Section 111 of the Indian Succession Act Analysis

Section 111 of the Indian Succession Act

Dr. Mahesh Chand Sharma vs Smt Raj Kumari Sharma And Ors 1996 AIR 869, JT 1995 (8) 466 http://indiankanoon.org/doc/408373/

The main limb of Section 111 says that where bequest is made simply to a described class of persons, the bequest shall devolve only upon such members of the class as are alive on the date of the testator's death. The exception appended to Section 111 says that if property is bequeathed to a class of persons/described as standing in a particular degree of kindred/to a specified individual/but their possession of it is deferred until a time later than the death of the testator by reason of a prior bequest, or otherwise/the property shall at that time go to such of them as are alive and to the representatives of any of them who have died since the death of the testator. For the exception to apply, it must first be shown that the bequest is to a class of persons. Then it must be shown that the said class of persons is described as standing in a particular degree of kindred to a specified individual. The third requirement is that the possession of the bequest is deferred until a time later than the death of the testator for one or the other reason. If the above ingredients are satisfied then the property bequeathed devolves upon such persons of the class as are alive on the date of death of the interposer (prior bequest) and upon the representatives of such of those who may have died after the death of the testator but before the death of the interposer. … the words "a specified individual" cannot refer to or mean "the testator". The very Explanation uses both the words "testator" and " a specified individual". If the idea behind the exception was to refer to testator, then it would not have employed the words "a specified individual". Nothing was more simpler than using the words "the testator" instead of the said words actually used. This means that the words " a specified individual" refer to an individual other than the testator. .. In each of those illustrations, the class of persons is described as children or (or the relatives of) a person other than the testator. None of them speaks of a class of persons related as aforesaid to the testator. Once this is so, the exception goes out of the picture. .. the legal heirs of testator - assuming that they constitute a class of persons within the meaning of the exception - are described as standing in a particular degree of kindred to the testator - and not to "a specified individual". … the words "a specified individual" cannot and do not refer to the testator, the exception becomes inapplicable.

S. 119 - unless a contrary intention appears from the Will, a bequest made to a legates, who is not entitled to immediate possession of bequest, gets vested in such legatee on the date of death of the testator. The Explanation appended to the section elucidates the words "unless a contrary intention appears by the Will" occurring in the main limb of the section. The Explanation says inter alia that merely because a prior interest in the bequest is given to some other person, it does not mean that a contrary intention is indicated in the Will. Illustration (iii) is of crucial relevance. It says that where a fund is bequeathed to A for life and after A's death to B, the legacy to B becomes vested in interest in B on the testator's death.