acquired during
coverture does not constitute her stridhanaccording to the Mithila and Bengal
schools, but according to rest of the schools it is stridhan. Again, during the
husband's life-time it is subject to his control.”
4. “”Property purchased with stridhan.—In all schools of Hindu law, it is
a well settled law that the properties purchased with stridhan, or with the
savings of stridhan, as well as all accumulations and savings of the income of
stridhan, constitute stridhan.””

5. “ Property acquired by compromise.-When a person acquires

property under a compromise, what estate he will take in it, depends upon the compromise
deed. In Hindu law there is no presumption that a woman who obtains property under a
compromise takes it as a limited estate. Property obtained by a woman under a
compromise whereundershegivesup her rights to her stridhanwill be stridhan.
When she obtains some property under a family arrangement, whether shegets
asstridhanor woman's estate will depend upon the terms of the family arrangement.”
6. “Property obtained by adverse possession . - In all schools of Hindu
law, it is a settled law that any property that a woman acquires at any stage of her life
by adverse possession is her stridhan.”
7. “Property obtained in lieu of maintenance .—Under all schools of
Hindu law, the payments made to a Hindu female in lump sum or
periodically for her maintenance, and all the arrears of such maintenance constitute
her stridhan. Similarly, all movable and immovable properties transferred to her by
way of an absolute gift in lieu of maintenance constitute her stridhan.”
8.”Property obtained by inheritance .—A Hindu femalemay inherit
property from a male, or a female. She may inherit it from her parent's side or from
husband's side. The Mitakshara considered all inherited property as stridhan. But the
Privy Council in a series of decisions held such property as woman's estate. In one set of
cases, the Privy Council held that property inherited by a female from males, is not her
stridhanbut woman's estate.In another set of cases, it took the same view in respect of
property inherited from the females. This is the law in all the schools except the
Bombay school6. According to the Bombay school, the property inherited by a woman

6
SheoShankerv. Devi Saha, (1903) 25 All. 468; SheoPartapv. The Allahabad Bank, (1903) 30
I.A. 209; See also Gayadinv. Badri Singh, (1943) All. 230.

9
from females, is her stridhan 7. As to the property inherited from a male, the female
heirs are divided into two : (a) those who are introduced into the father's gotraby
marriage, such as intestate's widow, mother, etc., and (b) those who are born in the
family, such as daughters, sisters, brother's daughters, etc. In the latter case the
inherited property is stridhan, while in the former case it is woman's estate. After the
coming into force of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956, she takes all inherited property as
her stridhan.”
9“Share obtained on partition —When a partition takes place, except
in Madras, father's wife, (not in the Dayabhaga school) mother and grandmother
take a share in the joint family property. In the Mitakshara jurisdiction, including
Bombay and the Dayabhaga school, it is an established view that the share
obtained on partition is not stridhanbut Woman’s estate. This property is also now
her absolute property or stridgan after the coming into force of the Hindu
Succession Act,1956.”

SUCCESSION TO THE PROPERTY OF A FEMALE INTESTATE

“Section 15 is the first statutory enactment dealing with succession to the property of a Hindu
female intestate. Prior to 1956, the property of a woman went according to the rules provided
under the uncodified Hindu law. Inmajority of cases, her limited interest terminated in the
event of her death and therefore, the question of succession to her property did not arise. The
efforts on the part of the legislature were aimed more towards securing her maintenance and
property rights, rather than towards providing a scheme of succession to her property, as
property ownership in absolute capacity by a female, was a rarity and her general and
complete economic dependence, a rule. The two statutes that were enacted to improve her
conditions of life, viz, the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act 1929, and the Hindu
Women's Right to Property Act 1937, concentrated on securing her rights, rather than on
focusing on who, after her, will be eligible to take her property. These statutes thus, dealt with
succession to the property of a Hindu male intestate and securing the rights of the widow in
case he died as an undivided member of a Mitakshara coparcenary, having at the time of his
death, an interest in it.”

7
Kasserbaiv. Hunsraj, (1906) 30 Bom. 431; Gangadharv. Chandrabhagabai(1893) 17 Bom.
690(F.B.).

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SCTION 15 APPLICABLE TO THE ABSOLUTE PROPERTY OF A F EMALE

The section applies to:

(i) Property that a woman holds as an absolute owner, irrespective of the mode of its
acquisition. It would include movable or immovable properties, but would not
include any property to which the Act does not apply8.
(ii) The term 'property' would include an undivided interest in a Mitakshara
coparcenary in which a female was a coparcener who dies leaving behind her son,
daughter, or children of a predeceased son and/or daughter.This rule is applicable
in four Indian states, viz, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Maharashtra.
“This section and the scheme of succession are not applicable to any property that is held by a
Hindu woman as a limited owner either under s 14(2) of the Act, or even otherwise 9. The
property in which she acquired a limited ownership to begin with, which matured into an
absolute ownership due to s 14(1), will be governed by the provisions of this Act. The rule is that
only that property will be subject to the application of these sections, which are heritable and
over which a woman had full powers of disposal.”10
Property Inherited from the Father

Section 15(2) provides:

“Notwithstanding anything contained in sub-section(l), 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 predeceased son or daughter) not upon the other heirs
referred to in sub-section(l) in the order specified therein but upon the heirs of her father.”

