History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v4.c63.1179.2

v4.c63.1179.2

He has special powers of disposition (by mortgage, sale or gift) of family property in a season of distress (for debts), for the purposes and benefit of the family (maintenance, education and marriages of members and other dependents) and particularly for religious purposes (śrāddhas and the like).¹¹¹⁹ The father has the same powers as manager and certain other special powers, which no other coparcener has. The father can separate his sons from himself and also among themselves if he so desires, even if they do not desire to separate¹¹²⁰ (Yāj. II. 114); while an ordinary coparcener can only separate himself from the family. The father can make within reasonable limits gifts of ancestral movable property without¹¹²¹ the consent of his sons for performing indispensable acts of duty and for purposes laid down by the texts, such as gifts through affection (to wife, daughter, son or the like), the support of the family and relief from distress. The father can make a gift of even immovable property within¹¹²² reasonable limits for pious purposes only (such as to a family idol or to an idol in a temple at the time of obsequies). The father can sell or mortgage the joint family property to pay off an antecedent debt contracted by him for his own personal benefit, provided it is not illegal or immoral (vide p. 448 above).