Who Is Hindu by Law

Section 14 of the Hindu Inheritance Act governs a woman`s rights to her property. These rights include: Major textbooks on modern Hindu law include: “Hindu Law- Principles and Precedents” by N.R. Raghavachariar, 12th edition, Madras Law Journal; Satyajeet A. Desai, Mulla`s Principles of Hindu Law. 17th edition 2 vols. (New Delhi: Butterworths, 1998); Paras Diwan and Peeyushi Diwan, Modern Hindu Law, 10th ed. (Allahabad: Allahabad Law Agency, 1995); Ranganath Misra. Mayne`s Treatise on Hindu Law and Usage, 15th edition (New Delhi: Bharat Law House, 2003); Menski`s “Hindu Law: Beyond Tradition and Modernity” (Delhi: Oxford Univ. Press, 2003). In addition to an in-depth prologue introducing the topic, this book is divided into three parts – marriage law, family law and relationships, and property and inheritance law – each beginning with the texts of the applicable laws and offering my understanding and assessment of their provisions in subsequent chapters. The texts of other relevant laws on the subject are contained in three appendices to the book. A large number of cases have been decided over the past two decades by the Supreme Court of India and various supreme courts, covering almost all provisions of the four Hindu laws of 1955-56. In terms of case law, the book focuses on the most recent cases reported up to January 2014; Reference was made to old cases only when deemed necessary.

At that time, a number of parliamentary acts were passed to correct certain aspects of Anglo-Hindu law and give it a legal basis. From that point on, the codification of Anglo-Hindu law through parliamentary action and the continuous increase in jurisprudence on Anglo-Hindu law diminished the relevance and interest in the Dharmaśāstra as the presumed source of Anglo-Hindu law. Instead, the gap between the idealized legal system of the Dharmaśāstra and the extreme diversity of customary law in different parts of British India led to the collection and establishment of regional customary laws as established by British officials through interviews, observations, and discussions with locals. Huge amounts of customary rules that were supposed to be in force were collected throughout British India and became part of the courts` advisory resources. Section 14 of the Hindu Succession Act covers both movable and immovable property acquired by: Despite the Constitution`s call for a uniform civil code, the system of community-specific personal laws remains the order of the day in India. The codified personal law applicable under this treaty regime to four different religious communities, which together represent more than 80% of the country`s population, is wrongly called “Hindu law”. The development of legal pluralism, i.e. a separate law based on the religion of the individual, has been controversial in India from the beginning. [2] While the texts on ancient Hindu law have not survived, the texts confirm the existence of the institution of lawyers in ancient India.

[45] The Sanskrit text Vivadarnavasetu, for example, states in Chapter 3: This law deals primarily with adoptions of a child. Ludo Rocher notes that the Hindu tradition expresses neither the law in the sense of ius nor lex. [6] The term “Hindu law” is a colonial construct and arose when colonial rule came to South Asia and when, in 1772, British colonial officials, in consultation with Mughal rulers, decided that the European customary law system would not be implemented in India, that Hindus in India would be governed by their “Hindu law,” and that Muslims in India would be governed by Sharia law. Muslim law). [6] [10] [14] However, Hindu law was not mentioned, used or codified during India`s 600 years of Islamic rule. An attempt was made to find an old surviving Sanskrit text that mentioned elements of the law, and so Western editors and translators arrived at the equation that “Dharma Shastra is equivalent to code or institute,” Rocher says. [6] A marriage may be dissolved by court order for the following reasons: Classical Hindu law, according to Donald Davis, “represents one of the least known but most sophisticated traditions of legal theory and jurisprudence in world history. Hindu jurisprudential texts contain detailed and careful philosophical reflections on the nature of law and religion. The nature of Hindu law as a tradition has been the subject of debate and misunderstanding both within and outside professional circles. [4] This law mentions some reasons that should be followed for marriage, including: If all these reasons are followed, we can consider marriage a “valid marriage”. If the above reasons are not met, marriage can be defined as a “void or voidable marriage”.

The Supreme Court of India explicitly defined the term “Hindu” in the landmark Shastri vs Muldas case. This case refers to the Swami Narayan temple in Ahmedabad. There is a group of people called Satsangi who administered the temple and prevented non-Satsangi Harijans from entering the temple. They argued that Satsangi was a different religion and that they were not bound by Hindu law.