SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is primarily about the relevancy of the Mitaksara birthright, the pivot of the juridical Hindu joint family, in the context of codification of a uniform Civil Code or Code of Family Law in India. It also represents an enquiry into the origination of the concept and a study of it in its historical and comparative perspective. The comparative framework of the thesis shows that a Hindu legal institution, which governs about one-sixth of the human race, may stand comparison with the institutions of any system with which it is likely to be compared. In compliance with the progress of social science, the study of law is heading towards an Interdisciplinary approach, and in the present study attention is also focussed on the operation and veritable social role of the juridical concept of joint family. Contemporary attempts at creating a uniform world law have come into the foreground, prompted basically by socio-economic changes throughout the world. In the context of this global unification movement, the present study indicates that any viable attempt to reform, modernise and unify the personal laws (e.g. Hindu law) In India deserves a comparative awareness of other legal systems of the world, past and present. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).