The Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929

An Act to alter the order in which certain heirs of a Hindu male dying intestate are entitled to succeed to his estate.

ACT NO. II OF 1929

21st February, 1929

An Act to alter the order in which certain heirs of a Hindu male dying intestate are entitled to succeed to his estate. WHEREAS it is expedient to alter the order in which certain heirs of a Hindu male dying interstate are entitled to succeed to his estate; It is hereby enacted as follows:-

Section 1. Short title extent and application

(1) This Act may be called the Hindu Law of Inheritance (Amendment) Act, 1929.

(2) It extends to the whole of [Bangladesh], but it applies only to persons who, but for the passing of this Act, would have been subject to the law of Mitakshara in respect of the provision herein enacted, and it applies to such persons in respect only of the property of males not held in coparcenary and not disposed of by will.

Section 2. Order of succession of certain heirs

A son's daughter, daughter's daughter, sister, and sister's son shall, in the order so specified, be entitled to rank in the order of succession next after a father's father and before a father's brother:

Provided that a sister's son shall not include a son adopted after the sister's death.

Section 3. Savings

Nothing in this Act shall-

(a) affect any special family or local custom having the force of law, or

(b) vest in a son's daughter, daughter's daughter or sister an estate larger than, or different in kind from, that possessed by a female in property inherited by her from a male according to the school of Mitakshara law by which the male was governed, or

(c) enable more than one person to succeed by inheritance to the estate of a deceased Hindu male which by a customary or other rule of succession descends to a single heir.