Dayabhaga

Dayabhaga is a Hindu school of law that governs inheritance and succession, primarily prevalent in Bengal and Assam in India. It was codified by the 12th-century jurist Jimutavahana in his work of the same name. The Dayabhaga school contrasts with the more widespread Mitakshara school in its rules regarding coparcenary property and the rights of individuals within a joint family.

A key distinction of Dayabhaga law is that it does not recognize the concept of birthright in ancestral property. Instead, a son acquires an interest in his father's property only upon the father's death. This means that a father has absolute power to dispose of his self-acquired property as he wishes during his lifetime, and his sons have no vested right in it until his demise. In contrast, Mitakshara law grants sons a birthright in ancestral property, limiting the father's power of alienation.

Under Dayabhaga, females also have more extensive rights to inherit property, including ancestral property, than under Mitakshara. Widows can inherit property from their husbands and hold it as stridhan (a woman's property). The concept of coparcenary in Dayabhaga is more fluid, with membership in the coparcenary determined by relationship to the last male holder, rather than by birth into the family as in Mitakshara. The Dayabhaga system emphasizes individual rights and the extinction of rights upon death, making it distinct from the more community-oriented approach of Mitakshara.