Hindu Law
HMA · HSA · HAMA · HMG
Thirty-five chapter notes covering codified Hindu law — the four Acts of 1955–1956, the joint-family and partition doctrines that survived the codification, and the landmark Constitution Bench cases. Every chapter anchors to the precise statutory section and engages the post-2005 turn where it applies. Statute first, post-2005 position second, leading case third.
From shastric sources to the four codified Acts — and the post-2005 turn.
Hindu law is the most consciously codified personal law in India. The four Acts of 1955–1956 — the Hindu Marriage Act, the Hindu Succession Act, the Hindu Adoptions and Maintenance Act, and the Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act — replaced large parts of the shastric and customary law with a single statutory architecture. What survived uncodified — joint family, the karta's authority, partition, pious obligation — continues to bind, but only as case law glossing the codified position.
These notes anchor every chapter to its statutory section first, then engage the post-2005 turn where it applies. The 2005 amendment to the Hindu Succession Act — followed by the 3-Judge Bench in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020) — restructured Mitakshara coparcenary by making daughters coparceners by birth, with retrospective effect. Older citations (Prakash v. Phulavati) have been overruled; pre-2005 commentary on coparcenary is unreliable. Every coparcenary, succession, and partition chapter here engages this turn directly.
Each chapter is designed to be read in twelve to fifteen minutes and to leave the reader with the statutory section, the codified rule, the conditions or ingredients, the school distinction (Mitakshara versus Dayabhaga) where it matters, the post-2005 position, and the leading authority.
All 35 chapters, in 6 groups
Sequenced through the four codified Acts — foundations, marriage, succession, adoption and guardianship, joint family.Foundations
Sources, schools, and who the codified Acts apply to
Before any rule applies. Shruti, Smriti, custom, and precedent as sources; the Mitakshara survivorship and Dayabhaga succession schools; and Section 2 HMA's broad definition of who is a Hindu — including Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs.
Introduction — Sources of Hindu Law
Shruti, Smriti, custom, and precedent — the four sources from which classical Hindu law was built, and what each contributes to the modern codified position.
HL · 02Schools of Hindu Law — Mitakshara and Dayabhaga
The two schools that shaped pre-codification Hindu law — Mitakshara survivorship and joint family doctrine versus Dayabhaga succession-based ownership without survivorship.
HL · 03Application of Hindu Law — Who is a Hindu
Section 2 HMA — the broad statutory definition that includes Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, and the persons expressly excluded from the codified Acts.
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — Marriage & its Validity
Sections 5–12 HMA — formation, ceremonies, voidness
When a Hindu marriage stands and when it does not. Section 5 conditions including the sapinda bar, saptapadi as the customary essential, registration under Section 8, restitution of conjugal rights, judicial separation, and the divide between void and voidable marriages.
HMA, 1955 — Conditions for a Valid Marriage
Section 5 HMA — monogamy, capacity to consent, age (18 for bride / 21 for groom), absence of prohibited relationship, and absence of sapinda relationship without recognised custom.
HL · 05Ceremonies of a Hindu Marriage
Section 7 HMA — saptapadi as a customary essential, the validating role of customary ceremonies, and the Bhaurao Shankar test for a binding marriage.
HL · 06Registration of Marriages
Section 8 HMA — when registration is mandatory, the evidentiary value of registration, and the Seema v. Ashwani Kumar direction on compulsory registration of all marriages.
HL · 07Restitution of Conjugal Rights
Section 9 HMA — withdrawal from the society of the spouse without reasonable excuse, the burden of proof, and the constitutional challenge in Saroj Rani v. Sudarshan Kumar Chadha.
HL · 08Judicial Separation
Section 10 HMA — the grounds, the effect on the obligation to cohabit, the right to maintenance, and the relationship to divorce as a stepping stone after one year.
HL · 09Void Marriages
Section 11 HMA — marriages void ab initio for breach of clauses (i), (iv), and (v) of Section 5, the right to a declaration, and the legitimacy of children under Section 16.
