Hindu Law and Custom (Recht und Sitte) c8.90

c8.90

§ 29. *Debts, pledges and sureties.* The liability for debts according to the earlier developed principles of the family law and joint property (§ 23), extends over all the members of the family if the debt is incurred for the benefit of the whole family (*kuṭumbārthe*), particularly however the responsibility lies on the chief of the house-hold (*kuṭumbin*) and passes over to his heirs, and here too as in the law of inheritance, taking admission into a religious order or disappearance is regarded as equivalent to the death of the testator (Vi. 6, 27-39 etc.). How far the debts of the testator are transmitted to the descendants is a matter of dispute, for e.g. according to Vi. l. c. and Nār. 1, 4 only the sons and grandsons are liable and according to Bṛh. 11,49 the grandsons have to pay only the principal without interests, while on the other hand, according to Nār. 1, 6 the great-grandsons too are liable for the debts of the great-grandfather. The same difference of opinion may be seen also in the commentaries. Thus the Mit. on Y. 2, 50 advocates the view of Bṛh. that the liability for the debts does not extend to the great-grandsons and that even the grandsons are responsible only for the principal shorn of interests. On the other hand, according to Asahāya on Nār. l.c. the great-grandsons too are liable for the debts and he illustrates this by an alleged case dealt with in a court of Pāṭaliputra in which the son and the grandson of the debtor quickly died one after another and the great-grandson tried in vain to escape the liability of payment.