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Article Published in the Express Magazine Dated
September 09,
2001
General Attorney : Rajiv K. Luthra
Recently, a book club sent me two books by
post. Since I wasn't interested in them, without
opening them I put them aside. Now, I have
received an invoice to pay Rs 450/- for those
books. The cover letter of the package had stated
that in case I did not return the books within a
period of 14 days, it would be deemed that I had
entered into a contract with the club for the
purchase of the said books. Have I really entered
into a contract ?
Arun Sethi, Ghaziabad
As it appears from the given facts, you may not
have entered into a contract with the book club. A
contract is an agreement made by the free consent
of the parties. It is based on a proposal by one
party and on the acceptance of the same by the
other party. In so far as the proposal or
acceptance of any promise is made in words, the
promise is said to be express, otherwise the
promise is said to be implied. But in any case,
there must be communication one way or the other,
of a proposal as well as of its acceptance. There
is, however, no duty cast by the law upon the
person to whom an offer is made to reply to that
offer. In such a case, mere silence cannot give
consent as to bind the parties on either side.
There has to be a consent expressed either by
communication or by action. In your case, even
though the book club has given a valid offer and
tried to define your silence as a positive action
by setting a deadline of 14 days within which you
were supposed to reject the offer, your silence
cannot bind you under a contract just by reaching
the deadline. Meeting the deadline is a passive
motion and there was no action on your side in any
way, which implied your interest in the purchase
of the books. Had you opened and used the books,
the situation could have been different.
Is the mother of a hindu male, who left no
Will, entitled to anything out of his property, if
she was supported by him during his lifetime?
Ashish Singh, Delhi
The Law of Succession is formed by the widely
ramified structures of people’s families.
Therefore, each share and entitlement in the
property of an intestate depends on how many and
which kind of relatives of the deceased are still
alive.
In cases where no Will is left behind, the
property of a male Hindu shall devolve upon his
legal heirs, according to the Hindu Succession
Act, 1956 (“Act”). Firstly, the property shall be
so distributed among the relatives specified in
class I of the Schedule of the Act. Among the
first four persons who inherit with the deceased
in class I are the son, the daughter, the widow
and the mother of the deceased person. The reason
for them being legal heirs is their relationship
with the deceased only. The support during
lifetime does not create a position as a legal
heir or change the share in any manner. As per the
rules provided in the Act, one share of the
property of an intestate shall be taken by the
widow of the deceased. One share each shall be
taken by the surviving sons and daughters and the
mother of the intestate.
The heirs specified in class I take their
respective shares simultaneously and to the
exclusion of all other heirs in succession. Hence,
for example, the father being a legal heir listed
under class II of the Schedule shall be excluded
if the mother of the intestate is alive. So the
mother of the deceased son would get one share
along with other surviving legal heirs specified
in class I of the Schedule of the Act.
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