Family LAW: Presentation On Features of Coparcenary

FAMILY
LAW
PRESENTATION
on
Features of
Coparcenary
SUBMITTED TO-
SUBMITTED BY-
Mrs. Jai Mala

YUVAN SHARMA
B.com LLb
(Section D)
Roll no.
211/15
ACKNOWLEDGEM
ENT
I would like to extend my sincere thanks to Mrs. Jai Mala
for assigning me this project- Features of Coparcenary
and lending her endless support and guidance throughout
the completion of the project. I also take this opportunity
to thank my Parents, all my friends and the Library Staff
of UILS for helping me in the successful completion of the
project.
Features of a Hindu
Coparcenary
The following are the characteristic features of a Hindu

coparcenary:
Creature of law:
A Hindu coparcenary is a pure creature of law. It cannot be

created by an act of parties, except in the case of an adoption,
whereby a stranger is introduced into the family.
Thus, if a joint family consists of X and his deceased brothers
wife, W, and W adopts a son, such a son will become a coparcener
with X.
Exclusion of females:
Before the 2005 Amendment, no female could be a coparcener,
although she could be a member of a joint Hindu family. Even a
wife who was entitled to be maintained out of her husbands
property (and had, to that extent, an interest in his property) was
not her husbands coparcener.
Extinction when complete:
A coparcenary cannot be said to be extinct till the death of the

last surviving coparcener. Thus, as long as there is even a single
coparcener, the coparcenary continues. Even on the death of the
sole surviving coparcener, the family cannot be said to be at the
end, as long as there is a potential mother, i.e., a female member
who can introduce a new male member by birth or by adoption.
(Approvier v. Rama Subba, 11 M.L.A. 75)
Unity of ownership and possession:
The most characteristic feature of a Mitakshara coparcenary is the

unity of ownership and possession of joint family property among
its coparceners. Both the ownership and possession of the
coparcenary property is in the whole body of the coparceners.
According to the true notion of a joint family under the Mitakshara
Law, no individual member of the undivided family can predicate
that he has a definite share (say, one-third or one-fourth) of the
joint undivided family. His interest is a fluctuating one, which is
liable to be enlarged by deaths in the family, and diminished by
births in the family.
It is only on a partition that a member becomes entitled to a

definite share of the property. His interest in the coparcenary
property before a partition can best be described as his
undivided coparcenary interest. As observed by the Privy
Council in Katama Natchair v. The Rajah of Shivagunga
(1893 9 M.I.A. 539), there is community of interest and unity
of possession between all the members of the family.
Coparcenary between Collaterals:
Prior to the passing of the Hindu Succession Act in 1956. sons and
grandsons whose father was dead, and great-grandsons whose
father and grand-father were both dead, succeeded
simultaneously as a single heir to the separate or self-acquired
property of the deceased with the right of survivorship, and such
property would become ancestral property in their hands.
However, after the passing of the said Act, the position is

different, because S. 19 of that Act expressly provides that if two
or more heirs succeed together to the property of an intestate,
they take such property as tenants-in-common, and not as joint
tenants. In other words, such heirs take the property without a
right of survivorship, and they would not constitute a coparcenary.
Unity of juristic existence:
Another salient feature of a Mitakshara coparcenary is unity of

juristic existence. The internal constitution of a coparcenary may
change on account of births, deaths or adoptions, but as regards
outsiders, it is always deemed to be a separate legal entity. It is a
distinct juristic person on whose behalf contracts can be entered
into and enforced. (Shankar Lai v. Toshan Pal Singh, A.I.R.
1934 All. 533)
In State Bank of India v. Ghamandi Ram (A.I.R. 1969 S.C.
1330),
the Supreme Court observed that coparcenary property is held by
the coparceners in a quasi-corporate personality.
In the same case, the Court has listed the following as the
incidents of a Mitakshara coparcenary:
(i) Firstly, the lineal male descendants of a person upto the third
generation acquire, on birth, ownership in the ancestral properties
of such a person. (Now, i.e., after the 2005 Amendment, even
females acquire such an interest.)
(ii) Secondly, such descendants can, at any time, work out their
rights, by asking for a partition.
(iii) Thirdly, till such a partition, each member has got ownership
extending over the entire property, jointly with the other
coparceners.
(iv) Fourthly, as a result of such co-ownership, the possession and

enjoyment of the properties is common.
(v) Fifthly, no alienation of the property is possible without the

concurrence of the coparceners, unless it is for a necessity.
(vi) Lastly, the interest of a deceased member passes, on his

death, to the surviving coparceners.

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FAMILY

Mrs. Jai Mala

The following are the characteristic features of a Hindu

A Hindu coparcenary is a pure creature of law. It cannot be

Extinction when complete:

A coparcenary cannot be said to be extinct till the death of the

Unity of ownership and possession:

The most characteristic feature of a Mitakshara coparcenary is the

It is only on a partition that a member becomes entitled to a

Coparcenary between Collaterals:

However, after the passing of the said Act, the position is

Unity of juristic existence:

Another salient feature of a Mitakshara coparcenary is unity of

(iv) Fourthly, as a result of such co-ownership, the possession and

(v) Fifthly, no alienation of the property is possible without the

(vi) Lastly, the interest of a deceased member passes, on his

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