Customary Inheritance Rules
- Laws
- India
-
India’s Constitution prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex (Article 15).
-
The Constitution protects religious freedom (Articles 25-28).
-
India has separate laws for inheritance based on religion, including the Hindu Succession Act of 1956 (which also covers Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists),
-
the Muslim Personal (Shariat) Application Act of 1937,
-
and the Indian Succession Act of 1925 which covers the Christian and Parsi communities.
-
- Zambia
-
The Intestate Succession Act (1989) is very narrowly construed not to apply to any customary or ancestral land even though it applies only to people who follow customary law. The Intestate Succession Act applies only to members of a community to which customary law would have applied if the Act had not been passed (2 (1)). The Act does not apply to land held under customary law; property which immediately before the death of the intestate was institutionalized property of a chieftainship and had been acquired and was being held as part of chieftainship property; and family property (2(2)).
-
- India
- Commentary
Customary inheritance rules tend to discriminate against women. Often sons are the only ones to inherit ancestral land with the assumption that they will take care of their parents in their old age and keep land in the family. Widows are sometimes given a life estate, sometimes forced to marry their brother-in-law and sometimes not protected at all. While many countries have made changes to statutory law to create and protect women’s inheritance rights, without adequate awareness raising or enforcement mechanisms, often customary rules continue to be followed.
In some cases, customary practices are recognized by statutory law. To ensure women’s inheritance rights, some countries have exempted customary inheritance rights from official recognition.
In Zambia, only land that is not ancestral land and does not fall under customary law is covered by the intestate law, which gives daughters and sons equal shares of property.
Note: India’s Scheduled Tribes are exempted from statutory inheritance law and instead rely on the customary law of their tribe. There are 645 legally recognized tribes in India with individual customary law. Many tribes do not allow for daughter’s to inherit land or protect a widow’s rights to ancestral land.