Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act, 1856

The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act 1856, also Act XV, 1856, passed on 16 July 1856, legalised the remarriage of widows in all jurisdictions of India under East India Company rule.The act was enacted on 26 July 1856. It was drafted by Lord Dalhousie and passed by Lord Canning before the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It was the first major social reform legislation after the abolition of sati pratha in 1829 by Lord William Bentinck.

In the Hindu value system and way of life, marriage is both a religious sacrament and a foundational social construct whose social function and religious significance survive the death of a spouse; unlike in Christianity, death does not "do apart" the married couple in Hinduism. Therefore, Hindu custom and tradition have long disallowed the remarriage of widows, even young and healthy ones, and in the 19th century, widows were also expected to adhere to norms of clothing and daily prayer which are now seen as excessively austere. In the first half of the 19th century, the British in India were in the High Noon of their cultural arrogance, with the imposition of European and Christian values reaching a level so insufferable that this attitude precipitated the Mutiny of 1857.

The Hindu Widows' Remarriage Act of 1856, proclaimed unilaterally by the colonial power at the very eve of the Mutiny, provided certain legal safeguards for cases where the bride was a widow. According to custom, the second marriage of a widow had been considered invalid, nothing more than a despicable illicit affair, and any children born of such a second marriage were deemed illegitimate, misbegotten and incapable of inheriting property belonging to their father's family. The new law conferred legitimacy upon such progeny and secured their inheritance, if any, from their father's family "as though it were the woman's first marriage." This was the main import of the Act. Of course, the widow was deemed to have forsaken any inheritance or rights of maintenance due to her from her deceased husband, and she was required to surrender the same to her deceased husband's heirs before getting married again.

Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar was the most prominent campaigner for this enactment. He petitioned the Legislative council of the East India Company for the enactment and was joined by a small group of very elite, supposedly "progressive" men, all of whom were beholden to British patronage for their wealth, trade and landed estates.This included Sri Kasinath Dutta of the Hatkhola Dutta lineage. The counter petition against the proposal, organized by Radhakanta Deb and the Dharma Sabha, was signed by nearly four times more signatories. Nevertheless, Lord Dalhousie, much hated in India to this day for his arrogance and disdain for Indians, personally finalised the bill despite the strong opposition. It being considered a flagrant breach of the customs then prevalent.

The Law

The preamble and sections 1, 2, and 5:

Whereas it is known that, by the law as administered in the Civil Courts established in the territories in the possession and under the Government of the East India Company, Hindu widows with certain exceptions are held to be, by reason of their having been once married, incapable of contracting a second valid marriage, and the offsprings of such widows by any second marriage are held to be illegitimate and incapable of inheriting property; and

Whereas many Hindus believe that this imputed legal incapacity, although it is in accordance with established custom, is not in accordance with a true interpretation of the precepts of their religion, and desire that the civil law administered by the Courts of Justice shall no longer prevent those Hindus who may he so minded from adopting a different custom, in accordance with the dictates of their own conscience, and

Where it is just to relieve all such Hindus from this legal incapacity of which they complain, and the removal of all legal obstacles to the marriage of Hindu widows will tend to the promotion of good morals and to the public welfare;

It is enacted as follows:

#No marriage contracted between Hindus shall be invalid, and the issue of no such marriage shall be illegitimate, by reason of the woman having been previously married or betrothed to another person who was dead at the time of such marriage, any custom and any interpretation of Hindu Law to the contrary notwithstanding.
#All rights and interests which any widow may have in her deceased husband's property by way of maintenance, or by inheritance to her husband or to his lineal successors, or by virtue of any will or testamentary disposition conferring upon her, without express permission to remarry, only a limited interest in such property, with no power of alienating the same, shall upon her re-marriage cease and determine as if she had then died; and the next heirs of her deceased husband or other persons entitled to the property on her death, shall thereupon succeed to the same ....
#Except as in the three preceding sections is provided, a widow shall not by reason of her re-marriage forfeit any property or any right to which she would otherwise be entitled, and every widow who has re-married shall have the same rights of inheritance as she would have had, had such marriage been her first marriage.

Notes

References

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* {{cite book, last=Peers, first=Douglas M., title=India under colonial rule: 1700-1885, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6iNuAAAAMAAJ, access-date=8 November 2018, year=2006, publisher=Pearson Education, isbn=978-0-582-31738-3

Sex laws in India
Indian family law
1856 in law
1856 in India
Widowhood in India
Legislation in British India
Widows
1856 in British law
Marriage law in India
Remarriage