History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.1172

v4.c63.1172

The next points to be dealt with are: what persons are entitled to partition and what is the mode of partition. But before doing so some preliminary remarks must be made on the expressions coparcenary and 'joint family', which occur at every step in modern works on Hindu Law. In the smṛtis and commentaries we come across the words *kuṭumba* (Nār., dattāpradānika 6 or Yāj. II. 175), or *avibhakta-kuṭumba* (Yāj. II. 45). A joint Hindu family consists of all males lineally descended from a common male ancestor and includes their wives and unmarried daughters. A daughter on marriage ceases to be a member of her father's family and becomes a member of her husband's family. Under the Mitākṣarā a Hindu coparcenary strictly so called is a much narrower group than the joint family. It comprises only those males who take by birth an interest in the joint or coparcenary property i. e. a person himself and his sons, son's sons and son's grandsons form for the time being a coparcenary. The diagram and the note below¹¹¹⁶ will explain the limits of a coparcenary.