AIR 1954 SUPREME COURT 61 ::1967 MadLW 954 ::1956 Bom LR 447

Supreme Court Of India

(From Bombay : A. I. R. 1950 Bom. 55)

Hon'ble Judge(s): B. K. Mukherjea, Vivian Bose, N. H. Bhagwati , JJJ

Hindu Law - Widow - Surrender - Nature of - English doctrine of merger distinguished - - Nature of widows' estate and life estate - -surrender in favour of next reversioner - Surrender can recover possession of property during life time of widow, from persons who had acquired title to it by adverse possession.AIR 1950 Bom 55, Affirmed.49 All 334: AIR 1927 All 258: 100 Ind Cas 764: 48 Mad 933: AIR 1925 Mad 1267: 91 Ind Cas 401 and AIR 1935 Pat 175: 156Ind Cas 174, Overruled. The word 'surrender' cannot be said to be free from ambiguity. If it connotes nothing more than the English doctrine of merger and a Hindu widow, whose interest in usually, though incorrectly, likened to that of a life tenant under the English law, merely accelerates the reversion by surrendering her limited interest in favour of the reversioner, undoubtedly no surrender can be effective if the widow has already parted with her interest in the property by a voluntary act of her own of her rights therein have been extinguished by adverse possession of a stranger. The English doctrine of merger, though it may have influenced some of the judicial pronouncements has really speaking no application to a Hindu widow's estate. The law of surrender by a Hindu widow, as it stands at present, is for the most part, judge-made law, though it may not @page-SC62 be quite co....