Course Description

Family Law is one body of law that interacts with everyone who is part of a family or who wishes to form a family of some kind. It covers a broad range of deeply personal affairs including marriage, divorce, succession, among others. Family Law operates in that space where the personal meets personal or the personal meets the public. Family Law is traditionally covered in law schools in India in two segments, Family Law I covering matrimonial remedies and Family Law II, covering the law relating to inheritance. This is a Bar Council of India mandated course.

Family Law II deals with the philosophical origins of inheritance, testamentary and intestate succession. The rules of succession vary based on the personal laws followed by the different religious communities. While parts of these laws are codified, a wide array of customary practices based on region, religion, and culture also exists. In this course, students will get a semblance of the different inheritance schemes followed by the people in India, with a detailed engagement with Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Parsi law of succession. The course is designed to help students understand these legal systems in a holistic way and appreciate the internal logic, coherence, and normative values. The students are then encouraged to critically look at these systems to understand the exclusion or injustice built in the very design, structure, and silences of law. Through a series of engagements both inside class and outside the classroom, students are also encouraged to reimagine laws for a just and inclusive world and identify pragmatic ways to achieve the end goal, that’s justice. Laws should not be made in isolation but should take into account socio-cultural-politico-economic realities.

This course is a must-do for every lawyer and could benefit personally in family estate planning and inheritance. Apart from litigation and professional wealth management, taxation and property, this course would be beneficial for those interested in law, polity, and governance. Beyond that, an intuitive and nuanced understanding of the subject can contribute to more informed discussions in the public realm.