FAMILY LAW: ASSIGNMENT

ARTICLE WRITING
Difference between Mitakshara and Dayabhaga
Joint family
Abstract

The school of Hindu law is divided into two major systems: the Mitakshara and the
Dayabhaga. Each of these systems provides different legal conventions in terms of
inheritance of property, division of family property, and other matters related to the joint
family and coparcenary.
The Mitakshara school is the most widely accepted system of Hindu law in India. This
system follows the idea of undivided joint family in which all members of the family are
considered to be coparceners of the ancestral property, and the property is divided among
them in the same proportion. As per this system, the father is the head of the family, who
holds the right to manage, use, and dispose of the property in the best interests of the family.
And
the Dayabhaga school of Hindu law is mostly applicable in the eastern part of India,
including Bengal and Assam. This system does not consider the entire family as a single unit,
and instead, each individual has exclusive rights over their share of the ancestral property.
Unlike the Mitakshara school, the Dayabhaga system does not recognize the father as the
head of the family and instead believes in equal rights among all the coparceners.
The main difference between the Mitakshara and Dayabhaga joint family and coparcenary is
that, while Mitakshara law recognizes the father as the head of the family and the
coparcenary as a single unit, Dayabhaga law does not consider the father to be the head and
recognizes the separate rights of each coparcener. Another difference between the two
systems is that, while Mitakshara law allows the coparceners to inherit the ancestral property
in the same proportion, Dayabhaga law allows the coparceners to have exclusive rights over
their share of the property.