hindu law

Essay by swapna87University, Master's May 2014

download word file, 5 pages 0.0

When man was in the hunting stage, which was before the beginning of agriculture, he was mainly living in forests and survived by eating animal flesh, fruits, nuts, etc. At that stage man was living in tribal society, and his life was controlled by customary rules. There was no private property at that stage of social development, because the forests had not been cut for doing agriculture. Hunting was done collectively by the males of the tribe, and the animal which was killed in the hunt was eaten collectively.

It was only when forests were cut and agriculture started that private property came into existence. One man claimed that a certain plot of land belonged exclusively to him, another claimed another plot of land, etc. In order to safeguard this property the law of crime had to be created, whose main purpose is to protect property.

Thus the basic law is the Criminal Law.

The first rule in this law is the law against theft, whose purpose is to protect private property. Apart from the criminal law, some other laws had also to be developed in connection with property.

After private property came into existence man was seized with the acquisitive instinct. He wanted to acquire property and retain property. One can retain property as long as one is alive, but people wanted to retain their property even after their death. This could be done by ensuring that one's property goes to one's child, because in a sense one's child is part of oneself. Hence the Law of Inheritance was created, which is also one of the basic laws, apart from the criminal law.

The institution of marriage also came into existence with the coming of private property. Since man wanted his property to go to his child after his...