HL · 10Voidable Marriages
Section 12 HMA — non-consummation, mental incapacity at the time of marriage, consent obtained by force or fraud, and the wife's pregnancy by another person at the time of marriage.
Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 — Divorce, Maintenance, Custody
Sections 13–26 HMA — dissolution and its consequences
When a marriage may be dissolved. Section 13 grounds for both spouses, Section 13(2) special grounds for the wife, divorce by mutual consent, the irretrievable-breakdown position post Naveen Kohli, alimony pendente lite and permanent alimony, and custody under the welfare-of-the-minor lens.
Divorce — Grounds Available to Both Spouses
Section 13(1) HMA — adultery, cruelty (Naveen Kohli), desertion, conversion, unsoundness of mind, virulent and incurable form of leprosy, venereal disease, renunciation, and presumed death.
HL · 12Divorce — Special Grounds Available to Wife
Section 13(2) HMA — pre-Act bigamy, the husband's rape, sodomy, or bestiality, repudiation of a child marriage, and Section 18 HAMA cohabitation withdrawal.
HL · 13Divorce by Mutual Consent
Section 13B HMA — the one-year separation requirement, the six-month cooling-off period, the Amardeep Singh waiver discretion, and the second-motion procedure.
HL · 14Irretrievable Breakdown of Marriage
The judicial position post Naveen Kohli v. Neelu Kohli — the SC's Article 142 power to dissolve under irretrievable breakdown, and Parliament's pending consideration of a statutory ground.
HL · 15Alimony Pendente Lite, Permanent Alimony, Maintenance
Sections 24 and 25 HMA — interim maintenance during the proceeding, permanent alimony at decree stage, the discretion factors, and the relation to Section 125 CrPC.
HL · 16Custody, Maintenance and Education of Children
Section 26 HMA — the welfare-of-the-minor principle, the court's power to make interim and final orders during the matrimonial proceeding, and post-decree variation.
Hindu Succession Act, 1956
The HSA — and the post-2005 turn
The doctrinally densest cluster on the page. Object and application, Section 6 devolution before and after the 2005 amendment, Vineeta Sharma's holding that daughter's coparcenary right is retrospective, succession to males and females, disqualifications, testamentary succession, and stridhan.
HSA, 1956 — Object, Application, Definitions
The Hindu Succession Act's scheme — application to Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Sikhs, exclusions, the definitions in Section 3, and the Act's relationship to Mitakshara and Dayabhaga.
HL · 18Devolution of Coparcenary Property — Pre and Post-2005
Section 6 HSA before and after the 2005 Amendment — survivorship abolition, the proviso for testamentary or intestate succession, and the abolition of the pious obligation doctrine.
HL · 19Daughter's Right in Coparcenary — Vineeta Sharma
The 3-Judge Bench in Vineeta Sharma v. Rakesh Sharma (2020) — daughter's coparcenary right is by birth, retrospective in operation, irrespective of the father being alive on 9 September 2005.
HL · 20General Rules of Succession — Males
Sections 8 to 13 HSA — Class I and Class II heirs, agnates and cognates, the order of succession, and the per capita and per stirpes rules of distribution.
HL · 21General Rules of Succession — Females
Sections 14 to 16 HSA — Section 14's transformation of limited estate into absolute ownership (Tulsamma), the order of succession to a female Hindu, and the source-of-acquisition rule.
HL · 22Disqualifications from Succession
Sections 24 to 28 HSA — disqualification of murderer and convert, the abolition of disqualification on remarriage, and the rule that disqualification operates as if the heir had pre-deceased.
HL · 23Testamentary Succession Among Hindus
Section 30 HSA read with Indian Succession Act — the freedom of a Hindu to dispose of any property by will, the Mitakshara coparcenary's interest after 2005, and the bequest rules.
HL · 24Stridhan and Women's Property Rights
The classical concept of stridhan, Section 14 HSA's transformation of women's limited estate into absolute property, and the boundary between stridhan and joint family property.