“So, the property inherited by a female from her parents, in absence of her issue or their
children, will revert to her father's heirs. Two things are important here, viz,”

(i) “The term used by the legislature is 'inherited' and not property 'received' from
the parents. 'Inherit' means to inherit as an heir.Property received by the daughter
from her mother, through a Willor a gift, would be treated as her general property

8
See the Hindu Succession Act 1956, ss 4(2) and 5.
9
Somaiah v RattammaAIR 1959 AP 244; InduBai v VyankatiAIR 1966 Bom 64; RenukaBala v
Aswin Kumar AIR 1961 Pat 498; BaiKamla v Chagan Lai AIR 1965 Guj 84.
10
Ajib Singh v Ram Singh AIR 1959 J&K 92 (FB).

11
 and not one that is 'inherited'. If she inherits property from her father,sells it, and
out of the sale proceeds, purchases another property;this property again would be her
general property”11.
(ii) “Where she dies issueless, viz, she is not survived by a child or the child of such
child, but her husband is alive, even in the presence of the husband, the property
will revert to her father's heirs. A step-son is not an issue, and cannot inherit the
property of a woman that she inherited from her parents.”12
“In such cases, it is presumed that upon the death of the woman, her father had died, and his
heirs will be ascertained accordingly. But there appears to be an anomaly here, which has
been noticed and explained by all the writers on Hindu law. If a woman inherits the property
from her mother and dies issueless and her father is alive, would the property go to
herfather or his heirs? The unanimous opinion seems to be that the property would be
taken by the father, and it is only in his absence, that it would go to his heirs. Where
an unmarried woman inherits the property of her father and dies, her father's sister
will succeed to the property as the father's heir. In Bhagat Singh vTeja Singh,13two
sisters inherited the property from their mother. On the death of one, who died as an
issueless widow, the other sister took the property as her father's heir and entered
into an agreement to sell the same to a person X. The deceased sister's husband's
brother challenged the validity of this sale and claimed the property as her heir under s
15(1) (b). The Supreme Court held that since both the conditions were fulfilled, viz, she
had inherited the property from one of her parents (mother) and had died issueless,
the property would revert to her father's heirs ie, the sister in this case and the
brother of her deceased husband would not be entitled to succeed. In another case from
Delhi,14 an unmarried female inherited the property from her mother and died leaving
her brother and a widow of another brother. The brother claimed the total property on
the ground that he was the sole heir. The court held that as the property is to revert to
her father and will devolve as if it belonged to the father, on his heirs, the deceased
brother would be the son of the father, and another brother's widow would be related
to the father as the widow of a predeceased son. Thus, both of them will inherit the
property as class I heirs of the father, in equal shares.” “In another case,15 a Hindu female
11
VeeraRaghavamma v G SubbaraoAIR 1976 AP 377.
12
Lachman Singh v Kirpa Singh AIR 1987 SC 1616; JanardhanBadrinarayan Patel v Ambalal
HimatlalAIR 1999 Guj 162
13
AIR 2002 SC 1
14
YoginderParkashDuggal v Om Prakash Duggal2000 AIHC 2905 (Del).
15
Radhika v Anguram[1994] 5 SCC 761

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died leaving behind her daughter from a previous marriage and the second husband, and
property that she had inherited from her father. The husband claimed half of the property, as
his deceased wife's heir, but the daughter contended that since the property was inherited by
her mother from the father, it would be inherited only by her issue (that is herself) and not by
the husband. The lower court decreed in favour of the husband, but the Supreme Court said
that property inherited by a female Hindu from her father or mother, in other words, the
female's paternal side, in the absence of her issue, goes back to the heirs of her father and not
to her husband. The Court held that since the deceased had inherited the property from her
parents, her daughter alone will be entitled to succeed and the husband here, cannot inherit.”
Property Inherited from Husband or Father-in-law

“A woman inherits the property of her husband on his demise, as his widow. She also inherits
from his father as the widow of his predeceased son, but provided she does not remarry
before the date of the opening of the succession. Where she 'inherits' the property of her
husband or father-in-law and dies issueless, the property reverts to her husband's heirs from
whom or from whose father, she had inherited the property. Section 15(2) (b) provides:”

“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 predeceased son or daughter) not upon the other heirs referred to in sub-
section(l) in the order specified therein, but upon the heirs of the husband.”
“Thus the property so inherited, will go to the husband's heirs. If she remarried after
inheriting the property from her deceased husband and died leaving behind issues from her
second husband, she has not died issueless and her children and second husband will succeed
to the property. But if she dies issueless, the second husband will not get anything and the
property will revert to the first husband's heirs. Similarly, where a woman inherited property
from her second husband and died leaving behind a son from the first husband, the son would
take the property.” “Similarly, where a Hindu widow inherited a limited estate from her
husband and died after1956, when it had matured into an absolute estate, it was held that the
sister of her deceased husband would take the property.”

