Category: Family, Life & Experiences

The Nature and the Scope of Hindu Law are described below:“The Indian soil has not only been productive in deep thinkers, eminent founders of world religions and gifted poets, but it has brought forth a system of law, which, after having spread over the whole vast continent of India, has penetrated at an early period into Burma and Siam, and has become the foundation of the written law in these two countries”. – Dr. Julius Jolly. ADVERTISEMENTS: Hindu Law, it has rightly been observed, has the most ancient pedigree of any known system of jurisprudence. However, it is not “law” as understood in modern times. Today, the word “law” signifies an Act passed by the Legislature of a country.Ancient Hindu Law, however, is not the result of any such legislation…

Here is your Essay on the Uniform Civil Code in India:Article 44 of the Constitution of India lays down an important directive principle of state policy, namely, that the State shall endeavour to secure for its citizens, a uniform civil code throughout the territory of India. However, as clarified by Art. 37, directive principles are not enforceable by any court, although they are fundamental in the governance of the country. ADVERTISEMENTS: Today, citizens of India are governed by different personal laws, based on their religion, caste, community, etc. A uniform civil code would ensure that all citizens of India are governed by the same set of secular civil laws in matters of marriage, divorce, maintenance, adoption, inheritance, etc. Under the present set of laws, Hindus are bound by law to…

Here is your essay on the Important Application of Hindu Law:Hinduism, it has rightly been said, is a mass of fluctuating faiths and opinions, embracing within itself a vast spectrum, ranging from the wandering fancies of savage superstition to the highest insight of daring thought. This brings us to a moot question, viz., who is a “Hindu”?The term “Hindu” is not very precise in its significance. Actually, the term is nowhere to be found in the ancient Sanskrit texts. Some scholars are of the opinion that the word has been derived from Sindhu, which was the ancient equivalent for the Indus River. This theory says that the Aryans called the country around this river Sindhustan. The Persians, who pronounce “s” as “h” called it Hindustan, and-its inhabitants, Hindus. Thus, etymologically,…

Here is your short essay on the Codification of Hindu Law:Codification refers to the process of incorporating the law on a particular subject in statutes or Acts of the legislature. This process has both advantages as well as disadvantages. The greatest champion of codification was Bentham, and the greatest antagonist was Savigny. It has rightly been said that both of them were giants, to each of whom half his prayers were granted, while the other half was scattered to the winds. Needless to say, the codification of the hitherto uncodified Hindu Law also was a hotly debated matter. ADVERTISEMENTS: The first step in this direction was taken in 1941, when the Hindu Law Committee was appointed to examine this question. This Committee recommended that Hindu Law should be codified in…

Here is your Speech on Dowry System in India:Dowry is an ancient system under which the parents of the bride pay the bridegroom and/or his parent’s money, goods or estate, honouring the bridegroom’s willingness to accept the bride in marriage. Dowry or dahej, as it is referred to in India, thus refers to the payment in cash or kind by the bride’s family to the bridegroom’s family at the time of giving away the bride. ADVERTISEMENTS: Dowry is related to the ancient Hindu customs of kanyadan and stridhan. In kanyadan, the father of the bride offers the father of the groom money, property or other gifts, whereas for stridhan, the bride herself gets jewellery and clothes at the time of her marriage, usually from her parents and relatives. It is…

Divorce means putting an end to the marriage by dissolution of marital relations. The parties can no longer be husband and wife. The grounds on which the divorce is taken are generally categorised into the following theories. Image Source: divorce.legal 1. Offence, Guilt or Fault Theory of Divorce: If either of the parties is guilty of committing any matrimonial offence the aggrieved party is entitled for divorce. The other party is supposed to be innocent. For instance, if one of the parties committed adultery or treated the other party with cruelty or deserted the other party, the other party is entitled for divorce. ADVERTISEMENTS: At times, even though one of the parties is not guilty of committing any matrimonial offence, but suffers from a fault like insanity the other party…

Vital modifications have been made by the Amendment of 1976 in the law relating to Divorce.(1) New Section 13-B Section 13-B has made provision for Divorce by mutual consent of husband and wife. They should have been living separate for one year or more and found it not possible to live together. Image Source: thinkingaboutdivorce.co ADVERTISEMENTS: There is a conflict of opinion on the question whether one of the parties (Husband or Wife) can unilaterally revoke the consent. When a petition is filed jointly by the husband and wife both agreeing to divorce, the petition is to be considered by the court only after the expiry of six months.Before the court passes the divorce decree, can one of the parties revoke his (or her) consent and thereby cause the petition…

History of the Amendment: Under the original Bill (Marriage Laws Amendment Bill), 1974 it was proposed to omit the words “on a petition presented by either party thereto”. The object of the proposal was to enable third parties (i.e. strangers to the marriage) to seek relief under s. 11. For instance, when A first marries  and then marries Ñ,  is a stranger to the second marriage. Image Source: images.speakingtree.iimg.inIt was held in Kedar Nath v. Smt. Suparva, AIR 1963 Pat. 311, that the first wife  cannot present a petition under s. 11 for a declaration of nullity of A’s marriage with C. The proposal was intended to supersede the decision. It was opposed by the Law Commission and has been dropped. So under the Amended section also…

By marriage the husband becomes entitled to the conjugal society of his wife and the wife to the conjugal society of her husband. If either party unreasonably withdraws from the conjugal society of the other and the parties are not living together, the aggrieved party can petition for restitution of conjugal rights under s. 9. Image Source: 1.bp.blogspot.comThis remedy was known in England and was originally applied in India by the Privy Council for the first time in 1866 in Moonshee Bazloor v. Shamsoonaissa Begum; 1866-67 (11) Moo. Ind. App. 551. In England itself this remedy has been abolished in 1970. ADVERTISEMENTS: There has been a lively controversy in recent times as to the constitutional validity of s. 9. It has been set at rest by the Supreme Court in…

The conditions necessary for a valid Hindu Marriage are stated by Yajnavalkya in the chapter dealing with Marriage. The commen­tators have treated some of the conditions mentioned in this text as mandatory and some as recommendatory.The following conditions prescribed by this text are regarded as mandatory: — (1) the bride should not be a Sapinda of the bridegroom (2) she should be separated by seven degrees on the father’s side and five degrees on the mother’s side (3) she should not have the same gotra or Pravara as the bridegroom. (4) She should not have been married to another earlier.The other conditions are treated as recommendatory only. They are (1) She should be good looking (2) She should be younger in years (shorter in stature). (3) She should be healthy…