Adoption, Maintenance & Guardianship
HAMA + HMG — family welfare under the codified Acts
The two smaller codified Acts taken together. Capacity to adopt and the conditions of valid adoption under HAMA, the effects of adoption and the antecedent-title doctrine, the maintenance obligations to wife, children, and aged parents, and the three categories of guardian under HMG with the welfare-of-the-minor cardinal principle.
HAMA, 1956 — Capacity to Adopt
Sections 7 to 9 HAMA — capacity of male and female Hindus to adopt, the consent of the wife, the requirement of capacity to give in adoption, and the disqualifications.
HL · 26Person Who May Be Adopted
Section 10 HAMA — the four conditions for a valid adoption, including the requirement that the child be unmarried, under fifteen years, and not already adopted by the same parents.
HL · 27Effects of Adoption — Doctrine of Antecedent Title
Section 12 HAMA — the deemed-from-the-date-of-adoption rule, the proviso preserving any property vested before adoption, and the doctrine of relation back rejected post-codification.
HL · 28Maintenance of Wife, Children, Aged Parents
Sections 18 to 22 HAMA — wife's right to be maintained, the grounds on which she may live separately, the children's and aged parents' rights, and the relation to Section 125 CrPC.
HL · 29HMG, 1956 — Natural, Testamentary, Court Guardians
Sections 4 to 9 HMG — the three categories of guardian, the father as the natural guardian followed by the mother, and the testamentary guardian's powers.
HL · 30Welfare of Minor as Paramount Consideration
Section 13 HMG — the welfare-of-the-minor principle as the cardinal touchstone, and the SC's clarification in Githa Hariharan that the mother is also a natural guardian.
Joint Family, Partition & Wrap-Up
Shastric residue + cross-cutting + reference
The doctrines that survived the 1956 codification largely intact. The classical joint family and the karta's authority, modes of partition and the notional-partition rule from Gurupad Khandappa Magdum, the pious obligation doctrine pre and post-2005, the convergence of Hindu maintenance with Section 125 CrPC, and the landmark Constitution Bench cases.
Joint Hindu Family — Concept, Karta, Coparcenary
The classical concept of joint family, the karta's powers of management, alienation for legal necessity, the coparcenary's incidents, and the post-2005 inclusion of daughters.
HL · 32Partition — Modes, Reopening, Reunion
The modes of partition (notice, suit, registered instrument, conduct), the doctrine of notional partition (Gurupad Khandappa Magdum), reopening for fraud or mistake, and reunion.
HL · 33Pious Obligation Doctrine — Pre and Post-2005
The classical doctrine binding sons to discharge father's debts not tainted by avyavaharika, and the abolition by Section 6(4) HSA as amended in 2005 — pre and post-amendment positions.
HL · 34Maintenance Under Hindu Law
The shastric and codified rules on maintenance — wife under HAMA Section 18, children and aged parents under Sections 20-22, and the convergence with Section 125 CrPC.
REF · 35Landmark Cases — Vineeta Sharma, Saroj Rani, Sarla Mudgal, Mary Roy
The Constitution Bench and 3-Judge decisions that frame modern Hindu law — daughter's coparcenary right, RCR's constitutionality, second marriages after conversion, and Christian women's rights.
How to read these notes
Start with the statutory section.
Every chapter opens with the precise HMA, HSA, HAMA, or HMG section. Read it. Hindu law writing is statute-led — a question on Section 9 HMA, Section 5(iii), or Section 13B is testing whether you know the section, not whether you know Manu.
Apply the post-2005 lens.
Every coparcenary, succession, and partition question is now read through Vineeta Sharma. Daughter's right is by birth, retrospective, irrespective of the father being alive on 9 September 2005. Prakash v. Phulavati's contrary view is overruled. Pre-2005 commentary and pre-Vineeta-Sharma reasoning are unreliable.
Test on the leading case.
If you can restate the holding of Vineeta Sharma, Saroj Rani, or Sarla Mudgal in two sentences, you understand the chapter. If not, return to the statutory section and rebuild from there.