in the Courts of the Madras Presidency. 25 



No doctrine seems to be more thoroughly established, 

 than that wills are unknown to Hindu Law, and even to 

 Hindu language. This was implied from the corporate the- 

 ory of property. It would be a contradiction in terms to 

 suppose that a man who was only entitled to a joint enjoy- 

 ment of property, as a member of the family, could by will 

 dispose of the whole or any specific part of it. This would 

 be to allow him greater power over the family-estate after 

 his death, than he had possessed during his life. At the same 

 time, so inevitable is the tendency of the human mind to 

 grasp at larger and longer dominion ; so certain is the tran- 

 sition from management to proprietorship, that the same 

 causes which were gradually raising the rights of the indivi- 

 dual at the expense of his family, were sure, sooner or later, 

 to extend the power of alienation during life to that of dis- 

 position after death. In Bengal, where the rights of the 

 joint owners were rapidly crumbling away before the usur- 

 pation of the manager, it might have been expected that 

 this final step would be taken at the first favourable oppor- 

 tunity. This opportunity was presented by the establish- 

 ment of the Supreme Courts, which were prepared to look 

 upon wills as a mere matter of course. Accordingly we find 

 that in Bengal, even beyond the jurisdiction of the Queen's 

 Courts, the practice of testamentary disposition soon sprang 

 up, and was readily recognised. It was a novelty no doubt. 

 But so wide had the powers of the head of the family 

 already become, that it was a novelty rather of form than of 

 principle. In Madras, during the whole of this century, 

 Native wills were unhesitatingly admitted to probate by the 

 Supreme Court. But although it is certain that the Queen's 

 Judges favoured the desire to make wills, it is equally cer- 

 tain that they did not create it. This is shown by the 

 numerous instances of wills which came under the notice 

 of the Mofussil Courts. There, however, their fate was 



4 



