History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.1151

v4.c63.1151

Two propositions were well established by the cases, viz. (1) that money earned by a member of a joint Hindu family by the practice of a profession requiring special training was joint family property, provided such training was imparted at the expense of joint family property; (2) that gains made by personal labour and without the use or help of joint family funds by a member of a joint Hindu family, who was maintained out of joint family funds and received no more than an elementary or ordinary education suitable to his position as a member of that particular family were the self-acquisitions of such member. But all doubts and disputes are now set at rest by the Hindu Gains of Learning Act (Act XXX of 1930) which provides that, notwithstanding any custom, rule or interpretation of Hindu Law, no gains of learning (i. e. education whether elementary, technical, scientific, special or general and training of every kind which enables a person to pursue any trade, industry or avocation), whether made *before* or *after* the commencement of the Act, shall be held not to be the exclusive and separate property of the acquirer merely by reason of his learning having been wholly or in part imparted to him by any member, living or deceased, of his family or with the aid of the funds of the joint family or of any member thereof or by reason of himself or his family having, while he was acquiring his learning, been supported wholly or in part by the joint funds of the family or the funds of any member thereof. This Act is thus retrospective.