Analysing the Decision of DhanisthaKalita v RamakantaKalita16

16
AIR 2003 Gau 92.

13
“In a recent judgment, the Gauhati High Court has ruled that for the purposes of inheriting the
property of the mother, which was inherited by her from her deceased husband, son and
daughter would mean the son and daughter of that husband from whom or from whose father,
she had inherited the property. Here, a woman died leaving behind a son and a daughter,
born to her from the husband whose property she had inherited. She also had a son from a
previous marriage. The court held that the son born of the previous marriage was not entitled to
get the property and will be excluded from inheritance, as it was the property that was
inherited by the woman from her second husband and he was not the progeny of that husband.
The court observed:”

“The object of section 15(2) is to ensure that the property left by a Hindu female, does
not lose the real source from where the deceased female had inherited the
property...”if such property is allowed to be drifted away from the source through
which the deceased female has actually inherited the property, the object of section 15
(2) would be defeated, ie, if such property is allowed to be inherited by a son or a
daughter whom the female had begotten not from the husband whose property she
inherits, but from some other husband (whose property it was not), then section 15 (2)
(b) will become meaningless and redundant.”

“It must be remembered that the expression that the legislature has used in s 15(2)(b) is, in
absence of any son or daughter of the deceased. The son and daughter of the deceased
mentioned in the section are without any qualification and the words any son or daughter
means any son or daughter and not the son and daughter of a particular husband. It would
include all kinds of sons and daughters, whether legitimate, illegitimate, from one husband or
from another husband. These are the only relations that are described with reference to her and
not with reference to her father or husband or mother. Her children would include all of her
children. All children have equal rights over the property of their mother and it is only in case of
their absence, that the question of the source of the property becomes relevant. The court is
creating a contradiction between cl (a) and (b) of s 15(2). Where the property that a female
inherits from the parents, goes to her children, it also drifts away from the source from where
it came. A distinction like this and an attempt to conserve the property in the family from
where it came, would make a woman incapable of transmitting the property to her heirs and
would create unnecessary confusion, frustrating the very object of making her an absolute
owner of the property.”

14
Recent change in Succession Law regarding equal rights to daughters
“On 11 August 2020, a three-judge Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court delivered a
landmark ruling in Vineeta Sharma v Rakesh Sharma and Ors, Civil Appeal No 32601 of
2018 (Vineeta), affirming the equal rights of daughters to coparcenary property. Most
significantly, the Hon’ble Apex Court has clarified that irrespective of a coparcener father
being alive or not on or before the Hindu Succession (Amendment) Act, 2005 (2005
Amendment), a daughter would be entitled to a share in coparcenary property in the same
manner as a son simply by virtue of: (i) her birth; and (ii) her being alive as on the date of
coming into force of the 2005 Amendment.”
“The matter came up before the larger Bench of the Apex Court primarily in the context of
conflicting Division Bench decisions in Prakash v Phulavati, (2016) 2 SCC 36 (Prakash)
and Danamma v Amar, (2018) 3 SCC 343 (Danamma), concerning the retrospective
applicability of Section 6 of the Hindu Succession Act, 1956 (1956 Act) as amended by the
2005 Amendment. Various High Courts had also dealt with ancillary issues concerning the
aforesaid question and therefore, such matters were also referred to the three-judge Bench of
the Apex Court.”

“In Prakash, the Apex Court had held that Section 6 was prospective in nature and would
apply only if the coparcener and daughter were both alive as on 9 September 2005. The
underlying rationale in Prakash was based on the supposed effect of the ‘notional partition’
contained in the proviso to Section 6 of the 1956 Act, ie, in the event of the predecessor
coparcener’s demise prior to the 2005 Amendment, there would be a severance of
coparcenary property and consequently there would be no coparcenary property available for
partition for a daughter claiming under the 2005 Amendment.”

“On the other hand, in Danamma, the Apex Court had held that Section 6 would apply
retrospectively. In this case, the father had died in 2001, leaving behind two daughters, two
sons and a widow. The Court had held that it is the very factum of birth in a coparcenary that
creates the coparcenary, therefore the sons and daughters of a coparcener become
coparceners by birth, and consequently observed that the two daughters being coparceners,
were entitled to equal share in the coparcenary property even though the father was not alive
when the substituted Section 6 came into force in 2005.”

Conclusion

“Thus the changes made by the Act in the area of inheritance to separate property, were in the

15
nature of modifications of earlier laws, and accorded a legislative recognition of the right of a
widow. It was a progressive step that strengthened her position, but it did not radically,
depart from the old law. However, the rights granted to the widow in the coparcenary property
were revolutionary and ended up making major inroads into the concept of coparcenary,
which further deepened with later legislative enactments.”

Bibliography:

Books:

 Family Law Lectures by Poonam Pradhan Saxena(publication lexis nexis second

edition)
 Modern Hindu Law by Paras Diwan( Allahabad Law Agency)
Url’s:

 https://www.jstor.org (last used on 28 December 2020)

 https://www.heinonline.org (last used on 29 December 2020)
 https://www.lexology.com (last used on 30 December 2020)

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