Coparcenary - Definition - Law Dictionary Home Dictionary Definition coparcenary

Definition :

Coparcenary, A Hindu coparcenary is narrower body than the joint family. Only males who acquire the birth an interest in the joint or coparcenary property can be members of the coparcenary or coparceners. A male member of the joint family and his sons, grandsons and great grandsons constitute a coparcenary, State of Maharashtra v. Narayan Rao Sham Rao Deshmukh, (1985) 2 SCC 321: AIR 1985 SC 716: (1985) 3 SCR 358.

'Coparcenary' is a narrower body than a joint family and consists of only those persons who have taken, by birth, an interest in the property of the holder for the time being and who can enforce a partition whenever they like. It commences with a common ancestor and includes a holder of joint property and only those males in his male line who are not removed from him by more than three degrees. Thus, while a son, a grandson or a great-grandson is a coparcener with the holder of the property, the great-great-grandson cannot be a coparcener with him, because he is removed by more than three degrees from the holder, Sathyaprema Manjunatha Govda v. C.E.D, (1997) 10 SCC 684 (687). (Hindu Succession Act, 1956, s. 6)