SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This thesis is an in-depth study of the vicissitudes of the property rights of the Hindu female, and the eventual enactment of s. 14 of the [Indian] Hindu Succession Act, 1956, under which she was accorded the right, for the first time, to be the absolute owner of any property legally in her possession. In dealing with Article 44 of the Indian Constitution and the egalitarianism inherent in it, Chapter One introduces the background to, and the provisions of, the "Hindu Code", of which s. 14 is an integral part, as it also draws attention to the pressing necessity in India for the promulgation of a uniform civil code. Chapter Two is a study of the traditional concept of widowhood in the light of sastric injunctions, and the ambivalence in attitudes towards the widow and her remarriage in present-day India. Chapter Three explores the characteristics of the "limited estate", a system of female inheritance peculiar to Anglo-Hindu Jurisprudence, while the right to maintenance prior to the Hindu Adoptions and Mainte-nance Act, 1956, and as interpreted in case-law, has been enumerated in Chapter Four. Chapter Five examines the Hindu Women's Rights to Property Act, 1937, the express purpose of which was to give "better rights" to women, its effects on the inheritance pattern generally, and its drawbacks. Chapter Six is a study of s. 14, its successful effects, as also the problems of construction with special reference to the difficulties encountered in the judicial interpretation of sub-s. (2) of s. 14. The concluding chapter out the salient features of the work, and offers suggestions how best to resolve, either judicially, the areas of ambiguity, or by legislative amendment, such anomalies as have inadvertently crept in through oversight and as a consequence of piecemeal legislation.