In some respects, and as regards some kinds of property, the ownership
of women under the Hindu law differs from that of men. These differences
depend on the source from which the property is derived. If a woman has
inherited property from a male, or as a gift by her husband, or has
obtained it as a share on partition, she does not own it in the same way
as a man would do; she obtains only a kind of restricted ownership. She
has the full enjoyment and management of it, but she cannot sell it, or
give it away, or dispose of it by will; and at her death it goes not to
her heirs but to the heirs of the person from whom she obtained it; her
ownership simply comes to an end. If she obtained it by inheritance from
a male, it will go on her death to the heirs of that male; if as a share
on partition it will be divided amongst the other sharers; if as a gift
from her husband, to the heirs of the husband. As regards property
otherwise obtained she is in the same position as any other owner, but
the rules of inheritance applicable to it are somewhat peculiar. It
would be a mistake to look upon the restricted ownership of a woman as
what the English lawyers call a life estate. There is no such thing as a
remainder or reversion. The whole estate is vested in her. If we
endeavoured to describe the position of affairs at her death in the
technical language of the English law of real property, it would be more
correct to say that there was a shifting use. The restriction of
alienation is sometimes removed where there is a danger that the
property might otherwise be lost, as for example when the property is
likely to be sold for non-payment of government revenue, in which case a
portion may, if necessary, be sold by the woman so as to save the
remainder. So also a woman who has no other means of maintaining
herself, or of providing for the performance of religious duties which
are incumbent upon her, may sell so much of the property as will produce
the necessary funds. It would be difficult for a purchaser to know
whether he would be safe in purchasing from a widow selling under
necessity, and more difficult still to preserve evidence of the
necessity in case the necessity were disputed. Of course the woman
herself could not dispute the validity of the sales, but those who take
after her might do so. Consequently it is not unusual to obtain the
concurrence of the person who at the time of the purchase is entitled to
succeed if the widow were dead, and it has been held that if this
person concurs in the sale, no one else can dispute it on the ground
that it was unnecessary.
Husband and wife.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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