An Introduction to Hindu and Mohammedan Law; For the Use of Students

General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1906 Original Publisher: Clarendon Press Subjects: Hindu law Islamic law Law / Government / Federal Law / Practical Guides Religion / Hinduism / General Religion / Islam / General Religion / Islam / Law Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: CHAPTER IV PARTITION OF THE JOINT ESTATE If any member of a Hindu family is hopelessly dissatisfied with the management of the joint estate, his only remedy is to claim a partition. This he can always do, for, as appears from a passage in the Laws of Manu which I have already quoted,1 there never was any compulsion upon the members of a Hindu family to live in common. The right to separate was always acknowledged, and the exercise of the right was in no way considered discreditable. Considerations of prudence have mainly guided Hindus to a decision as to whether or no it was desirable to separate. In a natural family2 living under the Dayabhaga law there can of course be no partition. The father may, if he pleases, distribute his property amongst his sons. This, however, is a distribution of his own property, and he can distribute it as he likes. But this absolute power of the father has only been recently established. It used to be thought that, if the father made a distribution, he must give to each of his sons an equal share. This is probably a survival of the notion that the sons were associated with the father in the ownership in Bengal as elsewhere in India. It is otherwise under the Mitakshara. Under that law, the father and his sons being co-owners, the sons can insist that, if a partition is made, their rights shall be respected. Whether, under the Mitakshara law, thesons have a right to d...