পাতা:ব্যবস্থা-দর্পণঃ প্রথম খণ্ড.djvu/৬৮৯

VYAVASTHAZ-DARPANA. 567 251 The guardian can dispose of a portion of his ward's estate, to meet a necessity arising for the subsistence of him and of those members of the family who must be supported out of the estate ; and also for any act the performance whereof is unavoidably necessary. Sir William Macnaghten cites a case which is as follows:-" A, a Hindu Zewindor of Bengal, executed a deed of sale for a portion of his estate to B; B executing a separate engagement that the sale should be redeemable by payment of the money with interest, within the term of a year. Before the term expired, the Armindar. A died, leaving a widow and an adopted minor som. Within a few days of the completion of the term when the sale would have become absolute and irrevocable, the widow, as guardian of the minor, borrowed money of (', with which she paid the debt of B, and freed the land, executing to the lender a similar second sale of the same land, redeemable within a given term; which term, however, expired without repayment on her part. The question then here was, First, Could any rule of IIindu law prevent the land from becoming the property of B, on the term of the sale expiring without repayment? Secondly, If there be no such rule, and the widow saved the land for a time by the second conditional sale, was it not a case of necessity, such as to justify her act in behalf of her ward, as clearly beneficial to him * Thirdly, If a father sell a portion of his land,with a comdition for redemption, and his heir (a minor), or the guardian on the part of the heir do not redeem, is not the land gone irrevoeably P And Fourthly, Do not the debts of a father become payable out of his assets even in the hands of his heir (who is a minor), on demand from the guardian The substance of the reply of the IIindu law officers eonsulted on this occasion was, that no necessity for the sale had been made out, inasmuch as the estate of the deceased could not have been legally alienable for his ancestor's debts until after the minor had attained majority. Judgment was, however, given in favor of the purchaser ; and the following arguments were used on the occasion : That supposing the ancestor's conditional sale to have remained unredeemed after the expiration of the period stipulated, and the usual term of notice, the land would, of necessity, have fallen to the former creditor: That it was mere folly to urge that the act of the mother, in saving it for a time and obtaining a further period, was not to be held good as an act. evidently for the benefit of the minor, inasmuch as, but for her renewal by a fresh loan in her capacity of guardian, the conditional sale must undoubtedly have become absolute to the creditor: That according to the invariable practice of the courts, no plea of minority could be listened to, or any other doctrine recognized than that, the estate of a IIindu of Bengal becomes liable at his death for the satisfaction of his just debts, especially where he has pledged his land as security for those debts, and that his power of selling outright, or contditionally, any part of or all his landed property, could not be questioned : That the doctrin, unaintained by the court appeared to be supported by the opinion of the commentator Jayannatha, and that, though there should prove to be eonflicting opinions as to the law, the established usage and practice ought to prevail: And, in short, that whatever might be the real doctrine of the Hindu law on the subject, the court was bound to follow that law in Vyaválsthá