{"id":34175,"date":"2026-10-15T05:39:48","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T05:39:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/?p=34175"},"modified":"2026-10-15T05:43:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T05:43:55","slug":"section-69-indian-succession-act-marriage-revocation-will","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.legalserviceindia.com\/Legal-Articles\/section-69-indian-succession-act-marriage-revocation-will\/","title":{"rendered":"When Marriage Revokes the Will- Section 69 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, the Hindu Exception, and the Test of Equality under Articles 14 and 15"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

<\/span>When Marriage Revokes the Will: Section 69 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925, the Hindu Exception, and the Test of Equality Under Articles 14 and 15<\/span><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
\n

\u201cAmbulatoria est voluntas defuncti usque ad vitae supremum exitum.\u201d (A testator\u2019s will is ambulatory until the last moment of life.)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Introduction<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Section 69 of the Indian Succession Act, 1925 provides that every will is revoked by the marriage of its maker. The rule bites on Christians, Parsis and Jews, but not on Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs and Jains, for whom the proviso to Section 57 declares that marriage shall not revoke a will. This article sets out the anatomy of the provision, the legislative architecture that produces the Hindu exception, the justifications that can be offered for it, and the constitutional questions under Articles 14 and 15. It rests on the statutory text and on decisions of the Supreme Court of India only. Its conclusion is that the section should survive equality review as it stands, that its closest judicial analogue, the invalidation of Section 118 of the same Act in John Vallamattom, is distinguishable in principle, but that the factual premise of the Hindu exception has weakened with time and the real remedy is legislative.<\/p>

\n
\n

Table of Contents<\/p>\nToggle<\/span><\/path><\/svg><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n