Bona Vacantia – Legal Maxim

Literal Meaning

Goods without an owner.

Explanation

Bona vacantia is used to describe a situation where a certain amount of goods are
unclaimed over a period of time. No ownership is claimed over those goods or
property. When such a situation arises then the goods or the property goes to the
government and the government serves as the custodian of those goods or property.
The government has to take such goods and act as their owners for perpetuity. The
cases of such ownership arises when the goods or the property are being abandoned
when the person dies without any living heirs. Such situation can also arise when a
business or unincorporated association is dissolved the assets thereof are not
distributed appropriately. Other process how such situation arises are when a trust in
the path of failing or when the property owner in nowhere to be found and does not
any information about its whereabouts. In other words, it is a property without any
claim. Bona vacantia is used for those goods and property which does not have any
ownership. Ownership and property are two interrelated concepts. There cannot be
any ownership without any property and also there can be any property without
ownership. However, Bona vacantia are those goods and property which loses its
ownership over a period of time ad remains the same for long time.

Origin

The concept of bona vacantia has its origins from the common law. The maxim Bona
vacantia is used for the situation in which property is left without any clear owner.
The owner of the goods is not known. The goods are being treated in different manner
in such a kind of situation. It is seen that in most cases the goods are stated to be the
property of the crown i.e., the government. The rightful owner if found then the goods
are returned to them

Illustration

If the owner of large estate dies without living any heirs, then that estate becomes
Bona vacantia.
Case Reference

In the case of Sita Ram Jaiswal and others v State of U.P. and others it was observed
by the court that the right of the King to take property by escheat or
as bona vacantia was recognized by common law of England. Escheat property was
the lord’s right of re-entry on real property held by a tenant dying intestate without
lawful heirs. It was an incident, of feudal tenure and based on the want of a tenant to
perform the feudal services. On the tenant dying intestate without leaving any lawful
heirs, his estate came to an end and the lord was in by his own right and not by way
of succession or inheritance from the tenant to re-enter the real property as owner. In
most of the cases the land escheated to the Crown as the lord paramount, in view of
the gradual elimination of intermediate or mesne lords since 1290 AD. The Crown
takes as bona vacantia goods in which no one else can claim property. “it is the right
of the Crown to bona vacantia to property which has no other owner.” The right of
the Crown to take as bona vacantia extends to personal property of every kind. Giving
a notice at this stage that the escheat of real property of an intestate dying without
heirs was abolished in 1925 and the Crown cannot take its property as bona vacantia.

The Supreme Court in the case of Narendra Bahadur Tandon v Shankerlal observed
that if the company had a subsisting interest in the lease on the date of dissolution
such interest must necessarily vest in the Government by escheat or as bona vacantia.
In India the law is well settled that the property of an intestate dying without leaving
lawful heirs and the property of a dissolved Corporation passes to the Government by
escheat or as bona vacantia.

In the case of State of Gujarat and Another v Shri Ambica Mills Limited Ahmedabad
and Another it was observed it is only if no claim is made for a period of 4 years from
the date of the publication of the first notice, or, if a claim is made but rejected wholly
or in part, that the State appropriates the unpaid accumulations as bona vacantia. It is
not as if unpaid accumulations become bona vacantia on the expiration of three years.
They are, no doubt, deemed to be abandoned property under section 6(A), but they
are not appropriated as bona vacantia until after claims are invited in pursuance to
public notice and disposed of. At common law, abandoned personal property could
not be the subject of escheat. It could only be appropriated by the sovereign
as bona vacantia The Sovereign has a prerogative right to appropriate bona vacantia.
And abandoned property can be appropriated by the Sovereign as bona vacantia.